Anime avatars are often a coin toss between (potential) comrade and chud, so it may be fun and maybe helpful to think about and share those in the place of that old 
bellwether for chuddery.
Mine is anyone with “.eth” as a suffix in their online name. I have yet to see a single person that does that that isn’t a chud. 
It may even be cheating, but seeing an actual cryptofascist cartoon “original NFT do not steal” is a pretty reliable red flag too. 
EDIT: Oh yeah, I almost forgot. 
“The Art of War” is an express pass to Chudland.
Sun Tzu: ‘Have a plan instead of sending your whole army to die for no reason’
Chuds:
I think that’s more of an ”I’ve never read a book that wasn’t one of the required ones in school, but want to appear smart” thing. Which is admittedly at the very least chud adjacent.
I’ve found that to be more common with run-of-the-mill libs, where they also always mix up fiction with non-fiction. Chuds just won’t read or id they do read it’s like they try to read Julius Caesar’s auto-biograohy uncritically.
It’s incredibly funny to me that the Art of War does contain some very useful insights, especially for the time, but everyone seems to be hell bent on repeating the most basic bitch conclusions from that text like they’re an ancient chinese secret.
The importance of logistics, flexibility, mobility, and so forth are things organizations and militaries fuck up to this day but all anyone wants to talk about is how winning without fighting is the best. Wow, getting what I want without being punched in the face is better than getting what I want but also being punched in the face? Ground breaking.
bro using spies will get you intel 🤯
bro it’s easier to win if you have the high ground 🤯
bro cavalry moves faster than infantry 🤯
bro don’t let your supply lines get cut off 🤯
bro you’ll lose fewer resources if you don’t fight 🤯
bro it’s expensive to keep people in the field 🤯
Hitler, after Operation Barbarossa:
Sun Tzu, from beyond the grave:
Hey now, the Art of War is great and everyone should read it. Most people have never really sat down and thunk about the whens whys and hows of getting 50,000 of your buddies together to slaughter those shitass wankers in Wu and it shows.
It’s still sus as some deliberate “look at me look at me” bookshelf display. It’s up there with Infinite Jest when it comes to douche mating signals.
The thing about “Art of War” is that it is incredibly short and can be read from cover to cover in a half hour. It is an interesting read, but when somebody is trying to position themselves as an intellectual and they name drop Sun Tsu, you can tell they aren’t very much of a reader.
: (
Should…
Should I take down my signed first edition copy?
I dunno. Is there other stuff up there in the lawyer foyer that draw more attention?
Where is your time travel device and why are you here of all times?
Well yeah I’ve got Clausewitz, Machiavelli, Marcus Aurelius…
Oh no…
Oh no!
What if you use it as a guide to urban camping as a homeless person? That book saved my ass so many times when I was bumming around the USA