Not Elon?

That’s a whole lot of fascists, I would say. Or a whole lot of complete idiots.

tbh the US citizens did that

I don’t think most of them can be convinced because they are already well aware that they are wrong - they just don’t care because their only concern is to continue their business ventures (big oil and so on) or their lifestyle (huge cars and so on). They deliberately spread misinformation in order to gain support for their irresponsible cause so that they can carry on as before. I don’t think it’s worth spending time trying to convince them that they are campaigning for a destructive course, especially as that’s exactly what they want to achieve: Tie up resources, sow doubt and recruit equally unscrupulous fellow campaigners. So instead, I think it makes more sense to stand up to these people and make their selfish intentions clear so that as few people as possible feel that this behavior is acceptable. I think we owe that to future generations.

Isn’t that the same Ferengi in different Hu-mon disguises?

I think that everyone has forfeited the right to be taken seriously if they simply refuse to acknowledge proven facts until there is no way left to hold on to their crude claims. I think it is even dangerous to take this seriously, because it legitimizes hostility towards science and ultimately harms an objective public discourse based on verifiable arguments. Of course, everyone should be free to express their opinion, but they must also be held accountable for their actions.

I think the efforts of climate change deniers are a especially vivid example of the danger posed by the normalization of irrational pseudo-arguments and factually untenable denialism. This issue, like many others, is largely beyond direct human experience, but that does not mean that climate change is not real. So you can’t even fly these people to the melting glaciers to convince them, which is out of the question anyway because their denialism is actually motivated by purely selfish goals, namely the avoidance of measures to combat climate change that would harm their financial interests or threaten their lifestyle. In such cases I think that it is perfectly legitimate to simply dismiss these outlandish claims as nonsense and expose their authors as mere charlatans.

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Sure. But the Hornets aren’t interested in the child, they’re only interested in marketing. The only way I can explain this is that either some employee wanted the PS5 and just took it from the kid or the Hornets’ marketing department thinks that even bad publicity is free publicity. Maybe they intentionally planned for the predictable media coverage on this matter because it also brings attention. If the Hornets wanted to buy this kind of exposure, that paltry $500 wouldn’t even begin to cover it.

Compared to the marketing expenses of even very small companies, a PS5 is so ridiculously cheap that these costs are not even worth mentioning.

I’m Still T®ippin’ now and then…

Trump was also a member of the Democratic Party once - for 8 years (2001-2009) and he even donated to Harris back then. Source

Totally unrelated: A friend of mine was firmly convinced that Saruman would somehow assemble the Uruk-Hai out of wood. He thought it had to be that way because there are scenes in the movie that show Saruman having forests cut down, which then leads to the Ents intervening.

He didn’t believe me that the wood was needed for war equipment and Saruman’s weapon forges until I showed him the movie scene in which an Uruk-Hai hatches from a kind of amniotic sac.

Seems perfectly logical to me.

Yes, I realize that this post is less about the trolley problem and its moral dilemma than an allusion to the corresponding meme. And I certainly understand the intended message.

Nevertheless, I think the post is a good example of how the whole discussion about the healthcare industry in the US is currently being conducted: I don’t think it should be about whether vigilante justice is justified in the case of CEOs acting inhumanely. In my opinion, the discussion should rather be about why the healthcare system in the USA is so inhumane and profit-oriented in the first place and not only allows this behavior, but is specifically designed for just that. The question should be how this has come about and how a better (and more efficient) system can be established.

As long as this is not the case, the debate revolves exclusively around the idea that individuals and their greed were responsible for abuses. But this is a systemic problem where there will always be another unscrupulous person to take over as CEO.

Therefore, I think, nothing can change as long as the focus is on individuals and not on the goals and/or the failures of the healthcare system. In other words, as long as US citizens and especially politicians agree that the healthcare system is a business like any other, even vigilante justice directed at individuals will not change anything. Sure, that may help to draw attention to the actual problem. But this problem can only be resolved if the discussion is not about symptoms, but about their causes, namely the healthcare system itself. Or even similarly designed systems for that matter.

Since a healthcare system does not have to be designed in such a way that people inevitably fall by the wayside, this depiction of the trolley problem seems to me to be a pretty US-American thing.

I see it like this: the guy on the lever is also the CEO of a health insurance company and chooses the option of eliminating a competitor, accepting that his even more profit-optimized approach will lead to even more helpless people dying, which would not have been necessary if he had left everything as it was and not eliminated the competitor. The US thing about this is that there is no third option in the first place, where nobody dies because of the healthcare system. This very basic fact is not noticed, addressed or even criticized by anyone. Instead, even those who will die unnecessarily agree with the guy in charge in his decision to sacrifice them on the altar of higher profits because a hated person will die with them - they even agree with his statement that it would be for the greater good, instead of asking why it is even necessary for them to be tied to the tracks and run over.

This seems odd to me, but is probably only logical if you’re used to seeing the healthcare system as a business like any other. I don’t really get it tho.

I guess if we had a sun god instead of Christianity, climate change wouldn’t be a thing.

Any girl who would touch him we would think could lick the arse of a diseased hangman.

Catullus (~84BC - ~54BC) The Carmina of Gaius Valerius Catullus. Leonard C. Smithers. London. Smithers. 1894.

It ain’t easy being grumpy

OMG, UrPartnerInCrime, guess who’s back in town. Chicken Nugget Wizard! Ya know, Hamburglars’ cute lil bro 😏🔥 He’s still single, so you should totally vibe with him and see what happens! I can already feel major chemistry! 🍆💖 Let’s get it poppin’! 😂

Exactly, find a partner in crime.