Weird, I guess he claims ghostwriters only assisted him with making outlines, but unless he had Steven King level of cocaine addiction idk how he was able to churn out that much so quickly. I haven’t read any of them since I was a kid, though. The dummy episodes gave me horrific nightmares.

Look, I’ve tried taking a day to reply because this comment pissed me off so much. I watched my mother count calories as a kid and it emotionally scarred me. She wasn’t suffering from the examples you gave. I don’t care to share personal details and shouldn’t have to for you to be aware you may not know everything.

I mean, we don’t get off through stimulating our ovaries for one lmao

Was Washington leading troops after he became president though?

Gotcha, I hear you. I didn’t mean that seeing the wall without context is normal to have a terror response to, either, but I think we’re in agreement otherwise. Tear down the walls by repairing the wall :P

I hope I wasn’t coming across as mocking? On the flip side, we should be able to laugh at ourselves…Some people laugh because they’re uncomfortable. If you want us to be empathetic to someone losing their shit for a sec, try to have some empathy for those that it scares. You don’t have to witness it for it to have an emotional impact.

I’d be more forgiving that it’s a pretty extreme scenario most people won’t experience in their lives, but I do think we have a responsibility to handle our emotions in healthy ways. Punching shit is dangerous. You can hurt yourself, and even if not, it’s a signal to me that you are capable of causing harm because you can’t control your anger. I’m not sticking around to find out my body may be next.

Keep in mind, anger is often if not usually a secondary emotion to pain, fear, sadness, etc. Anger can be a great motivator, but again, how it’s expressed is important. Use your words, find some other action that doesn’t scare people (like take boxing classes where that’s the point), or process it on your own first.

I’m concerned Vance will bring people like my dad back in after he finally felt disenfranchised enough to say he won’t vote.

The comparison for forced birthers is a fraction of a percent to the amount of abortions procured year to year. I hate it, but they’re at least somewhat logically consistent there. Still reduces the quality of life for those that survive forced pregnancies drastically and risks permanent bodily harm. That’s where the hypocrisy shows on how much they value life imo. Raise them to suffer cuz “it’s God’s plan.”

I’m not sure what you mean.

“excluding [things I know about], it is literally always [the only other thing I know about.]” Again, I stress fallibility.

Crying signals sadness. Punching signals danger.

More like asking “you think I’m charismatic?”

Is it normal to you to see people punch walls when they get devastating news?

I’d rather think maybe someone tripped and fell into it if we’re looking for charitable ideas.

People seem to love to jump to this assumption without acknowledging any fallibility, when in reality you don’t know from just looking at someone. Even if it’s a likely reason, it’s not the only one. I’m going to at least hope you aren’t a doctor based on this single sentence.

The iron dome didn’t protect them on October 7th. It didn’t protect them completely today. I have friends that grew up there with the reality of seeking out bomb shelters constantly. Without, they’d be glassed by now. I agree they probably feel emboldened, but not without good reason. Should we compare surrounding regimes on the amount of internationally recognized terrorists in positions of dictatorship? At least Israeli citizens have some level of recourse if they’re dissatisfied. I think all individuals deserve the same level of self determination, along with Palestinians, Iranians, etc.

I know there’s nuance in how Israel and the US have played roles actively discouraging or even overthrowing democratic regimes, but I want to be careful not to take accountability away from each individual that has contributed to the suffering of innocent people. Abuse always has precursors.

I agree on the premise that occupation is not a defensive strategy. The degree to how fucked up it is in comparison to actively bombing depends. The food, water, and informative (shutting down access to Internet) blockades are horrific, on par with bombing imo. The casualties in Gaza are inexcusable.

Trust me, we have common grounds of disgust here. I don’t believe we can expect to see a path toward peace if we can’t demonstrate healthy conflict management ourselves, though. Israel has been established and deserves self determination without constant threat of external anhilitation as much as any of their neighboring countries. Palestine needs to be formally recognized, as well.

The iron dome is defense. Actively bombing outside of ones borders, in my opinion, is fucked up, no matter what “side.” It’s like all these country’s leaders are acting off PTSD responses and escalating more and more, no one attempting to deescalate. Idk what the answer is, honestly.

My ridiculous attempt to make light of the situation is to childishly wish Mr. Rogers were still alive to help us all get through this.

I went from “socially liberal, fiscally conservative” in high school to liberal to communist to anarchist back to communist now I think I’m democratic socialist in my 30s? Just basic safety nets and unions, please.

Gotcha, thank you! I’m gonna start paying attention for it and see if I can figure it out