100% it is artificial and socially constructed. I don’t think Adam’s Sexual Politics of Meat has it all right but it has some interesting ideas about cultural messages about meat and masculinity and got me started thinking about it. (It was written for a Daly class, and Daly is the reason there’s a strain of radical feminism that things womyn are magical spirit beings that are tainted by being in any form of contact with an XY chromosome. There’s a reason Limbaugh attacked Dworkin and not Daly and Raymond cough)

It’s a strange phenomenon.

When I was vegetarian as a teenager, my mother would do things like secretly cook my fake bacon in bacon fat and then reveal the trick afterwards - “oh that tasted better than usually didn’t it?” The TTI facility I was at for a bit would only provide me with just plates of unseasoned canned vegetables, and then crow about how I didn’t care that much about being veg because I wouldn’t eat just a straight bowl of peas.

I think some of it is a weird discomfort/projection thing, because many meat eaters haven’t really seriously engaged with the ethics of eating meat and the existence of other people who have can be seen as a threat. Again - not all people who eat meat - but I think in a world where we are very abstracted from that process of killing the animal the existence of vegans/vegetarians and their food forces some folks to confront their own cognitive dissonance on the matter.

I think this also speaks to the fact that cattle farming (that’s for the US, but I think this also applies in the UK, where this group is from) is heavily monopolized industry. A lot of people claiming to “speak for small farmers” are bad actors who are advocating policies which actually benefit big Ag.

No Farmers No Food looks to be one of these right wing conspiracists outfits associated with this phenomenon.

“NO FARMERS NO FOOD: WILL YOU EAT THE BUGS?” is an Epoch Original documentary exposing the hidden agenda behind global “Green Policies,” the untold stories of farmers forced out of business, the disruption this will have on our food supply, and why edible bugs are suddenly being pushed to the fore as a “Global Green Solution.”

EpochTV program “Facts Matter” host Roman Balmakov travels around the world to investigate this next global food crisis that is being ignored by the world’s media.

Edit: the guy who runs it isn’t even a farmer.

I think that specific account strengthens my argument even more.

Wasn’t it a major plot point that people meant for consumption were instead being used as sex slaves? (Been a long time - I literally read the series when I was 10. Not the best parenting decision there)

Yes - it is that way for normal people. Notice the amount of qualifiers in my original statement.

There is a disturbing undercurrent to some people’s understanding of meat - to the point where people like Jordan Peterson (others too) have made themselves sick on “carnivore” diets.

I am talking about the kind of people mentioned in the OP that are upset that fake meat options exist. Part of the reason these people are upset - because any rational meat eater would be like cool, more food options - is that they view synthetic meats or even people choosing not to eat meat as an attack on their personal identity, which for these individuals is constructed around this weird patriarchal nationalist thing.

When I get a honey butter chicken biscuit from Whata, I’m doing it because I’m hungry and those things taste like crack. For some men, eating meat is something they have this complex about - you eat a steak because you aren’t a weak little soy boy.

What? What am I a straw man of? I currently eat meat. This is a clear phenomenon that exists.

In Transmetropolitan where they can lab grow whatever they want, I think one of Spider Jerusalem’s favorites was polar bear eyes.

Meat eating ties into a lot of people conceptions of masculinity. The idea that you might be eating something that didn’t have to die takes the power and dominance out of it - a sexual politics of meat if you will.

I’m not saying this is true of everyone who eats meat - but there is a certain type that this unambiguously true for. Think of the guys with the aviator glasses sitting in the truck pfp - eating dead cow is as American and masculine as fucking women.

(Think about how much the absolutely stupid “if vegs hate meat so much, why do they make fake meat?” sounds like “if lesbians don’t like mean, why do they use dildos?)

I dig it. I’ve been wanting to go to Mooseburger to add some pinache to my science lectures, more “traditional” clowning but it is cool that it’s not just “clowns are scary” anymore.

As a family game - it makes sense to have that kind of “Mario Party” random bullshit that gives the worst player a chance to catch up. Sometimes the 6 year old deserves a break.

I broke Clue when I was 10 - I figured out that you could fish for a specific item, place or person if you guess two of them that you’re holding. If no one can show you that card, you’ve confirmed the candlestick or whatever, and you also haven’t really revealed that much.

Most of the classic family games suck. Life, Chutes and Ladders, Candyland are all “random number says you win!” Monopoly can get some life from being treated like a social/backstabbing game at least.

Adding money to the free space though at least gives you an opportunity to get back in the game. Admittedly, that’s how it extends the game, but the alternative is just the misery of slowly losing knowing that there’s nothing you can do.

If I’m going to invest 8+ hours into a board game though, I’d rather Axis and Allies or a war game though. Even 8 hours of The Campaign for North Africa would probably be a better use of time than “does 2d6 say you win?”

When did “clown” become such a common fetish?

There’s like a bit of a “clown” renaissance in general, like a lot of younger adults (mid twenties?) are super into clowning out of nowhere.

In 1936, Magritte’s marriage became troubled when he met a young performance artist, Sheila Legge, and began an affair with her. Magritte arranged for his friend, Paul Colinet, to entertain and distract Georgette, but this led to an affair between Georgette and Colinet. Magritte and his wife did not reconcile until 1940.

“That’s my wife! I don’t know you!”

The Nixon NTR arc is tragic though.