He did get the hot pepper on rate my professor…
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So. . . .Star Trek’s not real then?
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It still could be.
See: Galaxy Quest, Redshirts.
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Dang it. Benny Russell has broken out of the asylum again.
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I love that episode… I want to show it in a class sometime.
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Which?
“Far Beyond the Stars” (where he’s trying to get his story published) or “Shadows and Symbols” (where he’s in the asylum)?
Because they’re both excellent episodes.
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Far Beyond the Stars. Shadows and Symbols is great, also, but I like that Far Beyond the Stars tackles American race relations so directly (something that they had not really done before, if I’m recalling correctly).
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I know, I just always found the term mildly ridiculous. Benevolence is very much subjective, but it’s a stretch to say that being forced to become the tool of someone else can really ever be benevolence, as it erases the most fundamental aspect of human dignity by treating human beings as pets instead of persons.
Also, I didn’t mean to take your quote out of context. I was taking a jab at the term itself, not you or your legitimate use of it. Sorry if I caused any confusion.
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S’ok 
I think of it like Vetinari; he acts - generally - in the interests of the city and it’s inhabitants, rather than for personal enrichment.
Mainly. Sometimes. Unless he doesn’t.
Which, of course, is exactly the problem with dictators 
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They do tend to work best in fiction, though I can’t argue with a Pratchett reference 
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she from West?
Redshirts was awesome. Of course, it blurred the lines between what was real and what was TV, and had a very impassioned defense of bad writing at the end.
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I suspect that this is why the exact location of the stereotypical ideal tends to wander with economic conditions. Pretty much anything ‘Eastern Europe’ works if you are just looking for exotic-but-in-a-white-way; but if you are looking for obedience and conveniently low standards, it really helps if the locals are poor enough to be relatively desperate and to see your level of wealth as a dramatic improvement(if economic upheaval has encouraged high levels of substance abuse, pointless violence, and premature mortality among local men, even better).
This isn’t to say that ‘bah, all culture is secondary to economics’, but when it comes to identifying people likely to put up with your shit, looking for ones whose options are limited and deeply uninspiring is a reliable(if undeniably ugly) strategy.
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And I think that’s the thing. When you look at the men’s rights/pick up artist end of things. And see people talking about actually going to these places to find wives or meet women. They’re often talking about going to some pretty poor and desperate places. And complaining about women in places like Moscow, Kiev, Budapest. Very much comes off as targeting or fetishizing women who are vulnerable rather than any real cultural affinity in these places for being barefoot and pregnant in the sandwich factory.
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I’d be curious to know what the breakdown is between the ones who are fully aware of how economic vulnerability works; and think that that’s just wonderful; and the ones who actually think that some sort of corrupting culture of liberalism is the primary cause; and the fact that it seems to reliably ‘infect’ regions at around the same time they stop being desperately poor is just some crazy coincidence.
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I remember when they were trying to recruit on far-left websites (people who don’t identify as liberal because they are further left than liberalism). They might have got a few converts but a lot of people just told them to fuck off once they realised that the recruiters could not be persuaded that their ideas were bullshit.
Maybe they were driving trollies too. Probably both reasons are equally correct.
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Voracious. That’s the only word to describe how I’ve read this thread. Also, what I love about BBS: As rare as it may be, I get to read such perspectives from women around the world, so thank you original poster. I heart you.
Gratitude aside, it’s inevitable: I’m depressed. As @katherinelives expresses: “Whatever culture, women are still people, trying to exist. We are not accessories or solutions. Ugh.”
This resonated more than anything else with me, after reading all comments. I want someone, somewhere to re-create that seminal scene by John Hurt from the film “The Elephant Man” wherein he cries: “I’m not an animal!” Cut to: Women all around the world saying, “We are not accessories. We are not solutions. We are as fully realized as you. We have the same desires, intellect, and foibles. We are you.”
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And I was occasionally running into this in Chisinau.
There was the labor recruiter from the UK (I want to say Orkney, but that seems as remote as the North Pole. It might have been closer) who tried to ingratiate himself to me from the start as he carried on an affair with a local woman for whom he could provide a good time - food, nice apartment, etc.
Then there was the time I went to one of the better hotels to have a B & B and some uninterrupted internet. As I was sitting, I overheard a conversation between a local guy and an American businessman who didn’t give a fuck what he had to do for his job, just as long as he could satisfy his desire to get laid. The local guy was there to facilitate the process.
Conversely, there was the German university student who was taking a little r & r from school for the summer and stretching his Euros. He had friends in Chisinau, like me, but I could tell his priorities didn’t center around finding a bride or a “cheap lay”. This guy had a good head on his shoulders and I liked him very much.
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