Is there a succinct way of articulating why we can’t do both? (e.g. vote for the lesser evil while also doing all the mutual aid and whatnot that we can?) Does it boil down to the argument that voting makes people less likely to build said alternative power structures?

I’ll watch the video when I have time, but communicating an actionable strategy I think is essential to folks in crisis.

One of the most on the nose scenes in the Wire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6r2a2PaQPI

The conversation (copied from IMDB)

Detective James ‘Jimmy’ McNulty : Guy leaves two dozen bodies scattered all over the city, no one gives a fuck.

Detective Lester Freamon : It’s because who he dropped.

Detective William ‘Bunk’ Moreland : True that. You can go a long way in this country killin’ black folk. Young males especially. Misdemeanor homicides.

Detective James ‘Jimmy’ McNulty : If Marlo was killin’ white women…

Detective Lester Freamon : White children.

Detective William ‘Bunk’ Moreland : Tourists.

Detective James ‘Jimmy’ McNulty : One white ex-cheerleader tourist missin’ in Aruba.

Detective William ‘Bunk’ Moreland : Trouble is, this ain’t Aruba, bitch.

Detective Lester Freamon : You think that if 300 white people were killed in this city every year, they wouldn’t send the 82nd Airborne? Negro, please.

Accuracy: the most important part of humor! It’s so crucial to comedy that I have never, not in a million years, seen someone exaggerate for humorous effect. It’s simply not done in civil society: so I thank you for the bravery you’ve shown by shining light on this horrid case of inaccurate humor.

Military industrial complex

I’m not following your argument, though I am slightly drunk. The disproportionate representation that’s the focus of the post means that less than 51% of the populace could wield the levers of power in the Senate. That’s minority rule, which is even worse than mob rule.

I get that mob rule is bad, and that we need checks in place to curb the possibility of abuses of power, but I see that as necessitating laws for super majorities and ranked choice or other ways of ensuring less extreme representatives getting into power.

Outer Wilds gave me that sensation

I’ve just realized that my tendency to start comments irl and online with “Yeah…” might in part be a defense mechanism to avoid being misunderstood as disagreeing.

Yeah, given that it’s around a hundred bucks (at best) a month for a pickup, and I can rent a pickup from a big box store for 20 bucks…the math works out to do that as often as weekly and still save money, considering registration/tag/maintenance. That’s considering that my wife and I have one car, and one motorcycle: the differential in going from a car to a truck isn’t as egregious as motorcycle or no second car, of course.

Also, it’s always fun to get a huge haul of materials with my motorcycle gear on, seeing folks clearly wonder if I’ve thought through my decisions.

Yeah we’re in agreement, and apologies that my reply was a little meandering! It’s hard to reply without sounding contrarian sometimes.

Thanks for a good reply, and I hope you enjoy the weekend!

All of these things can be true at the same time.

Absolutely true: I’m also far-Left, and am a scientist working in the sustainability field.

I know I have complicated views on this (shaming her specifically), mostly because there’s not the same number of posts shaming CEOs and others making even worse choices.

The way I process it would be as if a major new corporation had a crime segment running nightly, but only showed young Black men who were arrested for violent crimes. Sure, it’s not technically incorrect - since they were each arrested - but it’s misleading in a way that should be examined, and people would rightly question why they’re not showing other folks doing the same things.

To be clear - I’m not equating the folks who share or make these memes with racists, but I am using it as an extreme example of ways in which outsized attention to certain celebrities/public figures can come across. I laughed at this and other memes, but I think it’s worth examining why we can name and shame Swift, but not CEOs and others who are more fundamentally responsible for inequities and climate destruction. I’m way-overanalyzing a meme here, since name recognition is doing most of the work (who would click on a meme with the name of some CEO they don’t recognize, versus Swift?), but I do think we could/should do more to drag some of the true ghouls out there into the light and start mocking them, in addition to the folks normally raked over the coals.

Also, I understand that part of that is the hypocrisy, but I’m reminded of what the great Norm MacDonald had to say about hypocrisy:

The comedian Patton Oswalt, he told me “I think the worst part of the Cosby thing was the hypocrisy.” And I disagree. I thought it was the raping. It’s my feeling most rapists are hypocrites. You don’t meet many that go “I like raping and I know it’s not politically correct but, by god” and people go “well, he’s not being a hypocrite and that’s the worst part!”

Nowhere in my comment did I suggest that, because it would be a silly way to deal with such a big problem. It takes a lot of training to help people in crisis, and a lot of infrastructure to get people on their feet.

It’s not your responsibility alone, it’s not my responsibility alone. If you’d like to discuss any of the points I actually made, great. Otherwise you can try to oversimplify the discussion and I won’t respond anymore

What if the road to becoming “functional” requires, at least in a plurality of cases, help from those that can afford it?

That “free shit” might be what helps them turn their life around. Do you think they have a better chance to improve their station in life if they don’t have access to support from the public?

I wholly reject that it’s somehow dehumanizing to give folks food and shelter during the worst moments in their lives.

Seems like we won’t, but hopefully we both learned something.

Ok well there we go: I don’t think sex work is inherently “lame”, nor that it should be stigmatized.

I’ve never had sex for money, or paid for sex, but I don’t see why it should be illegal or shameful. I’ve watched plenty of porn that’s shameful because of the exploitation of folks, but there’s good porn out there that isn’t that. As for literally prostitution, and not the broader sex work label…some folks are too anxious to have sex without it, some people want to engage in really specific kinks, some people are just bored and want no strings attached sex.

Sex is as natural as eating, and I think being a good chef is something to be proud of.

You’re getting dragged in the discussion below, and while I think I understand your more specific points below, I’d like to offer some perspective on this general point instead of continuing down those lines.

Here you’ve set the tone by calling sex inherently shameful. Not being serious/dignified isn’t the same as shameful. For me, shame comes with some moral failing. I’m ashamed when I disappoint someone, or get angry for something petty, or act petty myself. Not because of being undignified. I’m not ashamed when I fart, that’s just my body. However, I am ashamed when I fart in a public place, because it’s smelly and few people deserve to suffer like that.

So my counterargument to your perspective here: sex isn’t inherently shameful, but it can be because of context. Banging too loud when having guests over is shameful: not because of being loud, but because of the lack of consent - being too loud when everyone around consents to that kind of behavior is fine. No shame if you’re in a place where everyone is hooking up, and everyone knows the walls are thin. That’s just fun. Not dignified, not serious, but fun. So the sex part isn’t the problem. Not inherently.

To the main point - if everyone would just be cool about sex work, I honestly think folks wouldn’t ascribe shame to participating in sex work. I’ve lived in small communities in the Amazon where there was essentially no shame associated with consensual non monogamy, outside of the religious folk. Different social structure and beliefs in that region made it much more open…so I heartily reject calling sex a shameful act. That’s too much moral baggage to ascribe to such a natural, zesty enterprise.

There’s a podcast called Behind the Bastards, Robert Evans is the host. Podcast about terrible people in history, Evans and guests have left wing politics and “crude” humor…it’s awesome

I don’t think it does much, but any tiny contribution to the fight against climate change is a good for the world, as is any slowing of the erosion of civil rights domestically, gutting of what remains of medicare/medicaid, etc.

I also know a GOP administration will be worse in terms of fighting against leftist movements in the streets, if only slightly. They’re definitely worse re: labor movements overall, again: even if only marginally.

So I’m not going to claim it’s a panacea, or even someone that will have notable effects, but I do think it matters at the margins, so the effort required is usually worth it, IMHO

Voting for the slightly less shit option makes it easier for the things we do in parallel to have a positive impact: direct action doesn’t get slowed down much by voting once a year or so.

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Hell yeah! If you aren’t familiar with the some, they were trolling folks with “I Kill Children” to lampoon folks swept up in moral panics: it feels all to relevant today, given the moral panic around LGBTQ+ folks.

https://youtu.be/TtqPlB-oC4w?si=CXD7m1zUQYY-ghHl