I understand that, but that imagines he’s standing by his decision for the sake of it. I’m not trying to go to bat for a Trump supporter right now, but in general my point is that his “reasoning” seems to hold even if he’s in the crosshairs. If his opinion is that sacrificing some freedom is necessary in order to ensure safety, then he seems like he still believes that even if it affects him personally. I understand your comment, but it doesn’t actually address his position or my point. I don’t think anything has happened to make him think he’s wrong about the sleeper cell things. You’re projecting your worldview onto him. He says he believes there’s a problem and he’s willing to face familial hardship to ensure the problem is rooted out.

I’m always torn when I read stories like this. Even though this is worse case scenario, both for the family and the country, at least he’s standing by his decision. It’s stupid because obviously he should see how irrational it is, but if he really believes there’s some kind of “sleeper cell” network that must be caught, at least he’s willing to sacrifice his own family’s rights as well as the rights of others. I wonder if he’d feel the same way if it was him instead of his wife, but at least it’s more consistent than the “I didn’t realize he meant MY family” crowd that stops supporting once they see the effects on their own family. Obviously, no longer supporting is preferred no matter how they get there, but at least he’s committed to being in the cult. I think it’s just that it makes their vote seem more based in ignorance than in selfishness. I’d prefer to believe that people legitimately think they’re surrounded by sleeper cells and this is the only thing that will keep people safe than think that they just don’t care about other people and are unwilling to endure hardships they happily force upon others.

I think my big issue with the MCU, is that they don’t even try to make the flaws logical. Before the snap, thanos has all of the infinity stones and can bend reality. He could have done any other kind of random macguffin BS other than remove half of all people. If the avengers could look into the future and envision the one reality where they defeated Thanos, Thanos could’ve done the same but for whatever heuristic he was attempting to optimize. I know the villain in Black Panther gets a lot of hate for having an unsympathetic side just tacked on, but unfortunately it’s quite historically accurate to have people pushing for some kind of enlightened revolution that haven’t quite done all of the work to unlearn things themselves. I do think that the fact that he was written that way and isn’t a real person is a valid argument as to why it’s a poor defense, but it’s suggested that MLK cheated on his wife and prominent figures in the Black Panther party did abuse women. So, I’m a bit torn on that, but between Thanos and whatever the hell was happening in falcon in the winter soldier, I still think the villains and the heroes could use some work.

Just to be clear, I don’t think it takes away from the movies being great. I also really like infinity war, I just don’t that I was on board with everyone’s motivations all the time.

Edit: I responded to this comment from my inbox, and now I’m seeing that you already have replies saying that Thanos really isn’t understandable. I wasn’t trying to pile on, I just also believe that.

There was something about that movie (uma Thurman) that no Batman movie after was able to do (it was uma Thurman). I haven’t seen the movie in years, but I remember empathizing with the villains in a way that modern movies just don’t want you to (it may have just been uma Thurman but I remember feeling bad for mr freeze too). I might just be queerer than other people but the level of camp felt genuine. I don’t dislike other Batman movies, but that one felt fun to watch the way old comics were fun to read.

Right?! I had a roommate who would never rinse their toothbrush. I think. I have no idea what else would cause the kind of gross buildup I saw on it, so I think they just put toothpaste on it, brushed then put it back down. The bristles were all crusty and split and there was discoloration on the handle I’d never seen before or since. I wouldn’t want to share with them. They were otherwise pretty hygienic, but I’d rather not brush for a day than use theirs.

You misunderstood. She’s focused on affordability for herself. How is she going to afford things if she can’t get kickbacks from corpos and the rich for keeping taxes low?

Their comment is basically “we logged the whole forest and sold lumber for profit, now don’t you feel stupid for not doing it when trees still existed?!” Most anti crypto people are more sad that crypto exists than upset that they didn’t cash out big. A fascist government saying that everyone who engaged in ruining the forest was right isn’t going to change how people actually feel about the fact the forest is now gone.

People like that would rather be “right” than good, and will side with whoever is declaring them “right”.

I’m not religious, but I understand that a wedding is very important in some religions. Catholics for example consider it a sacrament. It’s not about their guests, it’s about the couple and if religion is important to them they should be able to have that included. You can just not go if you don’t want to. It’s about supporting them and their journey together. It’s not about the attendees being religious.

It’d be like going to a vegetarians wedding and being upset they didn’t offer meat dishes. It’s their wedding and their views. If there’s any day where they should be able to subject people to them (for lack of a better phrase) it’s their wedding day.

I mostly interact with two kinds of people and it’s either 1) people who think any deviation is sinful or 2) people who don’t notice or comment on others gender expression/identity unless the person brings it up. I’m not suggesting that there is no middle ground, but the thought that young people as a whole aren’t more interested/able in exploring gender as a spectrum and gender expression as a whole is just patently false.

The reason I bothered to mention that I’m a gender abolitionist is because it read to me like they were anti the whole concept of gender and believe that young people are just reinforcing it by lumping things in as “trans coded”. Aka “boy liking girl things is trans” should be “just a thing a boy likes”. But people aren’t saying “liking girl things makes you trans”. I’m stating that young people are actually better at exploring gender than others. I’m not saying young people are all progressive, just responding to the perceived point and saying that young people (more than other generations) are more flexible in their perception of gender. To me it seems like they are lamenting how instead of breaking down gender norms, people are using it to reinforce the gender stereotype.

I do agree we’re all (including them) on the same side. I did reread it before my previous response just to double check, but I appreciate you suggesting that. I want to be clear that I don’t think their comment is right wing, just that the talking point “society uses trans people to enforce gender norms” is sometimes used by the right as well.

I understand that reasonable minds can interpret statements differently. To me it reads like they were lamenting how trans ideology is kind of reinforcing gender. To you it reads like they are lamenting the lack of some people’s ability to explore gender. That’s totally ok. Hopefully they chime in and make their intent clear. Either way I hope we all get to a place where we can live as and present as whatever we wish whenever we wish.

They said: “They’re very rigidly stuck inside little Identity boxes anyway. You’re automatically “trans coded” if you’re a guy but like dresses, looking pretty and shaving.”

That stuck out to me as some of the same trans fear mongering that the right wing uses when they say “tomgirls are a thing. You don’t have to be trans”.

Im not saying they are right wing, but the idea that doing something gender nonconforming signals that you’re trans is not correct and in my experience not a widely popular belief among young people. It seems to me like they were saying people are too quick to call people trans and that’s just not the case. If that wasn’t their point, I’m not sure what they meant by suggesting that someone is “automatically trans coded”.

I agree that there are still spaces where it’s not safe, but I don’t see that argument being made in the comment.

Your comment shows either a very limited knowledge of queer identities or potentially large regional differences in the younger gens, because agender, bigender, and gender nonconforming people make up more of younger gens than they do older gens. So many young men are getting into makeup, nail polish, and wearing dresses and skirts. Way more than the older gens.

I’m a gender abolitionist, but your comment is either misguided or outright false.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9380989/

“Boomers+ and Generation X groups were more likely to identify as trans women compared to the younger generational cohorts, who were more varied in their identities.”

Yeah, that makes sense. Do you mind me asking what kind of church you went to? Was it nondenominational or did it have a denomination?

Not hating on your church or anything, but isn’t his death the whole point? Like if he didn’t die in that manner and then theoretically come back, he’d just be some guy. There’d be no need for the religion. I feel like his death makes the whole thing come full circle. It’s not just about being good, it’s about then being willing to sacrifice for the good of everyone.

There may be intricacies regarding having to provide some funding, so it’s easy to just cut it instead of jumping through hoops to remove it. It might be just for the optics of saying they didn’t remove funding, they just reduced it to “prevent fraud” and then they never mention that they reduced by 90%. Maybe so that if it goes over well with their base they can cut it again for some extra bump in the news cycle. I do wish the article mentioned if there was a mandatory requirement for funding though.

Yea, that’s basically my point. I don’t know why the desire is to be an attractive woman. Why not wish to be attractive man? Attractive men get plenty of action. What is it about being a woman specifically? I’m not saying they’re trans, I just think it’s worth some self reflection.

Are you gay? Your comment lower in this thread seem to indicate you are attracted to women. An attractive woman might be able to fuck a lot of men, but if you’re not gay I don’t know why you’d deem that outcome as desirable.

I think “good answer” really depends on your values. If I hate people from or with heritage from South America or Africa or whatever other place, then it’s probably great that the government is illegally deporting citizens with that background. Unfortunately, that’s where a lot of people are. Admittedly, they’re also ok with denying birthright citizenship.

Extremely sorry to hear you’re having a tough time. I’m not a guy, so I cannot speak from direct experience, but just judging from my male friends it seems like the “find a social hobby” advice really works. I know you didn’t ask for advice, but I really don’t have much else to offer other than my sympathy. I hope things get better for you (and everyone tbh).

I’m not talking myself out of doing anything and I am actively doing what I can. I also specifically said that resistance isn’t futile. We should all do what we can, but not talking about the problem, especially when other leftists are openly and actively acknowledging it, just leads to the pic above of feeling like their experience is the problem. Their experience is not the problem and they are not crazy. Unfortunately, there are a lot of fascists around. That fact is important to acknowledge because it really does change the kind of resistance that works.

I know the infighting meme is old at this point, but I’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish with this comment, but it comes off as obnoxious (to me) and we need less of that. I’m not posting doomer rhetoric. I’m acknowledging a truth already acknowledged in this thread. I don’t need a random leftist telling me to work hard to overcome reasons for inaction. I already organize locally. Acknowledging that there’s just only so much you can do and it’s ok to work in that framework can be helpful.

It is such a clear sign of differences in socialization, because you will never find a more supportive group than a bunch of drunk female friends (in my experience). Really sad to see the lack of men supporting men, but hopefully it’s getting better as the years go on.