i cut off my own mom bc she thinks being trans is a jewish conspiracy and refuses to talk to me about literally anything else because i’m trans, and burnt a 15+ year friendship because he refused to have a conversation that wasn’t some stupid debate-me bro culture war bullshit, even when i literally cried and begged. sucks but i can’t save them, and i won’t be bullied for the sake of a relationship that’s clearly already over for them.

you did the right thing. stay strong, friend. 🫂

star wars got a LOT more enjoyable for me when i resolved to ignore “canon” and approach it like SCP instead - if i like it i add it to my headcanon, and if i don’t then i simply ignore it. really re-injects that element of wonder and mystery that lucasfilm has been feverishly working to excise since the 90s.

OOP is the author of something like seven published novels, one of which has been adapted into a movie and another of which may soon be made into a streaming series. Never feel embarrassed to say what you learned today.

“youre not supposed to know that yet” then why in fucks name did you ask lady?

PBS Spacetime’s approach was a pair of videos titled “Why String Theory is True” and “Why String Theory is False” and between them that pretty much put it to bed for me. cool math, cool worldbuilding, call me when they make a testable prediction. until then it goes on the scrap pile with aether and phlogiston.

i say do watch the ones about string theory and mond so you can see why/how they’re wrong

“rationalism” is the choice religion of 87 IQ brainlets who think they’re geniuses for being able to read Voltaire.

dude. spoilers.

my favorite is the tiny area in mississippi/alabama that says “the devil’s beating his wife” when there’s a sunshower.

nope. that number isn’t “atheists” it’s “atheist, agnostic, or ‘nothing in particular’”. this includes a lot of people who believe in the supernatural or paranormal but simply don’t practice a formal institutionalized religion. probably even a number of christians who don’t identify as being religious because they don’t practice piety (going to church, etc).

it’s also interesting to note that according to the article, the atheist/agnostic segment is chiefly comprised white people, and that “nones” overall tend to be men. atheism seems to be a white guy thing, and i think it’s worth considering why.

i think a lot of this is people joining the “New Age”/“New Thought” cult and deciding it’s not “religion” because it’s not formally centralized.

“I’m not religious, I’m spiritual” they crow as they preach dogma and employ cult tactics.

religion ain’t going away folks, it’s simply changing its face.

edit to add: atheist and agnostics are a minority of “nones”. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/01/24/religious-nones-in-america-who-they-are-and-what-they-believe/

that’s an american restaurant thing, not a chinese thing. indian food places do it too, they add a fuckton of sugar so it will taste good to the american palate since we’re accustomed to having ungodly amounts of sugar in everything.

no, but feel free to re-upload and re-distribute copies however you see fit

ITT a bunch of weird pedantic nerds that hate language and don’t read enough books.

i’ll go ahead and confirm for you that for you: yes, it intentionally resembles the anarchy symbol as well as several other things. the formation of hierarchical cults with “canon” practices and central authority would be antithetical to the purpose and goal of empowering the downtrodden.

funny thing is the last time i bothered thinking about utilitarianism was when i was reading about the zizians using it to justify murdering just whoever they pleased. i’m not convinced it works, it’s a school of philosophy for stupid pedants who want to feel smart and justified in whatever they already think.

utilitarianism: for when you need the worst possible take delivered in the most insufferable manner using the least amount of critical faculty to answer the questions nobody asked.

yeah people love to bang the “death of the author” drum and i think it’s because they’re just lazy and hate thinking about stuff. it’s a valid way of reading but it’s also the most low-effort and least insightful imo.

it’s tainted by the knowledge that the creator is a disgusting monster who convinced me that he was just the coolest dude, so i can’t enjoy it anymore.

popular =/= good though.

in fact awful things get popular all the time.