kaanski (u/kaanski) - Readit News

kaanski commented on Steam Deck vs. Asus ROG Ally Arch Linux Gaming Performance phoronix.com/review/steam... · Posted by u/HieronymusBosch

taeric · 3 years ago

Feels like an amazing time to be a computer gamer, all told. I'm perfectly happy with my Deck, and more than happy to support building more. I'm also more than happy that they are getting competition in this space. Excited to see things progress.

I do think more companies and games should consider using the touchpad approach that the deck has. Works remarkably well, once you get used to it. I really like the games that have one mapped to be the full screen, and the other more like a traditional computer touch pad.

kaanski · 3 years ago

I agree and would add that it's a particularly good time to be a Linux gamer. I recently started downloading games in Fedora on my dual booted machine and so many games support Linux officially now, I think the success of steam deck has contributed to this.

For games that don't officially support Linux, Steam's Proton means most of mine bar two run perfectly on Fedora.

I haven't booted up Windows in months, a good outcome.

kaanski commented on UN Human Rights Chief Urges UK to Reverse ‘Deeply Troubling’ Public Order Bill ohchr.org/en/press-releas... · Posted by u/BerislavLopac

hnhg · 3 years ago

It is actually rather opaque in the UK. It took a lot of work to find out the following, which not be the full of extent of what goes on: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/feb/08/royals-vette...

kaanski · 3 years ago

So the Queen read bills and gave her opinion on them, which is public record, before they were debated? And that constitutes political power?

It also states that this is a purely formal part of the parliamentary process and she never refused something being debated, even if she did parliament could override it.

I’d argue that if David Beckham tweeted his annoyance at a bill being passed it would have more influence. Not to mention the hundreds of lobby groups that get their way.

I think people forget that the relationship between Monarch and people in Britain has always been different to the rest of Europe. No Magna Carta or equivalent document was signed anywhere else in Europe in the 1200s. It took the famously rebellious France 150 years to abolish their monarch after the English did.

Personally I don’t mind the monarchy, if they replace it then fine, but I want it replaced with something decent. I definitely don’t want to see a US style presidential republic set up here, with executive orders, etc.

I’ve said this before in another thread but growing up as a not very well off ethnic minority the Queen seemed to care more about me than anyone in parliament. The monarch in the UK shows more civil devotion and service than any politician.

kaanski commented on UN Human Rights Chief Urges UK to Reverse ‘Deeply Troubling’ Public Order Bill ohchr.org/en/press-releas... · Posted by u/BerislavLopac

noirscape · 3 years ago

The main reason why the Netherlands at least doesn't care so much about their monarch is because the role is completely neutered by the Dutch constitution. The King or Queen functionally has zero power over much of anything - their role is pretty much entirely ceremonial in purpose (they can theoretically choose to not sign laws, but this would just result in them getting sidestepped).

This is in very stark contrast to the UK monarchy, which does hold very considerable power and control over the government still.

Its less "people approve of the system" and more "people don't have any issues with the system". Anti-monarchism just isn't really a thing here because the monarchy is just... kinda bland? The most solid argument here is that it's a money sink, which is a fair point but not enough for most to protest it.

kaanski · 3 years ago

> The King or Queen functionally has zero power over much of anything - their role is pretty much entirely ceremonial in purpose (they can theoretically choose to not sign laws, but this would just result in them getting sidestepped).

This is the same in the UK I’m not sure I see the stark difference. The Monarch doesn’t really have power over parliament.

TetraBeef commented on UK Campaigning to replace the Monarchy with an elected head of state twitter.com/RepublicStaff... · Posted by u/doener

robin_reala · 3 years ago

Direct political power is one thing, but indirect political power is very much another. The monarch gets briefed in advance on pretty much everything. Where there’s direct commercial impact to the crown’s businesses the laws are often changed to favour them.[1] There’s also a wide range of exceptions written into the UK’s legal system after direct political pressure specifically for the royal family.[2] This might be done in the shadows, but done it nevertheless is.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-interactive/2015/may/...

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jul/14/queen-immuni...

TetraBeef · 3 years ago

I think if you assembled a list of elected MPs who have changed laws to suit them or lead directly to their profit (the PPE scandal, the recent scandal with Rishi Sunaks wife owning shares in a company the government officially endorsed, etc). You’d have a much longer list than the laws the crown has influenced.

I think if you made a list of how many laws and bills have been influenced by private lobbying and donations you’d have an inconceivably large list.

My point earlier is that the wealthy get their say, the monarchy as an institution hold the same amount of political power as the wealthy in the UK, but they do not hold direct political power.

TetraBeef commented on UK Campaigning to replace the Monarchy with an elected head of state twitter.com/RepublicStaff... · Posted by u/doener

krapp · 3 years ago

Fair enough, I got a bit hyperbolic. Although I also consider monarchy and aristocracy evil by definition.

I feel like one obvious way to address the incontrovertible problems with the monarchy is to recognize that the system no longer serves any purpose besides acting as a symbol of imperialism and class hierarchy that has no place in the modern world, and dismantling it.

Keep the castles and whatnot for the tourist money but why still have a King?

TetraBeef · 3 years ago

To be honest this is already largely the case.

Most if not all of the castles and palaces in the UK are open to the public through the national trust. The Monarchy have multiple residences but apart from Windsor castle (which is open to the public when they’re not there) and Buckingham palace, they are mostly cottages or manors in the countryside.

The monarchy today is not seen by anyone as a symbol of imperialism and class hierarchy unless they explicitly set out to see them as a symbol of imperialism and class hierarchy.

They are mainly to most people a symbol of the country and its traditions. Again the monarchy has existed for a thousand years and has changed as society has changed. They are a reflection of the country that hosts them. Everyone is taught about the English civil war at school and knows that the monarch was beheaded and a republic was formed (150 years before the French Revolution). Nobody feels like the monarch has us under their thumb.

As an ethnic minority growing up in Britain I can tell you from my experience and the experiences I’ve heard from other ethnic minorities, the monarchy represented to me a more fair and kind view than the politicians we elected.

The Queen would have seen me (had we met) as a subject like any of her subjects regardless of race or class, she stood above it all and the monarchy still is above it all.

While the BNP and EDL were organising marches across the country the Monarchy actually made me feel like I belonged in the country I grew up in, that is a powerful thing.

TetraBeef commented on UK Campaigning to replace the Monarchy with an elected head of state twitter.com/RepublicStaff... · Posted by u/doener

krapp · 3 years ago

>but I struggle to understand how some people don't some to see any benefit of the system at all

The monarchy is a living remnant symbol of a thousand years of violence, slavery, genocide and theft. It's an insult to the rest of the world to keep up the farce of dressing up rich, pompous jackasses and parading them through palaces waving around scepters encrusted with blood jewels just because some British people like to pretend they live in Narnia instead of the real world.

The one royal the UK actually liked is dead now. (edit: OK not counting Diana.) It's time to burn it all the fuck down.

TetraBeef · 3 years ago

A thousand years is bit much.

A monarchy existed in the UK since the fall of Rome.

The monarch since the signing of the Magna Carta has had relinquished political power in England.

Since 1640 the monarch has been largely symbolic and subject to parliament.

The violence, slavery, genocide and theft was definitely present during a period of the history of the monarchy, and should be addressed.

But we cannot necessarily paint the entire history of the monarchy as evil.

kaanski commented on UK Campaigning to replace the Monarchy with an elected head of state twitter.com/RepublicStaff... · Posted by u/doener

robin_reala · 3 years ago

Do you believe that the current monarchy is politically neutral?

kaanski · 3 years ago

The monarch has not exercised direct political power since the English Civil War.

Yes they’re wealthy and have exercised power that wealth gives you but they’d still be wealthy if they were not a monarch.

If we want to talk about the power that money brings you in politics then we’re having a different discussion, a discussion that is not UK specific.

But yes the monarchy as an institution has not involved itself in political matters in living memory, and has not exercised political power (executive orders, vetoing bills) in centuries.

Parliament is the sovereign political power in the UK. If they wanted to they could pass a bill today that dismantled the crown and the monarchy.

kaanski commented on UK Campaigning to replace the Monarchy with an elected head of state twitter.com/RepublicStaff... · Posted by u/doener

kypro · 3 years ago

I wouldn't be opposed to the UK having two heads of state and reforming the monarchy somewhat, but I struggle to understand how some people don't some to see any benefit of the system at all.

kaanski · 3 years ago

Personally I like having a politically neutral head of state as a personification of the country.

An elected head of state will be impossible to keep politically neutral and inevitably will polarise things.

Maybe a system with an appointed head of state instead of elected, similar to peerages in the House of Lords. Someone vetted and trusted, approved by an elected parliament.

Although the Monarchy is already completely controlled by parliament which is democratically elected so I’m not sure what the difference would be.

kaanski commented on UK: Food inflation rises to 18.2% as it hits highest rate in over 45 years grocerygazette.co.uk/2023... · Posted by u/open-source-ux

Veen · 3 years ago

> In general there seems to be a weird zeitgeist of negative exceptionalism in the UK at the moment.

Especially on Hacker News. I tend to avoid UK-based posts on here because the content is fairly predictable: the UK is going to shit and Brexit is to blame, repeated ad nauseam in the absence of any evidence that it's true. If I wanted thoughtless UK doom mongering, I'd read the Guardian or the NYT.

kaanski · 3 years ago

Yeah I do the same. It seems to permeate into everything, even positives.

UK announcing research into x: comments will probably be negative and about how it’s a boondoggle.

UK company doing exciting stuff like fusion or quantum: comments will probably be negative and about how it’s a boondoggle.

It’s tiring.

Edit:

That being said it does lead to hilarious moments where I’ll read the Guardian and see a headline like “The NHS won’t make it to Christmas (for real this time) but it doesn’t matter because we’ll all be dead by then because of Brexit” and then I’ll see the Express in my corner shop with a headline like “Brexit HERO Boris makes Ursula von der Leyen CRY when he announced new BRITISH MOON BASE”