TechyDad @ TechyDad @lemmy.world

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Vaccines also faced a problem in that they are too good. I'm 48. I don't remember any of my classmates getting measles or mumps. We did get chicken pox, though, because this was before the vaccine. My kids, meanwhile, haven't gotten chicken pox because they got the vaccine.

Given that I haven't experienced measles, mumps, whooping cough, etc first hand, it would be easy to dismiss their severity. "Measles are just some bumps on your body for a week. Whooping cough means you cough for a bit." Completely untrue, but the Internet can spread these reduced severity descriptions far and wide.

If people experienced actual measles or whooping cough regularly, they would be racing to get the vaccines. By removing these diseases from everyday life, vaccines actually hurt themselves by making it easier for people to dismiss the diseases.

"Sleepy Joe Biden is lowering gas prices in a partisan attempt to win reelection. The second the election is over, he'll raise gas prices to $5 a gallon and require all new cars to be electric! I know this is true because I saw a post on Facebook about it!!!"

And his followers will excuse it in one of two ways:

1. It's all fake. They'll claim that the Democrats swapped the real list for the released "fake" list and that the real list has Biden's name, not Trump's. Their proof? Some YouTube video linked to from a Facebook post where a white guy wearing sunglasses in his truck says he saw the real list with Biden's name on it!
2. Trump was undercover. They'll claim that Trump was actually working undercover to expose these people. Being on the flight logs "proves" that he was only there to spy on these people. Why? Non-specific Excuse! Therefore, Trump's name on Epstein's list is actually a good thing and they support him more!

Meanwhile, the rest of us will scream in frustration.

Punching down is never funny. Picking on people who have been marginalized or attacked for being who they are winds up being cruel, not humorous. Maybe a skilled comedian could punch down in such a way that it's funny, but it would be an extremely rare event.

If you want to punch and be funny, you have two options. The first is to punch up. Hit the people in power. Hit the people who have luxury. For example, a joke making fun of poor people isn't likely to be funny. A joke making fun of wealthy people, though? That has a much better chance of being funny.

The other punch style is the self punch. This is where you make fun of yourself or your own "group." For example, I'm Jewish. If a non-Jew makes a "Jews run the world" joke, it'll likely come across as highly anti-semitic. If I were to make that joke, I'd stand a decent chance of getting a laugh. (Well, assuming that I had basic comedy skills.)

When the right complains that the left has ruined comedy, what they really mean is that they can't make fun of people who are suffering without being called cruel.

That's okay. They can still sing "Born in the USA" because that song is super-patriotic and not critical of America at all.

Oh, wait....

The whole situation in the Middle East is a Gordian Knot of epic proportions. There's a ton of generational trauma among both people. Both sides have valid claims against the other. Normally, I hate "both sides-ism," but the overall Middle East situation definitely calls for it.

It's also, sadly, why peace is so hard to achieve. If it was as simple as "give this side A and that side B," it would have been over long ago. There are elements on both sides that refuse to stop until the other side is completely killed off. Meanwhile, most people would just want peace but are caught in the middle and are scared. And those of us in America know what kind of politicians thrive on fear and hatred. If you need a hint, watch Newsmax or OAN for as long as your brain will tolerate it.

Weren't some hostages also drugged so they'd be "happy and smiling" for the cameras when released? I heard that, but don't know the authenticity.

Edit: I found many news sources that said they were. I know some folks don't trust anything Israel says so take reports like this with a grain of salt. Still, it's been confirmed that many of the hostages were drugged while in captivity. Especially the kids - to keep them quiet. (Anyone with little kids knows they can be loud while scared and this must have been extremely scary. As a father, the reaction of "drug the little kids" makes me angry.)

Don't forget that the Hamas leaders are living in luxury as billionaires in Qatar. If the Israeli response kills a few thousand Palestinians, then Hamas' leaders will shrug their shoulders and say "sounds like good PR" while lounging in a hot tub.

This is what some people who cheer on Hamas don't seem to understand. Hamas was elected into power, yes, but they claimed to be moderates. Even so, they won a plurality, not a majority. Then, they cancelled all future elections and revealed themselves to be extremists.

The aid that goes to the Gaza Strip is either seized by the leaders of Hamas (who are billionaires living in luxury in Qatar) or are used to buy weapons to attack Israel. Very little actually goes to the Palestinian people.

Even if we set anything Israel-related aside, Hamas needs to go for the well being of the Palestinian people. At the very least, there should be free, fair, and regular elections so the government does what the people want instead of just what some billionaires in Qatar (who don't need to deal with the consequences) want.

Sadly, this is the reason too many people overlook. It's not the only reason. A full listing of the reasons and their history would fill a book, but just focusing on the money aspect:

Hamas gets funding and weapons from Iran. Iran wants instability there and encourages the "wipe out Israel, kill all the Jews mentality."

On the other side, evangelical Christians in the US support people like the settlers in the West Bank. In the case of the evangelicals, it's because they need Israel to be controlled by Jews for Jesus to return, but they also need Israel to suffer a big attack. Peace in the Middle East would, in their twisted view, hurt Jesus' chances of returning. As an aside, they think that Jesus will toss all the Jews into hell once he comes back so them "supporting Israel" is definitely not "pro-Jews." It's merely delayed anti-semitism.

Remove these two elements and the fire would still rage there, but these groups see the fire and decide to toss some gasoline on top of it.

There are pockets of NY, outside of NYC, that are blue. The big areas that are red are mostly rural counties. But land doesn't vote, people do, so it doesn't matter if 1,000 people in a huge area vote red when 100,000 people in a small city vote blue.

You're right that NYC helps keep us blue, but they aren't the only ones. In 2020, NY voted for Biden over Trump 60.8% to 37.7%. If we removed NYC's counties, NY would have still voted for Biden, but at a much closer 52.4% to 45.9%.

And then sold merchandise with his mugshot with the caption "Never Surrender." The mugshot from when he literally surrendered. And MAGA folks bought the stuff proving that they'll buy anything to prove their "MAGA-ness."

Republicans: "No! In fact, we'll make sure that it's legal for minors to carry weapons without any adult supervision!!!"

And he's always been this way. I still remember, during the height of the pandemic, when he was asked what he would say to Americans scared about the deadly pandemic.

It was an easy, softball question. "I'd tell them that America is strong and together we'll get through this." There, I just made something up on the spot that the "America First" crowd would like.

But Trump didn't say that. Instead, he attacked the reporter for asking such a horrible question and called him names. People are scared about a deadly disease? That must be a personal attack against me!!!

It's so ridiculous that it would be unbelievable in fiction. You'd close the book or turn off the TV saying that this character was way too over the top. But that's Trump!

The guy who hung these ornaments was one of the January 6th insurrectionists. He's shown that he's willing to engage in violence and so it's not "just a Christmas tree."

He's since deleted his post and posted that it wasn't a call for violence. Given that he included President Biden and VP Harris in his "noose ornaments," he probably got a visit from the Secret Service. They don't tend to view these things as "just harmless pranks" or "just some odd Christmas ornaments." Especially when there are clearly people (this person included) willing to take the speech and try to make it a reality.

It's protected speech up to a point. Then it becomes an actual threat. The gallows in front of Congress as the insurrectionists violently broke into the Capitol chanting "hang Mike Pence" wasn't protected speech.

Calling for the execution of your political foes crosses a line, especially when you know that there's a large element of your base willing to take your "protected speech" and turn it into action. That and the repeated calls from the right for violence (see Nick Fuentes calling for the execution of all Jews and enemies of Trump) elevate this beyond protected speech IMO.

No. Any Democrat who said "we should execute all Republicans" would be shunned/called out by the rest of the party.

To give an example, look at the Bernie Sanders supporter who opened fire at a Congressional baseball game. Bernie quickly denounced this act of violence as did all other Democrats. Meanwhile, a large number of Republicans - including their likely Presidential candidate - call the January 6th insurrectionists "heroes" and "political prisoners" for violently invading the Capitol and wanting to kill Democrats (and Mike Pence).

And has any Republican denounced Nick Fuentes for calling for the execution of Jews? Stefanik was so "concerned" about anti-semitism on college campuses. Has she mentioned this once given that Fuentes has met with Trump?

Nope. Nothing. The best they can do is silence. Any other response they give is praise for the violent imagery or actions.

And we've also got to still accept that all these "hanging" imagery is just pretend, right? They don't really want to execute all of us, right?

Oh, wait...

Biden has called this out. A lot of companies are still raising prices or aren't letting prices fall. They're still saying "oh, this is inflation causing this" while their costs fall and their profits rise.

Biden can't stop them singlehandedly. (He's a President, not a Supreme Dictator.) But he can call them out on it and use what powers he has to bear down on them somewhat if they don't stop.

It might not get all of them to stop (some might risk fines because the profits would be greater), but hopefully it will direct the anger towards the actual culprits - big companies taking advantage of past inflation to raise prices.

Alternatively, "The Economy Is Booming And Everyone Is Doing Better, Here's Why This Is Bad News For Biden!"