OneOrTheOtherDontAskMe

I like to think of it as this super huge structure, with all these mysterious facets and faces cut into it. We found it, have no idea how to properly measure or capture it. We started as blind men, groping their eay through the dark, and now we've found ways to light a flame and to see the surface before us, but it's so huge and there's so many patterns layered over patterns that it's uncomprehendingly beautiful and we have to continue to invent new tools and methods of processing what's before us.

I like to think this was your brain trying really really hard to remember her name too. Put her right in front of you in the dream and just cobbled together whatever sound clicked when all your neurons tried to focus on her at once. Brains are so silly

Yeah we don't call it that here in the states. I've heard 'the r word' but never 'hard r'. We reserve that terminology for the OTHER hard R.

It absolutely horrifies me as an adult. Love you Shel

I think you could get more creative with your language, with that knowledge. If nothing else, reading the Bible (or catching the cliffs notes) and getting a firm understanding of 'The Classics' gives you an immense wealth of phrases and references to help illustrate your point that are so ingrained in Western culture and media that you're likely to strike more points with it than without.

I'm still making my way through that herculean effort, that sisyphusian task. I struggled like Odysseus returning home to get through the Bible the first time, but once you get through all the parables and their Lot, there are some really interesting stories that make for easy metaphors and similes.

And my neighbors are rural Trumpers. I still don't grasp what the hell it is they're after.

Big data, plot points from individuals, statistical regressions. That's what you need to make those claims. If not, it's personal anecdotes, personal anecdotes from someone who lived in the geographical region, yes, but just anecdotes.

Yeah I'd agree with the idea that a society historically repressed would slingshot to nude beaches right away. I just wouldn't make commentary on how likely a populace of oppressed people might seek freedoms and make the same mistake of assuming what their culture is when neither of us has heard what the people of said country wants.

I don't labor under the belief that anyone operating in an area that fraught with fundamentalist religious groups controlling all key functions of society actually KNOW what their own culture is. If half your population can't speak freely, you don't have an accurate view of your people's beliefs.

Words vs Actions kind of thing.

You can say you love me, but your actions speak only to harming me and people like me.

Had a similar relationship, dad regretted how much he didn't talk to his dad (his dad was a bigger asshole, hated that grandparent). But he didn't do the stuff necessary to be much better at being a father, and happens to have fallen to the MAGA horseshit.

Fuck him. I'm 30 too.

Why can't it be both? You broke down some pretty huge arguments regarding people's existences into 'tokenism, but ignore the legitimate harm and suffering experienced by those groups at the hands of people who, although may not all be legitimately evil people looking to 'destroy identifies', but do have significant complaints about the existence of other groups in society and what acceptance of those seemingly fringe elements means for society. Break it into Rich vs Poor all you want, but I've met bigots of all classes and I don't think it'll stop anytime soon after toppling a class regime. If we all suddenly had access to the wealth the rich have extracted from us, I genuinely believe that the common asshole would have their tax bracket increase by three sizes, not their hearts.

I'm with the other commenter. There are people in this world born without empathy, and within that group, there is another two subsets, those that can learn it, and those that can not. It gets broken down further to people who can learn it and use it for good and learn it and use it to manipulate.

People born without these emotions aren't common, but there really are 'psychopaths' out there that don't/can't/won't feel things for other people. The only hope for these people is therapy, and even then, therapy is a double edged sword that also teaches them the tools to manipulate. And to a group that already is predisposed to not care how others feel, that's a risky move.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder