Everyone has their hot takes- opinions they hold that a majority wouldn't agree with. The hotter the take, the more unpopular it is- the really hot ones might even get you some funny looks if you go outside in a public area and scream them as loud as you can (go on, try it!)
Our hot takes are what make us who we are, if you agree with everyone all the time, then that's so boring, what are you even doing? (THIS IS NOT A SHOT AT RKRALLONOR!!)
So, I decided that a great way for us CYStians to get to know one another and get closer as a community (or kill one another in the heat of battle) is to share our hot takes with one another- but if we take it a step further, I want to know how difficult it would be for the community to identify users based ONLY on their hot takes. That is why I present to you...
Below, there is a Google Form for our community to send in their hot takes, and then, every few days, I (Sherbet) will post one of them, omitting the username of course, and the rest of the community can then take guesses on who the hot take belongs to. Guess correctly first and win something, probably!
RULES
-You can guess the user's identity only once when the initial hot take is posted. If nobody guesses correctly for a day or so, a small hint will be revealed, at which point an additional guess can be made (this cycle may repeat an additional time or two). You can make one guess for every hint that I (Sherbet) give. Guesses do not carry over between hints!
-No guessing yourself on your own hot take!
-If you're a noob with like no posts or personality and nobody could reasonably guess you, then your take had better be SCALDING hot
-Hot takes should not be cold takes
-Hot takes should not be boring
Submission Form
Do you mean that the user in question shouldn't post at all or should he intentionally post someone else? Cause the former would make it obvious.
I recently had this conversation with a friend! I can't remember any of the takes we discussed though...
Am I reasonably guessable enough?
People in triple shame should be banned if inactive for more than 6 months.
Actually that's not a bad idea.
Alright, fine, I'll go with Ben
I'm going to pick someone out of the blue and say Avo!
A good idea, but not mine.
Gonna go with a wild guess here, but DBNB.
As someone pointed out, it can't be a mod because they wouldn't wanna track that.
And it has to be someone who is "serious" about this site.
Serious? Me? lol
To be honest I don't give any thought to who is in any level of the shame pit, including myself.
Cavus?
HINT #1
The user has less than 2000 points.
I'll go with Malk this time
No, strike that, I'm guessing Liminal
Malk has under 2k points?
No clue, lol. Hence me changing my guess to Liminal
Just looked at his profile, and he has somewhere around 7k points, lol. Almost 4x as much as the hint! Glad I didn't go with him as my answer
I was shocked- I thought all the mods were rich, glad to see I wasn't wrong.
The hot take belonged to Liminal!
With the reasoning;
Clogging up the abyssal rape scorpion pit.
XD
wait what, really?
Tbh, I didn't expect it to be him; I was just shooting in the dark, lol
Wildblue?
A grapefruit.
I will not read a storygame if it is item-based. Writers: just use variables! I hate items!
Enterpride, he mentioned this.
Every single CYStian I know? Does anyone even like items? I think maybe only Mystic.
I'll just randomly say mizal.
If that's the case then it isn't a hot take anymore.
Uhhhh, I really don't know anyone except Enter who has this opinion, so I'm going to take another shot in the dark and say that it's MHD
Intelligent people have that opinion. Items suck
Or at least the way most folks use them generally suck. Gryphon has a game with items that I like.
Secrets of the Crag uses some items. It is a really good dungeon crawler, and one of my more favorite games here.
The hot take belonged to MHD!
It is so tedious to click through items. And oftentimes a story does not even need to rely on them at all.
Unscapeable is on a roll with these blind guesses. What are the winning lottery numbers?
What's the format?
##-##-##-##-##?
#####?
#-#-#-#-#?
I'll make something up, but I need at least something to go off of, so I'll go ahead and assume that it's the first variation.
Your winning lottery numbers are:
25 63 92 78 64
Although now I kinda want to know if they are the winning numbers, lol; I do like to gamble sometimes. Shame I don't know how to do it.
the fuck?
I knew I was lucky, but I didn't think I was this lucky!
To the last two guessers, Avo and Celicni: Sherbet just called me from the hospital. The rancid fumes of your poisonous ignorance have given him cancer and he's too frail to even log in. Both of you are wrong. So hideously, disgustingly wrong, that he wouldn't have responded in person even if he could, and only for the sake of the game being able to move on from your wretched attempts at reasoning does he deign to request that I do the filthy work of shovelling your shit out from between the gears of this operation. "Fuck you," says sherbet, "Damn and blast the both of you to the bloody bowels of hell!" He said those exact words. I've never seen sherbet upset like this. Do better.
Cripes, I saw Enter mention it :/
Mine would've just stopped at: "I will not read a storygame"
Rita's Italian Ice is the best thing to dip a soft pretzel in
Time to see how far my luck will go:
CavusRex?
Well they could be in any one of these wretched states.
Never heard of this, though given the more solid nature of Italian Ice, I'm guessing they're waiting awhile for it to melt before doing this vile shit.
And the folks dipping fries into frosty milkshakes are just as vile.
All of you need to be rounded up into camps.
Malt vinegar on fries is based obviously.
What about Wendy's nuggets?
You're not suppose to be dipping anything into your frosty. Let alone meat if any kind.
A lot of foods just aren't supposed to be mixed together and I don't know when in society we started allowing this degenerate form of dining but the line must be drawn here. This far and no further!
Have you even tried dipping your fries into a milkshake?
I will say, however, that the fries and shake have to be just right, or else it does taste off. If you can manage to get them perfect, though, then it's amazing.
And a sewer rat might taste like vanilla ice cream, I'll never know because I'm not eating one. Same with dipping a potato into chocolate slurry.
You continue being a degenerate though, it's a free country.
I'm gonna guess Will11.
Having never heard of that brand before, I'm going to assume it's American and rule out anyone in other parts of the world. I'll guess Yummyfood just because it's a food-related take.
The hot take belonged to Yummyfood!
Don't knock it until you try it
New Thought as a pervasive pop culture phenomenon is the direct cause of much of what's wrong in the United States.
I'm thinking either Daji or Milton. Could be Flux.
Malk?
Mousecore already said that, and considering Mizal's reply I would say it's probably wrong.
Oh, whoops. Guess I'll have to wait for the next clue, lol
The user is not an admin.
Sent?
Lock of shame.
I had to google the term and still don't quite understand it, so no.
My hot take will probably not be posted due to being too spicy but is actually similar, being something along the lines of
X is the direct cause of much of what's wrong in the ̶U̶n̶i̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶S̶t̶a̶t̶e̶s̶ world.
I am aware most relevant people have seen the take anyway. And even if they didn't, it would be the easiest guess ever.
Hating on faeries is a distraction. Hell, so is hating on orcs. Those groups are just useful idiots for the real enemy, the gnomes.
If we were being attacked by demons from the Abyss, and illithids from the Far Realm, and I had one meteor swarm spell, I’d cast it at the Golden Hills
Everything bad that’s happening in the world…would still happen, but at least I would’ve killed a whole lot of gnomes!
Cavus? TheCanary?
It's one guess per hint given. At the time of guessing you had given two. 🫵
I'll guess benholman
HINT #2
The user joined the site within the last five years.
HINT #3
The user is a Warden.
Milton, my one guess is Milton.
Tim?
....Soooo do I get another guess or was that my one guess? :(
Noooo! Please, Sherb, give me one more chance! I'll be good!
wait, I didn't know daji was a warden, she has a very marauder personality. Has anybody guessed her yet? I can't do it no more because sherbet killed me, but someone else should.
The hot take belonged to Daji!
Bootstrap capitalist witchcraft.
The puzzles/games category is actually super duper dope and needs more love! I mean seriously, it has a ton of cool games but almost nobody ever talks about them.
The hot take belonged to RK!
It's hard to make a challenging puzzle with the CYS editor, but the puzzles and games category boasts games that do a really good job. I don't usually see much reviewing activity on those games, and usually, people don't make new storygames in the puzzle/games category, which is a shame because the featured ones are awesome! And there are a few great puzzles/games storygames like Blackwell's Diamonds and Dream Thief that are criminally underrated. I first discovered the site through the Puzzles/games category, so I'm super passionate about it lol. Besides that, no other hot takes, CYS rules!
No pizza toppings taste good
Can't be Mizal- she guessed on it.
D:<
I am going to gut you.
That would fit in with your hell-demon nature /j
Well what am I supposed to do to express anger while not qualifying as a hell demon?! ><
Good point
What? There is no opposite of what I said, it was a statement/question of how I could express an emotion without you labeling me. :/
The whole thing was a joke anyways.
UD.
Hey! Just because I like pineapple on pizza doesn't mean I like to have plain pizza dough!
You do? ...
And it's not. Plain. DOUGH!!!!
(ᗒᗣᗕ)
How DARE you! (/j)
Don't hate on it until you've tried it!
I have!
The hot take belonged to Avo!
Vegetables on pizza is the worst idea human kind has every come up with. I don't even want to talk about pineapple on pizza. And I hate anchovies, mushrooms, pepperoni (this one is more acceptable), sausage (good! Not on pizza), onions, olives, and anything else I forgot. Well, unless I haven't had it.
I like veggies, just not on pizza. Have you tried steamed broccoli?
It is not BARE DOUGH!!! A pizza with no toppings is called a CHEESE PIZZA! I am not dumb, it is not bad, it's my unique opinion not many agree with THAT'S WHY IT'S A HOT TAKE!!!
>:(
>:^(
Extra cheese is a topping.
Also given the response I think Avo has the strongest hot take so far
Thank you. :)
Actually the opposite...
Perhaps it is the controversy itself that makes it a hot take. Philosophers have asked what a pizza is for a thousand years and more. But will we ever know? I don't know. But this video I think highlights the existential pizza crisis we as a society find ourselves in:
PUSHING DOWN PUSHING DOWN
A pizza with no cheese is a crime! This is all slander of the highest order
Pushing down
Haze (ps3) is great, even better than the entire CoD franchise
No clue what any of that is, so I'm saying... Fabrikant?
Just to cover bases well, I'm going to guess Chris.
Dies.
:/
*2nd Boss Phase Begins*
Liminal?
Part of the user's explanation for the take is as follows;
"They only made as many as they needed to, they don't need to shit out another turd year by year."
I am convinced it is Cel
I don't know who you are, why do you keep insulting me like this?
Enter?
The hot take belonged to Sent!
They only made as many as they needed to, they don't need to shit out another turd year by year. Haze was released as "The Halo-Killer", but they never released any Haze-Killers because they knew it couldn't be done. This game invented yellow before Deus Ex Detroit did it. I'll fuckin fight you, I'll fight the WHOLE TOWN on this. I'll fight YOUR grandmother!
Today we learned that Chris is not a real carnivore
Wait, Sherbet, would I be considered guessable?
Jews are running society and are going to make us all their slaves unless we rise up
The hot take belonged to Cel!
Who is the major owner of most media companies, banks and so on? They certainly seem to be in all kinds of positions of power, America sure seems to be sucking Israel's cock a lot and sending billions in aid, 99% of US politicans are Israel funded. And don't even get me started on the Kalergi plan (that's not even a conspiracy theory, that's a 177 page UN document you can look at yourself). AI will price us out of everything, as is happening with computers right now.
Who turned the pickles red?? Make them blue! Blue is hotter than red!
that happens when you leave shit in the sun
That's why there's a rule about it, and because they post asking they make it easier by hinting that one will be theirs.
Anyone with a smartwatch and a smartphone should have their watch replaced with a mechanical one immediatly.
Cyclonis!
Time to test my luck again! Mizal?
Ogre11?
The hot take belonged to UnscapeableDeath!
For one, mechanical watches don't die on you due to having been accidentally activated too many times. And if you already have a smartphone, then there isn't anything better that a smartwatch is affording you, except for maybe the very crappy "health monitoring," which is almost completely useless anyways. If you actually need to monitor something, then you can probably buy something for cheaper overall that will last longer, won't die on you randomly, and will be much more accurate.
Mousecore
I'm getting thrown off by the misspelling of immediatly, hmm. I'll randomly guess Fabrikant.
It was mostly because you're online and have actively participated in the thread, otherwise I would've guessed Ace for the Aceism (though he doesn't seem like the type to hate smart watches either).
Tyler Robinson didn’t shoot Charlie Kirk
Cel
Maybe you needed to refresh?
I remember :)
What are you talking about dude I'm pretty sure his neck just did that
For some reason I can perfectly picture Fabrikant saying this. I guess Fabrikant.
...
Enter.
Wildblue
The user has been on the site for more than 3 years.
Fluxion?
Anthraxus
Sent
I didn't think so but possibly.
The user has less than 1500 points.
Wizzy!
Damn-
TypedRooster?
Anthraxus?
Is it BEN?!
The hot take belonged to Ben!
I genuinely believe that it was the boyfriend, Lance Twiggs, who committed the assassination and that the conversation between the two of them was pre-planned for Tyler to take the heat. Twiggs was a trans woman with a history of being thrown out of his parents place, and according to a relative, really hates MAGA and conservatives, whereas Tyler Robinson had not shown any outward signs of hostility towards the group other than the Discord messages AFTER the shooting. There was also the fact that Twiggs did not call the police or work with them until they came to the house, as well as that upon the ending of his police protection, Twiggs fled Utah and retained an attorney.
Hmmm... DBNB, then.
He has more than 1500 points (just imagine I put Sherb's gif here).
I thought it said more, my bad. I'll stomp myself out, though.
It was the man on the grassy knoll.
I'm guessing Cyclonis as the only one in this thread who fits the description, unless I've missed someone.
Spoons are the best utensil
The hot take belonged to Ace!
Spaghetti? Spoon. Salad? Spoon. Meat? Hands. Waffles? Okay fine fork.
All of these are fork foods (or in the case of the last two, a combination of fork and knife).
Meat? Hands.
Guess we've got another member of the LGBBQ tribe here.
LGBTQ+, not LGBBQ.
?
I don't understand what he's referring to here either, but I know it isn't the LGBTQ+ group (although in some scenarios, I guess it could be). You'll understand whenever you're older, but do not seek out this knowledge until your parents/school explain it to you on their own time.
Ok...?
Hey VV, let me help you.
You see, this is a play on words where I insult Ace's heterosexuality while at the same time bringing up barbecue because we are talking about meat.
Hope this helps.
...???
BBQ = Barbecue, and they were talking about meat and people barbecue meat (I cannot phrase anything correctly holy cow)
Ace may be heterosexual, and it's very haha funny to call straight people gay. I agree
So it's a play on words where instead of the acronym LGBTQ, it's LGBBQ. Changed because it sounds similar. Am I helping?? (Not trying to seem passive-aggressive by the way, genuinely trying to help!)
Yes, but are you sure? I mean no offense- but you're also young and it seemed it was something worse? I dunno.... And I know what BBQ is, I'd dare to say you're probably younger than me.
I was sure, but I'm not sure anymore! You have made me doubt myself!!! >:P
We'll see what these old people say hehe /joke
Sorry...
No, you're good.
Also, I bet there's no way you're older than me! You're, like, 11-12! (No offense)
Actually, I recently turned 13. And if you're older, you don't act much like it (no offense meant).
HA! So I am older! I act sort of childish. But I'm not childish all the time.
Ok then. Still don't like being treated like a little child so dumb I don't know what BBQ is >:/
I wasn't trying to do that!!!
Yeah, I am mostly blind. Less so than Avo, but only by slightly, lol.
I'm not sure if blind is the right term because blindness is permanent and we don't know nothing, and I would imagine you would know more than I do because you have more years (well unless you're uneducated but I'd guess that you very much are).
That's true, though it does still capture the essence of the situation.
As hilarious as this is, spaghetti and salads are fork foods; any claim that they are not is blasphemy. Otherwise, your claims are perfectly sound. Just make sure you are handling the meat properly; it can get messy if you do it wrong.
Also, and this is just a quick side tangent here, but assuming that this wasn't suggested in the manner that I think it was (which I highly doubt), some types of meat are legitimately meant to be eaten without any utensils; e.g., chicken, crab, calamari, etc.
Ogre11
We will never have another child who joins the site and blossoms into a good member.
Just me then?
Very unlikely
So not me then?
EDIT: Yeah not me then.
I'll take up whoever wrote this on this! >:)
Do you mean you'll try being a good member? If so, good luck! :D
Yes, that's what I mean, lol!! That wasn't good phrasing on my behalf.
It's fine, makes sense. So I assume this means you're a kid?
EDIT: Sorry, kinda obvious, just me trying to keep the conversation going because that's what I'm used to. 😅
No, I'm actually 35.
No, I'm just joshing. Yeah, I am :P I was kinda planning on not saying anything at first because I'm used to being shunned off of sites for it.
LOL, I wouldn't have believed you if you said 35. I'ev nevwer heard someone say joshing before. I can understand you getting shunned if there's inappropriate content they don't want you exposed to but besides that I don't see why they would do that.
Hey! I commissioned Liminal!
Mizal? Wait, was she already guessed? I wasn't paying attention.
No, she wasn't. You can easily tell by scrolling up and checking.
Yeaaa, I did that after I posted this.
Yummyfood was already on here!
That's fair, lol
Thanks for that. It seems like something I could say. However, I consider myself much too new here to hold a take like that.
The user's account is over 2 years old.
The hot take belonged to Malk!
Because of things like AI and constant dopamine drips, children are drooling illiterates now in a way that was not the case in previous generations. The next generation will not write for pleasure at all.
Oh, he didn't mean one or a couple kids on CYS now are all the good they're going to get, he meant from the past... that makes more sense. ...Still not happy about it though.
Ben?
EndMaster idk
Suranna
The Dutch are a pretty okay people
Weirdly, this sounds like something I would say.
But even though it is lacking effusive praise and positivity, I will guess RK.
The hot take belonged to Enter!
Well, for the argument one should ignore Darius given that his Asiatic roots befuddle the conclusion, but this enterpride fellow seems like a pretty okay dude.
True. Enter is no Eddie Van Halen, but he's alright.
I don't know what things are like between Poland and the Netherlands, but I'll guess Cavus.
You, Sherbet?
Contests are too long, it should not take more than one month to write a story
Mizal
lol
I don't think so; she hasn't finished hers for the current contest yet, and it's definitely been more than a month.
I would love that, but I'm afraid I don't think I could pull a whole story in a month and I know there are people with less time than me.
Shucks, that was my second guess.
stories_unwritten
The hot take belonged to stories_unwritten!
I have looked at the previous competitions and it appears many only start writing at the end of the contest. But they still run out of time !!
Plus, she already turned in her contest story - about one month in.
It's surprisingly good as well, considering how short a timeframe it was worked on for.
Wait- it's a she?! Oops...
Ahhh, that makes sense.
If you're sufficiently motivated, you might even be able to make a full storygame in just an hour, although that would be quite the stretch.
Your teeth are soft when you aren't looking/eating or touching them
I wouldn't know because I'm always aware of my tongue
This is just straight-up false. It isn't a hot take; it's just not true.
Is it Ogre11?
It's not the same, but I am trying to get braces here soon-ish. They're bloody expensive though.
Oh, and I know that it's surprisingly easy to shatter teeth, even accidentally. I don't think you can easily shatter something soft.
There is a strong sherbian energy to this
Can the same person submit multiple hot takes? Cause I would swear it's sent.
The user has more than 1500 points.
Is it Enter?
Mystic?
The user's account was created more than 5 years ago.
Wizzy?
You can't prove me wrong.
Let's say you go to the dentist and they numb your whole fucking mouth to drill into your teeth. Despite the complete lack of feeling or sight of your teeth, you can still hear the horrific scraping of drill bit on hard enamel.
In most RPGs and storygames, nuanced combat systems are not enjoyable, and their presence actively makes the game worse
Mizal?
People can't guess on their own take
I believe the instructions are you cannot guess yourself on your own hot take. Someone conspicuously absent from guessing might be a giveaway as to the owner of the take.
Well, you were the first person that came to mind of those of us that would use the word "nuanced" in a sentence, and thought it was possible you threw in a crazy take to throw people off.
if it's not a joke of a take this individual should be exiled.
Bruh.
This is not a hot take, this is bait.
Sherbet?
I'm catching lots of strays in this thread, what the hell!
The user is not a Warden.
Why does it seem everyone's forgetting that you can't guess on your own take. I'm not saying Enter is, but because Fabrikant guessed, it's obvious it's not him :/
"No guessing yourself on your own hot take!"
You can still guess someone else to purposely mislead others. If you couldn't guess on your own hot take at all, it would just be a matter of figuring out who hasn't guessed anyone yet and choosing from them.
I explained this to her a couple days ago. I'm not sure why she still thinks this way.
Sabley?
Could it be MHD for the third time? Maybe she had item-based combat systems in mind or something like that.
This is puzzling. I thought all the retarded people were wardens. Or is it that all the wardens are retarded people? Except for Enter of course. He's Dutch.
So BEN?
The user has been on the site for over 3 years.
Is it DARIUS?!
Uhhhhh... CavusRex? Idk at this point tbh, lol.
It would be kinda funny if another one of my blind shots in the dark actually worked
The user has published at least 3 storygames.
No, not mine. This take is way too retarded for even me.
Yes, I do think so. It is a retarded take, but you are, of course, entitled to your stupid opinion.
Edit: And the take doesnt say in some poorly written games, it says in MOST RPG and storygames.
The key issue with this "take" is the person said "most".
I can definitely agree on a few games where gameplay is trash and story is good, but for most games the gameplay exists to enhance the story. Otherwise play a visual novel.
If you know your shit well, detailed combat is an enhancement.
I'm guessing Celicni just because he has noticeably not guessed this take.
I cannot believe this take was submitted by the person with an article titled 'Coding Item-Based Battle Sequences'. I thought you were among the least likely people for this one, it's like me submitting a hot take that most stories do not need to be longer than 30k words.
Ok you saved yourself with that explanation Gryphon. I had my pitchforks ready, but given it's not about video games I'm okay with this.
Eternal isn't actually that good
The hot take belonged to UD!
I'm not certain how it got such a high rating, but I found it only mildly enjoyable. It had a lot of SPAG errors, plot holes, and, in my opinion, didn't pull off the massive scope of the project well. Apologies, Endmaster; Maybe I'll find a different storygame of yours that I enjoy.
Lol, that was quick
Kill yourself
Lol, no. I have too much fun staying alive to go out like that.
If I ever do die, it will be a spectacle.
"Goodbye, everybody, I've got to go Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth ban."
I should probably make a will or something...
A will for what? XD
Points, Commendations, Brownie Points, Storygames, the Large Hadron Collider, Profile Banners; All the usual stuff.
Of course I can't pay the electricity bill to use it fully, I just won it off a bet with Liminal a month and a half ago.
I just use it to host massive races.
ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ⁱⁿˢᵘʳᵃⁿᶜᵉ ᵇⁱˡˡˢ ᵃʳᵉ ᶜᵒˢᵗˡʸ ᵉⁿᵒᵘᵍʰ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ⁱ ᶜᵃⁿ ᵒⁿˡʸ ᵈᵒ ᵃ ˡⁱᵍʰᵗ ˢʰᵒʷ ᵒⁿᶜᵉ ᵉᵛᵉʳʸ ʷᵉᵉᵏ
What's wrong with the i's in that last line?
Tiny text generators don't like I's; they all get turned into i's.
Not sure why everyone thinks UD is going to get banned or points taken off for not liking any of my stories, people are free to like and not like things. Pretty sure my style isn’t for him especially from what I know of his personality on here.
It’s also a case of not really respecting UD’s general takes on on most things anyway, so doesn’t really matter to me if he likes something or not. If it was someone like say Cavus then I’d take it a bit more seriously.
But even in a case like that, it’s one person out of several that doesn’t like something. You can’t obsess about the one person who didn’t like you compared to the 10 that did.
Cousin marriage should be socially acceptable
Endmaster?
Suranna the Mormon
You missed the heretic update
Darius?
Ace?
The user's account was created within the last 2 years.
Clayfinger?
The user has not yet published a storygame.
The hot take belonged to SpecialOlympic!
Everyone in history already did it before society got too woke and "progressive", that's how we got hapsburg chins. People are already dumb, who cares if people get dumber through inbreeding? "Gross" is a subjective New-Thought term that is fundamentally meaningless. You should marry someone you know well, and besides your siblings, who else do you know better than your cousins?
Ah, yes, let's all inbreed and have low genetic diversity! I'm sure the higher infant mortality won't matter at all. And inbreeding is famously great at ensuring that species survive; After all, it's not like having a higher chance that a single strain of cold wipes us all out due to having a loss of immune system function is that important. And it's definitely okay that there will be increased cardiovascular risks. And no one cares about the various genetic disorders, like blindness, hearing loss, diabetes, limb malformations, or schizophrenia, that occur due to having a smaller genetic pool. After all, inbreeding being "gross" is just a "subjective New-Thought term that is fundamentally meaningless," and isn't frowned upon for any other reason other than the fact that society has come to dislike it over the years due to a shift in culture.
Oh, and I care about people not getting dumber. As you said, it's already happening, and it's having a noticeable effect on everything that I don't particularly enjoy.
PM me if you really want to hear me ranting about it.
(This applies to everyone, btw)
And it has more to do with genetics and evolution than the immune system, although they are closely related topics, and I do know a decent amount about all of them. Enough to yap about them, at the very least, although the quality of the yapping is currently unknown. I have been unable to discern its quality as of yet, since it's very hard to get people to agree to listen to me yap about the immune system (or any topic, really) and essentially grade it.
I feel like I'm missing something here, but okay...
(tl;dr: Don't read this nerdy yapping from a non-expert.)
The Samaritans are bringing in outside brides (especially from Ukraine and Eastern Europe) to save their people, since they are a tiny endogamous community and seem to have been that way for thousands of years. It's unfortunate since they are one of the most historically continuous communities in the world, but they're under a thousand people, and relatively recently were less than two hundred. Years of health issues from this have forced them to accept outsiders, and very few local women were willing to convert and live in such a tiny, strict community.
I guess my point here is that you're right, UnescapableDeath, but sometimes people do it to preserve something—in their case, their heritage, customs, and to resist dissolving into Jewish, Christian or Muslim populations, so they remain the same continuous people, made up of the same ancestral lines, going back thousands of years.
The Samaritans preserved the only surviving descendant of Paleo-Hebrew script (which is closely related to Phoenician). They believe they are the true inheritors of Moses' law (rejecting the Prophets and the Writings of the Jewish Bible, believing only in the Pentateuch), still worship on Mount Gerizim (where they believe Abraham was given his test from God regarding Isaac and where Joshua built an altar).
Given how long they've been doing this (thousands of years, rarely marrying outside the group), and the script they use, they're one of the closest things we have to a living representative of the old Levantine world (with the Phoenicians probably being the most famous ancient Canaanites). So, it's kind of sad. But unfortunately, with such low numbers, hereditary problems become harder and harder to avoid, and they may not make it if they don’t add new blood.
I guess I'm kind of a dweeb for being sad about this. But it seems like they were a time capsule, and because of these genetic issues from such low diversity, their choices are bringing in outsiders or dying out.
Some links for the interested:
Encyclopedia Britannica: Samaritan
Reconstruction of patrilineages and matrilineages of Samaritans and other Israeli populations from Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA sequence variation
Maternal and paternal lineages of the Samaritan isolate: mutation rates and time to most recent common male ancestor
Oh, nice, scientific papers! I'll check them out later.
And it is very sad that the Samaritans have such a small population, and I do wish that there was some way to get it back up again without having to resort to inbreeding/incest.
(A tangent about evolution is up ahead. You have been warned)
In fact, the problem of a unique group with a low population being forced to inbreed is a problem that I have thought about before, specifically when it comes to evolution (yes, I know, I bring it up way too often alongside the immune system), as for a species to become, well, a species, it needs to split off from a different species, which requires them to be distinct enough that the two can't (usualy) have intercourse. However, when they cross this invisible line (which is admittedly very blurry and near impossible to define), they are now only able to reproduce within their own species, which (I think) typically starts off with a very small population, forcing them to inbreed, which is known to have numerous negative impacts on the species as a whole.
(Tangent is now over; Apologies for doing more nerdy yapping.)
I was going to tie this back into the Samaritan problem, but I left the keyboard for too long after writing the tangent that I don't remember how I was going to do so. Suffice it to say that it is a very sad and real problem that has no good solution.
The process by which you came into existence. How it happened is a great puzzle that we're trying to figure out.
Huh, TIL. This is very interesting, thank you for informing me!
And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let himb go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.
The first exorcism?
EDIT: wait, no I think that might be King Saul and David.
Alright, you seem to have a lot of misconceptions regarding what I'm arguing against here, so I'll attempt to clear it up as much as I can. Please let me know if any part of this confuses you.
There is some cultural divergence here on this topic (not necessarily applicable here). I don't know where SpecialOlympic is from, or if fucks his male cousin or what, or what his religion is, but be aware that in general you risk being labled a bigot or racist for denouncing first-cousing marriage. See Surah Al-Ahzab (33:50) for more information.
Wait, no minimum age? Goddamn, and here I thought it was around 16-20. (Which is still a tad low for my liking, but it's better than no minimum at all)
Rooster (Before the hammer came down)