I think you can "love" someone without tolerating their nonsense. It's all about being willing to find a consensual way of interacting. Theoretically it may be impossible, but we can still try.
It's one of the things I love most about being alive. When I was a kid I loved reading the names and flavor text of Duel Masters cards. They always seemed pulled from the most weirdest corners of people's minds lol
My favorites were always the lovecraftian horrors that had really mundane descriptions.
I've been thinking about this a bit more, and I realized that I talk to other people the way I talk to myself. This probably wouldn't be a problem if I weren't so critical of myself.
I think I need to not only put in the effort to reread the things I write when communicating with others, but also to just be kinder to myself in my internal monologue.
I spend too much time being frustrated inside my own head, and that makes it easy to use that same tone when I'm interacting with other people.
Thanks for sharing your advice. I think verbalizing my thoughts the way you suggested will be really helpful.
Honestly, yeah sometimes. It's my emotional reflex to frustration that was programmed into me by my parents and I haven't done enough cognitive behavioral therapy to undo it.
Absolutely true, but it's also more difficult to ask a good question when you don't know anything about what you're asking.
People who know a lot about a topic can ask very good questions about that topic.
The problem I see with most questions people post online is that they make too many assumptions that their audience will will magically understand the context of their question.
Good questions require relevant context.
Determining relevancy requires expertise.
Expertise comes from experience.
No matter how many questions you ask and answers you get you'll never "understand" something until you do it.
Instead of asking questions like "How do I do X?" people should be asking "I'm trying to accomplish X, I've tried Y, but I'm encountering Z. How could I resolve this?"
I guess my rule is that you should never ask someone a question without first trying to answer it yourself.
I don't think anyone is saying changing bathrooms will end bullying. Judging by the conversation I'm seeing I think most people are upset that a child in a government institution was physically beaten to death.
Although based on your comment it doesn't seem like you're on the same page as those people.
Exactly how old are you? Because I remember when my entire Tekken experience was locked behind a $0.25 to $0.50 microtransaction.
People willfully pay for things they enjoy. It's a fundamental aspect of any economic system. I'm sorry you're having such a hard time coming to grips with that.
It's my belief that everyone is a masochist to a certain degree, and those who don't realize it are in denial.
I drive a vehicle that burns gasoline and contributes to pollution. I purchase products that come in plastic packaging. I participate in an economy that can only exist by taking advantage of people in other countries where labor is "cheaper." These are all things that I enjoy doing even though I know they're inflicting suffering on people.
If I don't do these things I pretty much won't be able to function in society. And I certainly wouldn't be able to contribute anything that I think is valuable.
One option would be to end myself, but that would inflict suffering on all my friends and family.
Another option would be to believe that the good I'm doing will outweigh the suffering I inflict on other people.
I'm interested in your thoughts on this. Do you think it's possible to live a life where you don't inflict suffering on anyone else?
Haha, agreed. I used to love "going fishing" with my grandparents until I actually caught a fish, then I just felt terrible. I used to have nightmares where there would be fish hooks in my food.
Now "going fishing" to me just means hanging out by the water and being peacefully bored while other people enjoy the things they enjoy.
True, but not always true. Sometimes it's the boss at work, or the bills on the desk, or the son you used to take fishing before he moved away for college.
The curve could definitely be S shaped, but it's hard to say.
I think that I would be really unhappy/bored in a world where I got to experience "everything" I wanted to do. In fact, just the idea of not having to make any trade offs/compromises is incredibly paralyzing to think about right now lol
If the clones don't allow me to live forever, eventually dying would be the most interesting thing for me to do because it would be the only "new" thing left to experience in my lifetime.
Being able to clone myself and sync with my clones is something I've thought about since I was a kid.
I don't think increasing the number of clones would ever allow me to satisfy all my wishes. The number of things I want to do increases with the number of experiences I have in a non-linear way. If I want to be satisfied I need to be willing to accept all of my wishes will never be fulfilled.
Eh. I was being dismissive of people's genuine concerns. I didn't earnestly engage with the topic at hand. I was definitely in the wrong and deserved to get downvoted.
I updated a reply I made to another comment in the thread, and I figure I'll drop it here as well.
As someone who played Payday 2 and had a ton of discussions with my friends about that game's ever changing monetization models I feel like the ultimate conclusion I came to was "capitalism is exhausting." And I mean that in the very literal sense that capitalism will result in the physical, mental, spiritual, and financial exhaustion of everyone who doesn't hold capital. This is not good, but good things can come from it. As more people start to realize the system is broken more people will want to change it. So I was being dishonest, I actually do have a lot to say about video game monetization models, but generally I think capitalism is a self-correcting problem and if you want to reduce the amount of harm caused by greed the only real option you have is to consume less and convince other like minded people to consume less.
The other thing I have more to say about is Tekken 8. Not the character customization feature, but about the story mode which is possibly the best videogame story I have ever experienced. I won't bore anyone with the details, but the story in T8 is the conclusion to a multigenerational feud between a grandfather and father, and a father and son. It is the end to what could have been an endless cycle of hate and violence. And this ending is only possible because Jin decides to face his demons, forgive himself, and forgive his enemies.
This lesson in my mind is literally the most important lesson for a person to learn, and so I'm willing to forgive the inclusion of microtransactions of it means that some kid somewhere who is struggling with accepting who they are can play this game and come to the realization and sense of peace that Jin and I did.
My dismissal of the "badness" of microtransactions was a result of a belief in the potential "goodness" of the game overall. Obviously these sorts of moral calculations are all relative, but if anyone wants to talk about this more I would love to.
Right, I understand. I was just expressing my thoughts on the article.
I don't have a strong opinion regarding game content rating systems, except that I don't know how to quantify how much "good" they contribute to society.
And I don't have much to say about video game monetization models, except that companies will always try to use a model that they think provides them with the most benefit.
The most interesting thought this article made me think of was "I wonder what kind of hats I'll be able to put on Kuma."
Edit: I've been thinking about this a bit more because I do think my dismissive attitude towards microtransactions in general is alarming. My comment was dishonest and flippant.
As someone who played Payday 2 and had a ton of discussions with my friends about their ever changing monetization models I feel like the ultimate conclusion I came to was "capitalism is exhausting." And I mean that in the very literal sense that capitalism will result in the physical, mental, spiritual, and financial exhaustion of everyone who doesn't hold capital. This is not good, but good things can come from it. As more people start to realize the system is broken more people will want to change it. So I was being dishonest, I actually do have a lot to say about video game monetization models.
The other thing I have more to say about is Tekken 8. Not the character customization feature, but about the story mode which is possibly the best videogame story I have ever experienced. I won't bore anyone with the details, but the story in T8 is the conclusion to a multigenerational feud between a grandfather and father, and a father and son. It is the end to what could have been an endless cycle of hate and violence. And this ending is only possible because Jin decides to face his demons, forgive himself, and forgive his enemies.
This lesson in my mind is literally the most important lesson for a person to learn, and so I'm willing to forgive the inclusion of microtransactions of it means that some kid somewhere who is struggling with accepting who they are can play this game and come to the realization and sense of peace that Jin and I did.
And if anyone wants to talk about this more I would love to.
I think you can "love" someone without tolerating their nonsense. It's all about being willing to find a consensual way of interacting. Theoretically it may be impossible, but we can still try.