thatsnotwhatisaidthough phil I've got a problem with the way kids are nowadays with the parents and with the government and I've got a problem with teachers and scientists and musicians. I've got a problem with every kind of institution, but wouldn't you know it, the church seems fine, my party seems fine, my kids seem fine, and I seem fine. And I can't be wrong. I don't see anything wrong with anything I do. Why is everyone attacking me? I am entitled to my opinion. And I am not any different from you. You're not special. You can't do anything better than I can do. Go sports. 240422 ... dafremen Everything happens for a reason. Just watching it go by and trying to figure out what it all means is enough for me anymore. The book is finished except for the last few appendices. If any, these are my main prejudices: I've got a problem with the increase in mental illness caused by a highly dysfunctional society. The widening wealth disparity between the investor and working classes too, because that's the heart of the issue. Not too happy about a media, education system and government that have all been hijacked by that same investor class to undermine labor and destroy their only real power base: unity. A lot of lives are being devastated and I can't stand to see folks losing all hope, who thought they were being led into a bright future, not the slaughterhouse. But most of all, I'm concerned that my countrymen's minds have been hijacked. I might consider that an arrogant statement if it weren't for the fact that tribalism has reached such RIDICULOUS levels that even Bill "I wouldn't admit I was wrong if YOU took the blame" Maher called it out just last week. Everyone knows that most modern conservatives are zombies for money, but then the same "people-loving progressives" who railed against shady, tax-dodging billionaires suddenly started talking about vaccine passports. Then they started talking about denying basic medical services to people who didn't get a jab cooked up in 5 months by those same billionaires. That's when I knew they'd been hacked. Soon folks were lining up for the most nefarious con job since the Tuskegee experiment. Young athletes were the first to drop like flies. Go sports. 240423 ... phil That has nothing to do with me or my life, or the people I know or talk with. None of that is relevant. You are talking about a puppet show that you watched. Do you think I am calling it a puppet show becaus, "they are all puppets, man!". No, I mean it is fictional entertainment for adults, on the same level as watching a puppet show. Knock yourself out, but I will repeat, it is boring as fuck and devoid. It is irrelevant empty rhetoric without a shred of sympathy, sanity, or clarity, and you simp hard on it, and pretend it is real. I run into this about as often as I run into moon landing conspiracies and take it less seriously. Less. 240423 ... dafremen What's real are the poor souls who were just trying to do the right thing, while avoiding anymore singling out for humiliation by the intelligent, ala primary school programming. Someone has to give a shit about them. Doesn't sound like it's going to be you, mister. So kick back and enjoy the show. 240425 ... epitome of incomprehensibility I mean, polarization as distraction? True. Case in point: people (still) arguing about an irrelevant vaccine while the earth's climate is going off the rails. (Note: I was against the vaccine passports. I was against the trucker protests. I was against the whole goshdarn argument. I wasn't the only one.) (Also, all those cans of gasoline wasted? More fossil fuel for the forest fires. Who's playing into the hands of amoral billionaires there?) Dangerous uses of technology/science? As Bob Ross says, don't miss the real microplastics for the imaginary microchips. I know I'm not perfect with eco stuff either (bubble tea is my unfortunate citified vice). But one thing I'll suggest (while I'm on my little insomniac soapbox) is for us to use less plastic, esp. single-use containers. Of course, the main polluters are the big guys, soda speak, but we can put the pressure on them to reduce plastic production/use/waste. It's not the only thing, but it's a start. 240501 ... dafremen see also: what_the_hands_of_man_hath_wrought 240501 what's it to you? who go blather from