I grew up in the country where lots of people are like this. As an adult, I’ve always lived in cities. I’m some odd amalgamation of the two, perfectly content in not chasing goals but also hyper vigilant in avoiding people that enable poor health decisions. It’s quite a zen life, to be honest, but I often come upon people who work both extremes: pushing me toward unhealthy habits or pushing me toward more prestigious paths, assuming depression. I don’t know; I’m just happy to be healthy, competent, and well fed.

And, I’ve always been single, having never been compelled to try. When you don’t intend to have children, the calculus changes. I would enjoy having the full human experience, but my outlook prevents me from making that choice.

Kudos man. Happy to hear that. It’s tough to assemble a cogent world view when the people closest to you muddy the waters by tugging emotional hooks. I’ve been there.

It’s tragic, yes. But, don’t underestimate the effects of propaganda, repeat exposures that dwarf my face time with the guy. He doesn’t have my range of experience. He’s just a lonely, 50-something man that’s had more negative than positive experiences in life. He has tunnel vision.

In my mind, he’s responsible for his choices and frame-of-mind. But that’s not going to stop me from sharing my perspective without confronting or proselytizing. Insecurity is a mother fucker.

Heh, oh I do realize that. I’d not say I’m being strategic, but I am being intentional. One of the reasons I chose to live where I currently do is to expose myself to that subset of the population. I don’t have a car, and one of the (internalized) benefits is creating opportunity to chat with a broad spectrum of people. I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m tooting my own horn, but I consider myself to be a student of perspective. Many years ago, after university, I joined the Peace Corps. I have direct experience building relationships with folks whose beliefs blind them. I just find it tragic that we seem to be careening toward conflict when it’s all so eminently avoidable. So, I try to spread a little grassroots goodwill.

I’d add, I wish that we in America had some form of compulsory or strongly-encouraged foreign service not related to war.

I frequently chat with my neighbor who is a Q-class Trumper. Over the past year, I’ve been able to observe the leopards licking his face as if I were filming a nature documentary in 4k. We actually get along great. I like having a window into whatever inane, batshit information he consumes, and he really enjoys my company, as I don’t outwardly judge him, and I listen. Naturally, he’s on disability and dependent upon the state. As such, he’s running low on funds and needs to move in a couple months.

We had elections this past week in my state. I told him that I voted, and he offered up some excuses as to why he can’t make it to the polls. We tend not to directly discuss politics, because I told him a long time back that I’m still salty about Bernie. Deep down, he knows that we don’t align, but he doesn’t want to rock the boat. I give his pets treats. I give him treats. He occasionally mentions various religion-based conspiracies and alludes to looming conflict and the criminality of the left, but he’s become more mum on this front. I think, the gears may be turning in his head.

I don’t have any grand insights with which to conclude my anecdote. I give the guy a 30-70 chance of rediscovering reality. But, by being nice to the dude, I do think his chances are much better than they would be had I ignored him the past few years.

Reactivity and haphazard attribution has spread like an emotional contagion. It’s understandable but certainly doesn’t inspire much confidence in our ability to adapt to compounding crises.

Not directly related to the original comment, but generally, I must disagree with the assertion that caring about differences in intensity is problematic or warrants the assumption of “justifying bad behavior”. I’d argue, that in most cases, failure to juxtapose two distal scenarios is more dubious and spurs a breakdown in communication. It seems commonplace now, amongst a set of the population, to cast all loosely related things into one bucket, details be damned. This is a dangerous mode of groupthink. It represents an over-correction that pushes the pendulum-of-social-discord to new heights. I also think it emblematic of the current political divide. Assuming intent, and classifying it as akin to some greater evil, only “highlights” that one party is tugging emotional hooks to make an obscure point seem clear. That’s religious bollocks. Words matter and differences are important. Good-bad binaries are born from our ideological past, to assert control or prepare us for battle.

“why are you defending bad behavior from being compared”

He quite clearly is comparing them and saying one isn’t as bad, in his tongue-in-cheek opinion.

“why do you care?”

Many are quite simply fatigued with the torrent of false equivalencies plaguing modern discourse, whether for dramatic effect or not. I think it sometimes comes from a good place, but more often, I suspect it to be self-serving, group-selection, othering behavior. The sanctimony with which some connect the dots clouds broader context. Effective communication requires giving the other party some grace.

I speak to some folks who have worked on university campuses over the past 20 years. Beginning, in earnest, around the year 2010, this type of behavior has run amok. I do think it started with good, well-reasoned intentions but metastasized into a nebulous search-for-meaning, a weary reaction to the declining state-of-the-world. Yes, identifying bad behavior can be a positive, to move society away from our more basal instincts, but oversimplifying in this manner is not helpful; it’s inflammatory. It’s like fighting fire with fire, which may work for a time, but ultimately, it’s a stopgap, feel-good, short-term solution that runs the risk of exacerbating the original problem.

Fact of the matter is, we are living during a time of extinction. Siloing into groups is probably inevitable, and I think manifestations of the culture war are a symptom, driven by environmental factors and bad actors. But, humans should be intelligent enough to maintain a broad context window and resist the temptation to reduce the complexities of cause-and-effect into emotional binaries. Mapping differences is how we truly improve and avoid thinking in binaries.

TLDR: I drank some coffee and wrote some stuff. No offense intended. For more about “thinking in binaries” check out the essays of Montaigne.

I hypothesize that insular “family values” is the time bomb that stoked their egos insofar as to blind them to the real machinations of this world, and now their minds are detonating into a cloud of dissonance, deflection, and denial. It’s sad really, to witness the fallout of decades of propaganda.

Ditto. Mine are now virtue signaling how anti-Trump they are when they always pedaled “voting for your wallet” and other Reagan-type bullshit. I don’t blame them for being so obtuse, but god damn can it be frustrating to see the hypocrisies bubble up while they demand adulation.

Probably too unsightly for many, but I use gooseneck arms from snakeclamp.com. I use them for many things, like making helping hands for soldering, bike maintenance, and mounting monitors. You need to get one rated for the intended load. There are a ton of mounting base options and plenty of attachments, including one for holding tablets.

Sounds like it’d not be you ideal solution but thought I’d mention it on behalf of others.

Exactly. I wager we’re headed toward more of a steampunk dystopia, where the last remnants of civilization choke on our own detritus.

Here’s a link to the article: https://archive.ph/oM5UV

I don’t take issue with any of the points presented, but the tone and content fall short. As one from the Oregon-Trail generation, I fit the profile, and am amongst the set who have opted out of chasing milestones. To me, chasing always seemed rather tone deaf. You see, I grew up in a pseudo-religious household, one that replaced “god” with “family” but also pushed opaque ideals and wore similar horse blinders. As such, I set out to learn about the world. By college age, I came to see that, well, it appears that we are rather fucked. If the Earth is in a state of overshoot, then it’s only a matter of time before the wheels fall off. And, with each new data point, it’s looked increasingly like a number of the effects would come to fruition in my lifetime. I’m not anti-natalist, but I’ve not been confident that I could create a life for children that protects them. I do want the human race to survive, and I’ll strive to help my community in the ways that I can, but I’m not one to don earmuffs and make low probability decisions. “Don’t look up” is not an option for me, as I’ve been looking throughout my life.

We are experiencing the effects of overshoot, so it’s reasonable, in my opinion, to opt out and live in full awareness. Yes that spells the end of human systems as they currently exist, but that’s how it goes. We’ve fucked around, and now we shall find out.

edit: I wanted to add, that repeating the same behaviors, e.g. chasing milestones, is what got us into this mess. I think it a mistake to become salty, pining for the lives of our forefathers. If we want to survive, we need to adapt to the reality of our situation. To expand upon why I say the tone of this article is lacking: it seems to suggest that breaking from the status quo is problematic when it’s the first step toward finding a REAL solution.

Doublespeak has always been their bread and butter, like “trickle down”. Add the mindrot of “faith”, and bang, you have the reigns. My birth family ate that Reagan-era shit up.

edit: heh, I didn’t notice your username until after

i.e.: Eternal September amplified by the host of knock-on effects stemming from overshoot and the resultant insecurity

Factorio devs are goated for their no-bullshit, high-quality product. I make damn sure I have a recent copy secured on my server, just in case. Inspirational humans like this keep me from the doldrums.

Heh. I’ve used my fair share of fancy bidets. After using this sprayer, I far prefer its flexibility, utility, and power. The all-brass version is very well made, and the explicit ball valve mitigates the risk of damaging leakage. The promo video is pretty good too. While rare these days, sometimes, the less expensive option is in fact better quality and more functional.

I do love how this topic invites such fervid replies.

To any Americans who are bidet curious or even enthusiasts, I’d highly recommend this wand style bidet: https://rinseworks.com/shop/aquaus-360-hand-held-bidet-sprayer-for-toilet/

Personally, I find fancy features, like heat, to be superfluous. Seats or seat-mounted bidets are inevitably a pain in the ass to clean. This wand has a nice long hose. Not only can it clean your ass, but it can also help you to clean your bathroom. It should last a lifetime. And, of course, installation is a breeze not requiring electricity. If you are afraid of the cold, rest assured you will adapt. It will zap you awake.

Thanks man. I figured there was probably a cross-section of a few cars that fit the bill. I would wonder about and need to confirm functionality. When I rent, I often receive Corollas, and I do like Toyota’s implementation. The one’s I’ve driven brake gracefully on lane switches and in finding the follow distance. I’ve yet to hit a situation, even amongst torn up construction areas, where the assists get janky.

Anecdotally, I’ve heard from others, with older cars, who won’t use the ACC because of perceived jank.

It’s a vestige of our culture war, where the sanctimonious blame individuals for behaviors that were normal in the recent past, heralding a couple data points as supreme truth, while ignoring the broader context and their own hypocrisies. In my opinion, if we are so overpopulated with cats and dogs, such that they cannot roam, people should not have cats or dogs. I’d argue that keeping a cat or dog locked up also makes one an asshole.

The road to extinction is pretty well set, so I don’t see the sense in casting ire upon understandable behaviors. Might as well try to get along on the descent, though I get why such a large subset of the population are salty. For the record, I don’t have a pet, because: overshoot.

I fully agree with that. Well designed public transport, human-powered local transit (bikes!), and more densely packed infrastructure for human populations are the way to go with respect to the global predicament. This is a big part of the reason I refuse to own a car. But, I can appreciate some features added to the old ways, while gritting my teeth.