Honestly, that’s a weird take. Through reading i have learned about so many things i would never have the chance to experience in person. Having your perspective altered (i would say, expanded) by reading is essential for emotional and intellectual growth. The only thing you risk losing is ignorance.
Today’s hot investment tip: lavender oil and child coffins.
Other commenters did a good job, but i wanted to share an insight that helped me understand the ACAB idea: all cops are bastards because the job is a bastard. If you are an american cop, you will be compelled, at some point, to do something immoral: the prison-industrial complex demands it.
A real tough talker but a coward to the bone? And a Nazi, to boot?
What a prize this man is.
MAGA voted for what they wanted: they are getting excellent representation. Their wildest political fantasies are being enacted right now. The people who didn’t vote at all - especially those who pretended the democrats are somehow just as bad as the literal fascists currently in power - they just shrugged off their responsibilities as democratic citizens and let the country be ruined by a minority of racist shitheads. The election result wasn’t 50/50, but closer to 33/33/33: one third of Americans wanted white christian fascism, one third adamantly did not, and one third said, “fascism, democracy - what’s the difference?”
I think it’s a bit fatuous to argue that altruism is just self-interest. Sure, people who volunteer or help others in distress usually get some kind of benefit. They feel good about themselves, or they get to live in world that is one trillionth of a percent kinder/happier because of their good deed, etc. But the self-interest argument falls apart when you look at it from a cost/benefit standpoint. Suppose a person spends 2h raising money for the food bank. The hungry people who gets to eat and feed their children benefit the most. The local community benefits a tiny bit, and maybe the volunteer gets a small self-esteem (and other-esteem) boost. On the other hand, if that person were to spend the time earning money for a nice sweater, say, they might get a bigger self esteem boost, a few compliments, and a warm fuzzy garment that lasts for years. The hungry person is still hungry, but remains an abstraction. I would argue that the sweater earner benefitted more than the volunteer. Yet, people still volunteer.
Some people make anonymous donations. Do you really think the self-esteem boost is more valuable than the literal money that person donates?
The argument that the world would be better off if everyone acted in their self interest is ridiculous. That inevitably leads to a might-makes-right system of oppression. The only reason this argument is still being circulated is because shitheads like elon musk, who already has a huge amount of wealth and influence, spam this shit everywhere (on Twitter, Fox News, etc.) to legitimize their undeserved status and evil power.
I know a lot of you woke up this morning in shock—staring at the footage out of Los Angeles, asking yourselves: How could this happen? Is this real? Is this really happening in the United States of America?
It’s almost like all those annoying people who tried to warn other Americans that Trump was a dangerous person seeking absolute power were right the whole time. Trump Derangement Syndrome exists, but the symptoms were badly described: I propose that the new definition of TDS should be the delusional belief that the US (and the world) is safe while Trump and his inner circle still live.
Right? Ironically, that IS an emergency.
Square Joe Smith is clearly not in the thinking class.
Yup. Now Trump will blame Musk for anything that went wrong in the last 5 months - including the fallout from musk’s random vandalism of government agencies.
I wonder when Musk will realize that he is probably going to die in a Salvadoran prison.
Lol. Like corporate social media isn’t creepy.
But why? Like, I know the reason, but has Trump completely dropped any pretence that Rule of Law exists in the US? Kidnapping is now protected speech, but only if your target is a liberal?
If he pardons these guys, then it is not hyperbole to say that democracy is over in the United States and Americans no longer inhabit a free country.
If i feel that way in Canada, I can only imagine your frustration. Mumbai is huge!
Almost every kid has felt that they were missing out on something because of parental rules at some point. The kids who had no rules were not necessarily the lucky ones, since good parenting always involves setting boundaries. i’m really not making the “in my time” argument because if we fixed the problems with social media i would have no problem letting my kids use something i didn’t have access to. to me it’s about balancing risks: make it safer, then let kids use it! after all, op is opening the door by making this post. she is directly responding to the expressed desire of her kids and trying to find a safe way to let her daughters access the tools they think they need.
For my part, i don’t consider forums social media. I may be in the minority, but im not as worried about stranger danger or cyber bullying as much as corporate control over content and privacy. i have never used snapchat, but i assume part of their revenue stream involves advertising and selling private data. maybe snapchat is very responsible about these things, but there is no oversight. take facebook, for example: a whistleblower just alleged that facebook targeted teen girls with weight loss and beauty products when it detected that the girls were feeling bad about themselves (say, when they had deleted a bunch of selfies). these exploitative and predatory decisions (to target an individual) are not approved by an ethics board. they are not subject to scrutiny. the only time we become aware of them is when some executive gets laid off and has a sudden crisis of conscience/lucrative book deal. maybe a ban on individualized ads and content feeds for young people would be enough to fix big problems. forums mostly don’t suffer from those problems.
You are right. But if things have changed, they can change again. Many countries are in the process of banning smart phones in schools and are legislating age minimums for social media. In such environments, access to social media becomes much less important. I think a better long-term approach would be to mitigate the risks of social media, and the fediverse is already addressing some of the big problems like corporate control of information and algorithmic curation of content. I like the idea of social media, but i hate the (prevalent) implementation.
True, using a defederated mastodon server as a group chat is “off label”, but i think it could work. I am not a fediverse expert, though.
With her friends, presumably. Why would she want strangers or mere acquaintances on her group chat?
There are more and more kids who aren’t allowed on social media because of its multifarious harms. Don’t forget that 20 years ago, no kids had social media. By all accounts, kids were doing fine back then. Also, OP said that her eldest daughter, at least, has a friend group, so your concern about their social isolation is probably misplaced.
Do your feelings and opinions align with MAGA? If so, you’re good. Note: you may need to update your feelings and opinions as MAGA priorities shift. After all, MAGA is less of a philosophy and more of a 32-conspiracy-theories-in-a-trenchcoat kind of thing.