I disagree with this:

The problem comes from the fact that IPs are supposed to be entertainment first, messaging second.

Maybe you just want entertainment, but the purpose of art has almost always been message-first. If a piece of art isn't trying to say something, what's the point? People trying to act like gaming, or any other form of art, should only focus on entertaining, and always has, are not very media-literate. I can't think of a single classically well received movie that doesn't have a message it's trying to tell.

Nuance, yeah. That's important. The goal of art is to get someone to feel like the idea you're trying to give them came from themselves. That's when it's effective. It doesn't really work when you're just telling them how to think. It just annoys people.

Also, of course some garbage will also be made when people are allowed freedom to be creative. The difference is that good things can be made in that situation, not that it always will. It pretty much never will if everything is targeted towards mass appeal. That ensures no one in particular will care because there isn't a target. They do it because it's a safe bet. This implies the alternative is more risky, meaning more failures (like Joker 2), but also the opportunity for greatness.

I disagree with your premise that that "forced progressivism" messes things up. Andor, for example, is the most progressive Star Wars media ever, and it's amazing for it. (It's literally about a leftist, or at least leftist coded, rebellion against Fascists, and wears it proudly.) The reason is because the people making it were allowed to be creative and were passionate about what they were making.

Its the lack of creative freedom and passion that kills things. Most things with a lot of money put into them are directed by suits, not creatives. They don't want to take risks, so they just follow trends and formulas. This leads to the media not having anything to actually say, and just a veneer of trying to appeal to certain people, without actually doing anything with it.

Your last bit is the only part that matters. Good content is good. There's so much well written progressive "woke" stuff that does well, but it's easy to point at a shitty flop and say it failed because it's "woke" rather than doing the hard work and actually analyzing why it's bad. "Woke" content isn't an issue in media. It's that we're getting so much bad and lazy writing in AAA games (and other big media). They aren't allowed to be creative, so it ends up being garbage.

I hate this kind of comment. A bad game doing poorly that happens to be "woke" isn't evidence that being "woke" made it bad. For example, Dragon Age Origins is pretty "woke" (especially for its time) but it's recognized as an amazing game by pretty much everyone. If you make a great game that's written well, it's probably going to be received well. The issue is modern AAA gaming just makes mass audience slop that is devoid of passion and dictated by suits to chase trends. Being "woke" doesn't matter. Being good matters.

Assuming Russia even exists in 20 years...

It probably will, but it's also probably a stupid thing to gamble on. There are safer bets.

I think they're aware of how it works. Currency speculation is not complicated or new. The thing is, why would you expect the ruble to be a better investment than another currency? Why would you expect it to bounce back?

It's a Wall Streets Bets thing because it's very stupid gambling based on very poor logic. If you're going to start speculating in currency, the ruble is probably not where you want to start right now.

It's a Chinese vessel, but the crew (at least the captain) was Russian IIRC.

The problem is what does it mean to be biologically a man? Is it a static thing defined at birth or is it a description of the living organism as it exists? (It's the latter.) For example, there are some animals that can change their sex naturally. We don't say they're just the one they're born as.

OK, so now humans. If biological sex is a description of the person as they exist currently, what does it mean for us? Chromosomes are a useful tool because they contain the code that tells our body how to develop, but the actual development is the part that matters, not the chromosomes. The chromosomes will dictate what hormones are produced, and the hormones are what actually control development. We can control what hormones are in the body, so we can hijack the process and change the actual development.

So, since biological sex is a description of the creature as they are, if we hijack the process of development to tell the body to develop according to given sex, that's what their biological sex should be called, right? The clownfish that was once a male that changes into a female is a female. We don't say it's a male just because it once was one.

I can't say whether it's offensive. I'm a cis man. The issue I do know is that it's used by transphobes to pretend like they know more than they do and harm trans people. For example, congress's anti-trans bathroom rule. Speaker Johnson said: "All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex" He's using the term as a weapon, not as a descriptive tool.

Where it's most important is for doctors. My understanding is assigned sex at birth and medical records and understanding who the person is now is the useful information. They do need to know sex assigned at birth, and they also need to know if they're on HRT or have had other procedures. They have to treat trans people differently than their sex at birth because biologically they are different.

Very easy to get into I'd say. Just listen to your squad leader, and don't start a squad until you know what you're doing.

You're a the most qualified person on the internet for cisgender, trans, and intersex word policing.

I definitely am not.

Now that I know and if I don't change, you'll make sure to report it to the cisgender police for trans activities special victims unit...

I haven't reported or downvoted you.

It's interesting you chose the statement "it's not difficult to be better, it's just a choice". You could have started this entire interaction with "hey dude, just a heads up that a lot of transphobes use phrases like 'biological male' to invalidate trans identities", but instead you took the opportunity to speak down to me and made sure I was now "educated" and that I can stop using wrong speak.

I don't think I spoke down to you, but you are welcome to your opinion. I tried to inform you.

I'd be less annoyed with it if it were bad. It's just the most boring thing. There's nothing interesting going on. If it were bad there'd be a reason to care about it.

It's just really annoying because Bethesda used to care about doing something interesting with their games. It's just increasingly gotten more generic though, and Starfield is the worst of it.

That's good! I guess that's the difference between viewing it as a utility vehicle and a recreational one. In the US it's almost always seen as recreation only.

Sure, but the reason is always the same. It's rich people taking everything. There's way more than enough food and water for everyone, and that'll be true for a very long time.

I didn't take umbrage with your original comment. I just pointed out that it's wrong and you should stop. I was annoyed when you seemed to double down.

Intersex people are just clear that "basic biology" is a non-functioning understanding of what biology is. Intersex people couldn't exist if what you learned in high school bio was the end. It's a clear indication that sex is not just some binary thing. It's a very complex thing. Even non-intersex people have different developments in the growth due to different hormone levels and other things, and we can even control hormone levels artificially. It's very complex, and the only useful term is AFAB/AMAB, and then more detailed medical records.

Then to cap it off you made sure to declare that I've been "properly educated", so sayeth you. So from here on out, I need to use the right language or..... else?

Yeah, use the more accurate language, or else we know you're choosing not to. Nothings going to happen. Everyone gets to make choices in life. I can't make you do anything, but from one cis-gendered person to another, it's not difficult to be better. It's just a choice.

You're getting really offended by someone just informing you the language you used was wrong. It wasn't even a particularly insulting comment.

Where do you personally draw the line? Are you going to stop saying ASAB now that you know some people don't like it? Are you going to keep saying "trans" even though some people feel like it marginalizes the community and feels too informal to discuss complex gender identities?

I rarely have a use for either term, so I draw the line where it's useful for others. If you're a doctor, that's where it matters, and after gender confirmation, your "sex" is a lot more complicated. After a while or hormone therapy, you're more akin to your chosen sex than your birth sex. That's why the "biologically male/female" term isn't useful. It's assuming their birth sex is their current sex for medical purposes, but it's more complex than that. Sex assigned at birth is useful because it limits it to that period specifically, and your medical records tell the whole story.

The AEI article you posted seems to ignore this fact. It seems to say your birth sex is the important factor. It's just one of many. For future development, the one your hormones correspond with is likely more important.

The CLR article mirrors what I've said earlier:

"By referring instead to sex assigned at birth, transgender rights advocates convey that “biological sex” is not simple, static, or binary and that gender identity also has biological aspects."

For whatever reason people online are more interested in being outraged

I agree. People should be more calm, even when corrected. Being outraged doesn't help. It only acts to cement our mind in preconceived ideas. Changing our minds when provided more information that counters our previous beliefs is something that should be commended, not fled from.

Yes, but it's bad for everyone but them. The reason doesn't really matter. It's the same as always. It's mostly the same conditions that led to the last rise in fascism.

Yeah, this is a strangely euro-centric viewing. It needs to include so many more places. Russia is a big one that's missing, for another example, and there are a ton more. We're in bad economic times, which is where Fascists thrive. On the good side, leftists can also take advantage of it to actually help people if they succeed.

From my experience, usually they don't. Even the ones that do aren't to the same degree as a car is required to. I want biking to be better than driving, so this is not an anti-bike comment. Maybe we need to add a requirement for bikes to have lights like we require for cars?

What about people with testis but no penis? What about people with XY chromosomes but a vagina? What about people with a penis and vagina?

"Basic biology" is the problem. You think a high school course was enough for you to have a complete understanding of biology. Biology is complex and messy, which your class didn't discuss. It taught rigid definitions, which don't exist in nature. Hormones define biological development. Every individual has different levels of different hormones, and also things just happen strangely sometimes too.

There's also an issue with intersex people where some are born with both male and female genitals and the doctor (without consulting anyone else) may remove components the baby was born with to make them fit the rigid definition of male or female that they decided.

Nature is complex. Not understanding the complexity is fine, as long as you don't pretend to. If you insist that your understanding is complete though then you're arrogant and ignorant. It's best not to be that way because it prevents learning and improving yourself.

Assigned at birth is referring to what the doctor writes on your birth certificate. It's not complicated. It has nothing to do with gender.

Same thing usually.