Enthusiastic sh.it.head

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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: June 9th, 2023

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  • IIRC there are prescribed acts you can do that should be a form of penitence - that whole “Say 10 Hail Mary’s and don’t call Satan in the morning” thing. It feels a little akin to a kid, caught doing something bad to their neighbour’s property by mom, getting dragged to the neighbour’s door to apologize. There’s a good chance they are apologizing without actually feeling penitent, but once the conditions of the punishment are carried out, they are in a sense free to go.

    Like with the above, I think the idea is that you should truly feel penitent and these acts are an honest expression of that. But if we take a look at the history of the Catholic Church I’m not convinced that wasn’t put to the wayside a long time ago (see the trade of plenary indulgences in the middle ages).

    Second the request any comments from ex- or current Catholics though, this is just my impression from the outside/watching a lapsed Catholic grapple with their faith.




  • True, but part of this is impact and speed. As an uneducated person, you can immediately grasp what’s intended here and why it’s bad. Takes longer, and probably time you guys in the U.S.* simply don’t have, to better educate folks to come to the same ultimate conclusion in large enough numbers.

    Your education systems are widely gutted, general level of political knowledge is poor, and you have folks speed running to old school authoritarianism with the support of a lot of dumb people - and those folks are very close to the finish line. You. Don’t. Have. Time. I’m not saying I’m a fan but there’s a practical component to this.

    *Noted that this is an assumption and you may not live in the U.S.


  • The problem being that for many people (including my own ex, apparently, both to my and my kid’s utter shock), authoritarianism and communism/socialism are synonyms. For those folks who got fed the propaganda and had no real reason or desire to question it, that’s the characterization that works the best to communicate the threat.

    For reference, an actual conversation:
    “Man, Trump is going to make the U.S. a full-blown communist country”
    [Me and Kid: Mouth agape, silence for about 5 seconds]: “I’m sorry, WHAT?”
    “Yeah, you know, communist, like Russia was with Stalin”.
    “…do you not know what communism is?”
    “Yes, it’s when there’s an authoritarian dictator.”
    “No, that’s authoritarianism.”
    “Oh. I’ve never heard of that before.”



  • I’d go more mentally competent. Are you capable of understanding the risks and what the end state actually is? You’ve had some time after the doctor has demonstrably given you the whole set of information to make an informed decision? You still want to move forward? K, here’s a surgery date.

    Might just be me, but mental stability has some slippery connotations (thinking about the history of the term hysteria, different forms of social stigma turned into pathology, etc.) But we could very well be talking about the same thing using a different word.


  • Eh…I’d want a lot more effort spent to ensure patients are given 100% accurate, fully informed information re: outcomes and upkeep, and give consent only after seriously weighing that, but I dunno about banning purely cosmetic surgery.

    A) I like the idea that humans have the freedom to modify their own bodies in whatever ways they see fit, so long as they accept the risks and realistic outcomes, and B) Banning would just create more underground practices, which is particularly bad for patient safety.











  • Naive in the sense that it doesn’t adequately account for the situation of many people. Not everyone has the circumstances where they can do this. I can’t help but feel there’s some survivorship bias influencing your position.

    I’m curious, though, if you’re up to illustrating (if not, totally fine): You are a single mother of two sons, ages 7 and 8, living in Generic State, USA. You have a high school degree and no post-secondary education. You have limited support, solely in the form of limited childcare, from family/the wider community. You make about $1600.00 USD per month, after taxes, working 50 hours a week at a physical workplace. You’re finding yourself with $10 left at the end of each month, after all legitimately necessary expenses (rent, food, basic utilities) are paid for. Let’s make it easy and say you have no debt.

    What are you doing, and where are you going, if following your advice? It should be noted these circumstances are actually quite a bit better than other folks in the U.S. To be clear, I don’t think this is a gotcha, nor is it intended to be - I just want to see your approach here.

    Edit: Monthly wage should be after taxes, not before, and changed $900 to $1600 (based roughly on monthly takehome pay at Ohio’s minimum wage rate, and I calculated for 1 pay period rather than 2 per month)


  • So, question: You’re someone with a not-remote-friendly skill set. You save your money to travel - travel, mind you, not immigrate, so subject to the visa requirements of travellers/tourists (as this seems to be what you’re talking about - immigration is a whole different kettle of fish). The money runs out. What do?

    Or - you’re living paycheck to paycheck with children. You try to save money to travel for the reasons you’ve brought up here. It’s not possible. What do?

    No offence, but your account of travel as a solution here seems deeply naive. It can work for some, sure, but “just leave the country bro” simply isn’t an option at all for many, many people.