ExFed @ ExFed @lemm.ee

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2 yr. ago

I was homeschooled through middle school because the public school administration wanted to put me on Ritalin despite the school psychiatrist's objections.

Public schools aren't perfect either.

The only one arguing against documented historical facts and ongoing reality in this thread is you. The PRC isn't some magical place where people don't do awful shit to each other. They're just really good at covering it up.

It's hard realizing that it's a messy world full of people who do bad things to each other for stupid reasons. Just remember:

Roses are red.

The sky is blue.

Single-party authoritarian ethnostates leverage the absence of a free press to hide mass atrocities against ethnic minorities.

Acceptance is the first step to letting go of copium.

Literally visible to the naked eye from space.

Yes. They are.

Welcome to the wide world of OSINT 🙃

So what's the score? I haven't been keeping track. Is the home team winning?

Not defending. Admitting that evil things have been done to 780 people while at Gitmo. It's a problem, and we're working to fix it.

But imagine being unable to admit there are millions of detainees in Xinjiang.

That's the difference between Western Democracy and an an authoritarian ethnostate. There's no way to fix something you won't admit exists.

That history article you linked goes as far as the 1950s.

Who's debunked it? The CCP? Are they still sticking to the "reeducation centers" line? Have you been "reeducated"?

There are some perverse arguments that let Gitmo exist. It's a heated debate around whether the US Constitution extends to non-citizens. As usual, Wikipedia has a fantastic summary.

... which is a debate that can occur in a diverse nation with a free press. Do you feel threatened because you're arguing against Western Democracy on the Internet, a product of that same Western "regime"?

Didn't think so.

Right. Okay, I'll do your homework for you...

You're claiming that a handful of people pointed out some things Western governments were doing that were illegal according to said governments' legal governing documents, but because of the way they did it, those governments (and citizens) are pissed off at them.

I'm saying the systematic oppression of the free press, human rights, and the decades-long genocide of Tibetans and Uyghurs are perfectly legal according to the PRC.

These aren't even comparable. Keep trying.

And your argument is cherry-picked. Which is worse?

Ahh, yes, because they pissed off the Deep State, which is ultimately controlled by Hillary Clinton. Sorry, forgot about that one.

/s ... if it wasn't obvious

Why is that weird? Western governments are generally bound by constitutional agreements to not utilize that information against their citizens. That's not to say they don't do shady stuff with that information, but getting "disappeared" is more the butt of a Hillary Clinton joke than it is an actual reality for Western citizens ... unless you've really REALLY pissed off Hillary Clinton.

Maybe it's a sign we need less dependency on oil...

This reads a lot like the Indiana Pi Bill. Granted, that one never passed, but it's a pretty old story: politicians think they know better than experts.

Neat article. It's a bummer pumped hydro doesn't get the love I think it deserves. Hopefully it gets a bit more soon.

But now I have a new pet peeve: when an author defines initialisms that are never used more than once outside of their definition.

Agreed; that's the challenge. I don't have a full answer, but I do know that it involves having something to work towards, not just something to fight against.

How can a group of people give that to other people, when you don't mean equal rights?

Because the point of the post is mental health, not the merits of egalitarianism. I just wanted to point out that, for the gross majority of human history, men's muscles and reproductive expendability were uniquely valuable traits. With automation and intellectual pursuits, those traits aren't quite so necessary.

Or am I misunderstanding?

There's more to how people express or feel value. For example, these are some virtues people seem to value: honor, respect, trust, accomplishment, pride, duty, loyalty.

Money is just one way an employer can convey value to their employees or a customer coveys value to a business. It may come as a shock, but outside of those relationships, money isn't actually all that valuable.

Imagine someone being your friend just because you give them money... That's what I mean.

Didn't mention the state, but it's also relevant...

A group of people (e.g. organization, community, society, corporation, government, etc.) is capable of collectively attributing value. People need to feel valued. Therefore a group of people is capable of fulfilling people's need to feel valued.

I'm not proposing a mandate, just a practical accounting.

Well said. We all spend a lot of time criticizing, and not enough time building up. Here are a few more (rather heavily paraphrased) ways to be a good person that I feel strongly about:

Admire people who recognize their insufficiency, mourn, show humility, seek justice, are merciful, have a pure heart, work for peace, or are oppressed for doing the right thing.

Understand you're incapable of perfection, and so is everybody else.

If you're angry with someone, call them an idiot, or curse them, beware of the consequences.

Settle conflict with others quickly before it escalates.

Be faithful to all your vows in both thought and action.

Resist the urge for vengeance; flip the script by going above and beyond for those who take advantage of you.

Give to those who ask for help or want to borrow what you have.

Stand out from the crowd by showing kindness and compassion to those who hate you.

Agreed. However, something has to be said for the fact that a lot of American society and economy has shifted value away from "dangerous" or otherwise physically demanding labor (e.g. coal mining, farm field work before automation) towards jobs that don't depend on how much muscle mass you have or other expressions of sex hormones. That value system was encoded into cultural norms and media, which, without the corresponding environment, just became a caricature.

The problem of focusing too much on the culture is that we miss what shaped it in the first place: a need to feel valued. If men aren't valued for their physique (or, to be frank, their biological expendability), then what's their value? The Left was too afraid of ruining their Feminist credibility to offer any serious solutions. Meanwhile, the Right leaned in to that caricature, and offered a solution full of misogyny and arrogance. When presented a choice between an awful solution and no solution, it's no wonder so many men fell prey to toxicity.

We need more non-toxic masculinity.