John Bierce
@johnbierce.bsky.social
Fantasy novelist, author of Mage Errant, The Wrack, and More Gods Than Stars. Science and history nerd, some flavor or other of leftist/Marxist/anarchist, can burp the alphabet.
johnbierce.com
johnbierce.com
Ayuuuuuuuup.
I waffle on whether automatically assuming protagonists are in the right/good guys is a related phenomena, but that's also definitely folks just liking the characters too.
I waffle on whether automatically assuming protagonists are in the right/good guys is a related phenomena, but that's also definitely folks just liking the characters too.
November 13, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Ayuuuuuuuup.
I waffle on whether automatically assuming protagonists are in the right/good guys is a related phenomena, but that's also definitely folks just liking the characters too.
I waffle on whether automatically assuming protagonists are in the right/good guys is a related phenomena, but that's also definitely folks just liking the characters too.
Reposted by John Bierce
Take LoTR. The reason evil exists in the books is because the creator is singing new creations into existence and Melkor wants to co-opt the song. It’s the reason Sauron’s armies are twisted forms of elves. The evil in LoTR CANNOT CREATE, they can go “this thing looks like this other thing”
The far right is obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Musk keeps posting about "hobbits" because modern scientific racism owes more to fantasy worlds and gaming systems than genetic science, and they see both as effective mediums for right-wing propaganda www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons and Dragons to Be Racist
The fantastical roots of “scientific racism”
www.theatlantic.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Take LoTR. The reason evil exists in the books is because the creator is singing new creations into existence and Melkor wants to co-opt the song. It’s the reason Sauron’s armies are twisted forms of elves. The evil in LoTR CANNOT CREATE, they can go “this thing looks like this other thing”
Well, I've gotten plenty of wrong book spam emails before, but this one's just especially egregious
November 11, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Well, I've gotten plenty of wrong book spam emails before, but this one's just especially egregious
I'm a big Predator fan anyhow, but this was something special!
November 10, 2025 at 2:09 PM
I'm a big Predator fan anyhow, but this was something special!
The issues driving capitalism to short term thinking far predate executive bonuses as an institutional force driving corporate behavior- hell, the causes of crises of capitalism make up a big chunk of Marx's writings. Short term thinking is the historic norm under capitalism sans intervention.
November 10, 2025 at 4:20 AM
The issues driving capitalism to short term thinking far predate executive bonuses as an institutional force driving corporate behavior- hell, the causes of crises of capitalism make up a big chunk of Marx's writings. Short term thinking is the historic norm under capitalism sans intervention.
Ayuuuuuuuup, I don't sign any contracts these days without robust anti-genAI clauses that bind both parties. (And clauses exempting the anti-AI clauses from any confidentiality clauses, so I can talk about and share the anti-AI clauses.)
November 9, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Ayuuuuuuuup, I don't sign any contracts these days without robust anti-genAI clauses that bind both parties. (And clauses exempting the anti-AI clauses from any confidentiality clauses, so I can talk about and share the anti-AI clauses.)
I spent a few days toying with it at the beginning of the whole AI craze to make sure I correctly grasped its limits based off my understanding of the principles behind it, and haven't touched that shit since. GenAI is a shortcut to mediocrity.
November 9, 2025 at 11:14 AM
I spent a few days toying with it at the beginning of the whole AI craze to make sure I correctly grasped its limits based off my understanding of the principles behind it, and haven't touched that shit since. GenAI is a shortcut to mediocrity.
Yep, came to post this. Plausible, just doesn't quite pass the sniff test. Thank goodness for Snopes.
November 6, 2025 at 3:24 PM
Yep, came to post this. Plausible, just doesn't quite pass the sniff test. Thank goodness for Snopes.