ThePenitentOne

Right wing politician claiming to care about men's rights and sexism? Sure. This is just another attempt to distract people from the real problems within the government. There should be a single social equalities minister, which is what the role already is, really. It just so happens that misogyny is literally everywhere in the world and that men (as a man myself) are advantaged in numerous ways. Imagine being a woman in Pakistan.

There are some social stigmas and problems from cultural beliefs, such as the idea 'men don't feel' and other bs, but in truth anyone with a brain realises how invalid these arguments are. What we actually need is better education and access to information, so people don't fall into this shit in the first place and can see through the flaws of people around them and not follow into conformism blindly. If anything, the idea of having a male counterpart is just serving to further the divide by continuing to separate people based on superficial qualities. If you really want to end sexism, you need to treat people as equals regardless of sex, and to get others to do the same. It will require lots of activism to do so because far too many people hold discriminatory beliefs towards both sexes that they are taught from a young age and hold emotionally rather than logically.

From what I have observed, so many people claiming to care or talking about 'men's rights' really just have a victim-complex and are very emotionally immature. It's all too often the same people who cry about women being bitches or being shameless onlyfans models. For all the problems women face, it's barely even comparable. That isn't to invalidate sexism against men, but just to mean that they are not even nearly close in terms of discrimination experienced.

My mum is also an author and good friends with Adrian. Never thought I'd see him named in a Lemmy comment section of all places. Small world?

Anyway, I think reading and literacy is an essential skill for everyday life, exploring arts and understanding things to a greater level of comprehension. However, the way it is taught in schools is absolutely monotonous and egregiously boring. I recently finished my GCSEs and even though school was incredibly easy for me, I almost had no motivation to do my own independent revision or study for literature. The structure of how it is taught and what is taught just sucks. This could really go for the entire school system up until college, but it is exemplified in high school. I love reading, but when it is presented in such a way it becomes a task rather than a thing to enjoy. Far too many people give up on reading because of bad experiences in school, and many people, especially in disadvantaged areas, are surrounded by a culture that is against education/the system in general. The UK is very classist.

Additionally, reading is not just about reading books exclusively. I have read a few books and pieces of work I found enjoyable by myself, especially politically motivated books such as the Grapes of Wrath. But, most of my reading and literary education has come from reading articles/forums online and playing games such as the Witcher or other RPGs. You can learn quite a lot if you are curious and have something to hold your interest. Sure, the dialogue is spoken, but subs are on by default and always a helpful read. Similarly, music can be another way to express or learn about literature. The main takeaway is that reading can be enjoyed in many forms, and I think it is best done in a multitude of ways. Books, articles, games etc. People will find something they enjoy in all categories if given the opportunity.

People would rather just have no accountability, you see.

Because the free market is bullshit. It always results in a few major companies hand-shaking and fucking over consumers. Smaller businesses almost never have a chance and are just as easily bought out. To win in this capitalist iteration of society, you have to be the worst and greediest you can be. Add in the fact most people prefer to remain ignorant or are just generally apathetic from years of conditioning, and 'voting with your wallet' rarely really works. You should still do it though of course.

It's not a conspiracy, and it is present across all social media platforms. There is selective enforcement of rules and moderation and now many companies push 'engaging' content, which basically means pressing out and promoting 'safe' content that is easily agreeable or controversial to increase user time so more ads are seen.

On Reddit, it is very similar. Somebody can say something insane, but it is 'just an opinion' meanwhile you call them an idiot, and you get banned by admins. If you even suggest anything 'extreme' you are also getting site banned. It just turns everything into a hive-mind which is dominated by liberals. The fact anyone thinks it is a 'left-wing' platform shows how dumb people are. It's very clear that it is made to drive engagement and show ads to maximise income. These social media companies aren't interested in free speech or fairness. It actively harms genuine engagement because most people just won't even post or comment if they know it is risking a ban or downvote train where they get shit on. It's no surprise the platform is now infested with bots and reposts.

That with improving education and access to information, people will inevitably realise lots of injustice in this world is unnecessary and easily solved one way or another. They will eventually see through the constant bias and falsehoods pushed onto them since birth and realise that creating suffering and destruction for their own personal desires is not just or normal. Eventually it will end and we will move forward. Soon enough, people will be held accountable.

Yeah. Either way, most people are rationalising and reactive, not rational. If you try to tell someone eating meat is bad because factory farming is abhorrent, many people will defend their actions and avoid direct accountability rather than admit or consider the problems that they support.

Anything to encourage even a single person to spend more money. It's just sad, really.

Most people are emotional and when challenged find it easier to justify their position rather than consider that they are wrong. So yeah, people will argue shit just to argue it.

Insane that there are still people who aren't using adblock these days lol.

I agree with the first point, and I think if they want to promote secularism (which is good) they should go about it by educating people in philosophy and logical reasoning as an additional class. Although, I still feel saying 'practice their parents' faith' is problematic. I don't think any kid should be taught that one religion is true since they can't really logically think or reason and are very emotionally immature, at least before being a teenager. The indoctrination of young children is very damaging and much harder to get out of. This goes for any ideology, but religion especially since belief is based only on faith. They can wear what they want ofc, but there is also a problem with acting like religion can't be criticised. However, here the way they went about it is just unproductive.