Fuck AI

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 27 points 1 month ago (1 child)

Fight Club was ahead of its time

parent

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 5 points 1 month ago* (1 child)

Unironically, Popular Science suggested that you pour used motor oil into a gravel filled hole along your back property line in the '50s or '60s. That may actually be what that Fight Club billboard was referencing.

parent

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Uh... What?

In Fight Club this was a prank, among many others, to mess with people. It was called Project Mayhem.

The Popular Science tips are akin to things like using old motor oil to keep termites out of a fence post. In an era when paint amd gasoline had lead in it, you could use oil to kill things! The gravel -filled hole was just to keep it from clumping, and putting it at the back of a property would be to keep the property line clear of growth.

hideshow 4 child comments

parent

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (1 child)

Yes, and when FC was written we had figured out how bad just pouring oil out was for the water table. I'm saying that the author may have been referencing the real PS tips that were severely outdated, when he made up this prank in FC.

Also, I'm pretty sure oil can still kill things, lead in the gas and paint notwithstanding.

parent

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 3 points 1 month ago

Yes, I've read most of not all of Chuck Palahniuk's novels. This isn't in the novel.

This is the late 90s/early 2000s Hollywood toxic masculinity version of a line from the book (I looked just now):

For thousands of years, human beings had screwed up and trashed and crapped on this planet, and now history expected me to clean up after everyone. I have to wash out and flatten my soup cans. And account for every drop of used motor oil. And I have to foot the bill for nuclear waste and buried gasoline tanks and landfilled toxic sludge dumped a generation before I was born.

So, when the movie was made, it struck a hard nerve with Douchbag guys who totally didn't get the point of the movie. In that vein, the era of late 1990s environmentalism came up against newly forming toxic male tropes. Prior to 9/11, even. After that, time changed dramatically, leaning towards the toxic masculinity side. What you're seeing is the seeds of this like rolling coal.