This is a bit embarrassing maybe, but I have actually enjoyed listening to a couple of episodes of the Joe Rogan podcast. In the few episodes I have listened to he has been able to get some good conversations going.

One could easily and rightfully criticize him platforming a lot of his guests, but this is where it gets a bit tricky.

He gives a voice to people that has interesting things to say, that in some way contribute in society or contributes to a discussion, and people that are completely psychotic. The latter should not be platformed, both for their own good and society. Alex Jones was an example of that. Joe Rogan should have stopped that episode in its tracks, or not have aired it.

I stopped listening more as a sort of boycott, not because I could not find any sort of value in his episodes sometimes.

Edit: The reply is probably correct. Joe Rogan does tend to not be skeptical and does platform a lot of evil people as well. The people in his podcast rarely meets any real opposition from Joe.

This would be great and hilarious.

Kinda like how Putin wanted less NATO influence and then Finland and Sweden joined after the Ukraine war.

FAFO.

Yes. It’s a process.

I’d be happy to be educated about the alternatives here. Because I don’t know of any trustworthy European ones for proprietary apps.

Haha, this is spot on. I don’t think I have a single photo of me and my best friends together the last 15 years. It’s just something we never do.

I don’t know how helpful this is, but we’d welcome you with open arms in most of europe on a social level, especially west and northern europe. On a institutional level there are requirements that vary from country to country about work and skills etc.

Since things are getting really bad over there, it might be worth properly researching.

Does it have noise supression features like Discord?

Yup, it’s overblown. Just wanted to give an explanation, you never know what level of awareness other strangers have online. Wish you the best, and see you around!

It is not a problem in many contexts. For instance complementing people in social non-work gatherings. “Wow, you look great in that suit”, or “You are even prettier than I remember”. Or when talking about someones ability to attract attention.

However in the context of an important message from a person, it derails the conversation and kinda just objectifies a person. As if it is more important than what they are saying or contributing.

It basically boils down to this: Do you want to be remembered for being good looking or your contributions to this world? How does it feel to be unsure if you got the job, because of looks? Or if people are listening because of your looks?

I am glad you asked, and I already saw someone gave a great explanation, but wanted to pitch in as well 😊

I was just about to say the same thing. I think a lot of things in society would be different if we were actually honest and actually saw the real state of things. Firing squad is humane (if you have to do the non-humane thing of killing someone in the first place) and honest.

First off, I am not a vegetarian or a vegan, but I believe we all should see and know where our meat, eggs and dairy comes from, and exactly how it is produced. I believe we would either improve the lives of those animals a lot, or reduce the consumption of animal based food.

Just came across https://d-shoot.net/kagi.html . Seems like there are more good reasons to avoid it besides it also using Yandex as an index.

Yes, but not fully. They have their own index as well. They have also recently started a partnership with Ecosia to focus more on that effort.

I totally agree that it is a miniscule amount. I try to prioritize more effective actions for other causes I care about, but personally am uncomfortable with any compromises with Russia at the moment. Luckily it’s basically close to zero products and services that are Russian, so it’s easy to avoid. So everytime I come across something Russian, I just avoid it. Kagi is one of the really rare times.

There’s also non-economic reasons to avoid a Russian index considering their reputation with misinformation campaigns. Even a slight nudge in the direction of Russian positive propaganda is damaging. But this was not my initial argument.

There is also the information gathering aspect, knowing what people search for (even if anonymous) is valuable.

I see your point, but I think there is a meaningful difference.

Russia started a war with a peaceful nation. It is in no way, shape or form a provoked war.

There are a couple of ways you can react to hurt the agressor. With the goal of making them stop hurting the innocent. Military action is one, economic is another.

Most European countries have decided to hurt them economically. As a European I agree with this, and fully support it. I try my best not to support the Russian economy. If Russia as a country changes in the future, my view will probably change as well. This is a war that Putin started.

That said, I believe the support from the US to Israel was wrong. The US has been supporting genocide. One could argue that supporting the US economy supports these sorts of actions as well. However, the scale is important and how much involvement is important.

If you had mentioned an Israeli company, I would agree 100%. The difference is that the US have not been spending 1/4 to 1/3 of their entire fiscal budget fighting a peaceful democratic nation as the agressor.

Anyways, at this point I am kinda mad at the US for being a unreliable partner and going to trade war with Europe and bailing in their responsibilities when it comes to the war in Ukraine and creating uncertajnty within NATO, threatening nations etc, anyways. So not spending a lot of money on US goods and services at the moment either no.

I have been sick a lot lately, so have had a lot of time on my hands. I don’t have a search for Kagi or something. I wanted to use Kagi though, so I was disappointed when I realized that they want to continue this practice.

What are you implying with it being suspicious? In what way?

If Kagi pays a Russian company for a service, that company pays taxes to the Russian government.

Russia spends 32% of its budget on the Russian military. So for every dollar they get in taxes, one third is spent on the Russian military.

With a corporate tax rate of 20% that means 6.4% of Yandex profits go to the military. Since Kagi is mainly a paid service, I don’t want my money to go to the Russian military, and I guess a lot of other people don’t want this either.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-hikes-national-defence-spending-by-23-2025-2024-09-30/

The Russian people are not to blame, and I am sure a lot of great people work at Yandex and at different companies in Russia. That said, Russia chose to attack a peaceful democratic country, they are currently sanctioned by a lot of western countries in hopes that it will pressure their economy enough to force them to stop the war.

There isn’t much we can do to stop the conflict besides hurting them economically and supporting Ukraine. If we continue to use Russian products and services then that does not work. Unfortunately this affects everyone in Russia.

I have no idea, but they amongst other indexes use the index from the Russian company Yandex

Obligatory mention that Kagi also use the Russian search index Yandex. This aids the Russian economy and the Russian war effort.

Edit: I recommend reading my in depth explanation here https://lemmy.world/comment/15520236

I agree, but am happy that X is losing users to Bluesky, so I don’t try to convert friends and family from Bluesky to Masrodon. I’d rather they start changing other stuff instead that is easier.

I was at some point wanting to visit the US as a tourist, see the grand canyon etc. The last part of me that wanted to go there has changed the last couple of months.

But even before Trump won, I imagined a couple of horrendous scenarios that could happen based on things I read online. This confirms my worst fears. This does not sound like a safe country to visit. Even as a white cishet man.

I have followed your daily gaming posts since you began. Appreciate the content!

Not an easy thing to change about oneself. Good job and thanks for sharing 👏