'tisn’t the least bit funny.

His chief weapon was surprise, iirc. That’s all, just surprise.

I mean, occasionally they do. Always popping up where you least expect (or want) them, in my experience.

It’s true that I’m not on any other social media, but I’m here every day. There really hasn’t been much talk about Veilguard at all. Nothing like, say, all the Starfield criticism.

Is it a big commercial failure? I noped out of the series after seeing the direction they went with Inquisition, but I haven’t really seen any negative press about it. Kinda seems like the article’s just trying to stir up some shit

The sentence can be interpreted either way.

I had similar feelings about this post. Reminds me of a pansexual family member of mine who claims that everyone is pansexual, really, if they just get over their hang-ups. I’m all for people being who they want to be, and feeling free to express themselves. I dislike the patronizing implication that if I don’t want to wear a crop-top and skirt, it’s because I’m not sufficiently enlightened or liberated.

I don’t think that was at all OP’s intent, to be clear—just thinking out loud as it were. I appreciate your thoughtful response.

People are saying it. Many great people.

Someone call Tom Bombadil!

I think 75% is far too generous an estimate, tbh. Every policy I’ve acquired through the ACA-mandated marketplace has been garbage, right from the start. For-profit health care is evil, and the ACA just served to further entrench this evil in our lives. It did some marginal good, and I’m certainly not advocating for its repeal in favor of ‘concepts of a plan’. But 75%? I can’t get on board with that.

This is something I do, so I’ll take a crack at it—though, bear in mind, it might be total bullshit.

It’s a defense mechanism. Many popular things are—in my estimation—objectively terrible. Every time something utterly devoid of merit (and often actively detrimental to the public good) is generally agreed to be a popular sensation, the connection I feel to my fellow human beings takes a hit.

I want to believe in people—in society. But I’m clearly a judgmental sob. So maybe by avoiding the popular things, I’m trying not to further my own alienation.

I mean, not to put too fine a point on it, but what the fuck is normal? Nobody’s really normal. Even the so-called neurotypical are riddled with undiagnosed disorders. Normalcy is just a social fiction. Don’t let it limit your options.

I think that you’re probably right. I also think I may be projecting a bit, and conflating my country’s apathetic embrace of fascism with my own executive dysfunction. Seems all of a piece. Anyhow, thanks for the words.

The thing is, it can be really hard to accurately assess why you feel an aversion to things, and whether or not that aversion is misplaced. I can come up with scads of seemingly reasonable objections to, for example, going to the gym. That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t benefit from it.

Overcoming an innate aversion that you’ve convinced yourself is a part of who you are can be life-changing.

The big caveat there is that knowing things doesn’t change the world. Scads of people are acutely aware of the problems facing society—maybe more than at any time in history. Vanishingly few feel empowered to do anything about it.

I’m not pro-ignorance by any means; education is the silver bullet. But we urgently need to find better ways of translating our spectacular surfeit of knowledge into individually actionable mechanisms of social change.

I have blocked at least one “videos” community, since I have no interest in watching anything masquerading as informative. I’ve been on Lemmy a bunch lately, so I can only assume that I’ve preemptively blocked the instance or community where it’s being posted.

I’ve been blissfully unaware of this trend, because I’m not on any other social media! I get that posting this is a bit of smug self-satisfaction, which nobody likes, but I feel strongly that corporate social media is a scourge, and that far too many people farm out their critical thinking to random “content creators.” Black-box content algorithms are not doing you any favors, and they will affect your thinking if you subject yourself to them.

He is, to quote Dan McCoy, a prolific motherfucker! I always enjoy his work.

Thanks, your post reminded me of an old friend who would get unreasonably upset when someone used that phrase. “What the fuck else would it be‽” he’d say. Good times.

You’ll note that this comment is also devoid of content, so it’s on theme!

An excellent notion! In the spirit of compromise, I’d be willing to accept exiling them to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. We could call 'em the Garbage Patch Kids!