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Cake day: April 1st, 2025

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  • Feel free to pitch the idea to congress. It will cost somewhere in the realm of trillions of dollars to invade, occupy, and rebuild North Korea. We’re talking an occupation lasting decades. A full time military presence for the foreseeable future as North Korea rebuilds something resembling a functional democratic society.

    Don’t get me wrong, their military would get absolutely bodied in a full on shooting war with any sort of NATO-esque military coalition. But they have a sizable entrenched force with more than a few functional nuclear weapons. It would cost A LOT of lives.

    So, that’s the bill. If you think you can convince congress to go for it, go nuts.





  • Any supposed supreme deity who hinges the eternal fate of their own supposed creations on a wild ass guess isn’t one that is worthy of worship, adoration, or even basic respect. If a being with the sum total knowledge and foresight of literally everything can’t devise a better system that any random ass person off the street, I wouldn’t worry about it.

    They either don’t exist at all, or they do and everyone is fucked because we exist in the playground of omnipotent super beings that are somehow also absurdly stupid. One of those outcomes is more likely than the other. I think you know which one it is.


  • Well, a few things…

    First and foremost, all authority is derived from a threat of force. Let’s just get that out of the way.

    Second, the “agreement” not to use that force on our own citizens has been steadily blurred by an increasingly militarized police force. What we’ve been seeing in terms of civil unrest in this country is the inevitable result of that. The police in this country have turned themselves into an occupying force.

    Third, conservative media has been gradually instilling a desire for violence in conservative culture. They’ve been doing this for decades. They’ve been playing the same familiar tropes that enable cultures to engage in the practice of othering, which makes them ambivalent to the idea of violence being inflicted on people outside of their cultural identity.

    Lastly, Trump doesn’t give a shit about this, and neither do conservative representatives. Outright flagrant dishonesty is a pillar of cultural conservatism. Never believe what they are saying. They have a set of rules and protections that they apply to others, and an entirely different set that they apply to everyone else.




  • Right or wrong is rarely as binary as you seem to be imagining. It’s a spectrum. Alignment with reality is contingent upon a habit of seeking better information. If better information comes along, any intellectually healthy person should be willing to accept it and integrate it into their understanding of the world.

    Also - cultivate a habit of knowing that it’s ok to be wrong. Your beliefs don’t define you as much as HOW you choose to shape your beliefs.

    We have pattern-seeking brains that instinctually crave a sense of certainty that rarely exists in reality. We always have to be aware of that. We also live in a society that unfortunately reinforces this tendency.

    Don’t strive to be “right.” Strive to be well-informed.


  • boolean_sledgehammer@lemmy.worldtoComic Strips@lemmy.worldNice Guy
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    3 months ago

    “Niceness” is largely performative. It’s based on words and little else. Being “nice” is based on how someone views themself.

    Kindness, on the other hand, is rooted in an intrinsic belief that is shown through action. It extends beyond the individual and considers how their actions relate to society as a whole.

    You can paint a layer of “nice” over an absolute garbage core personality. It doesn’t really mean anything. These days, “nice” can be used to describe a baseline level of standard civility that allows you to function in society. It says nothing about what kind of person you are.









  • boolean_sledgehammer@lemmy.worldtoTechnology@lemmy.world*Permanently Deleted*
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    4 months ago

    What this ultimately amounts to is the worst actors using a blanket justification to carry out revenge fantasies against whatever marginalized group they’re fixated on.

    If you happen to be part of any of these marginalized groups, now would be the time to get armed and get dangerous. It would be great if we lived in a functioning society where this wasn’t necessary, but the failure of so many of our institutions is slowly rewinding our social fabric back to wild west times.