Stingray3906
22d ago
I'm curious, as a fellow Christian, how you're able to reconcile loving God and loving your neighbor with being against gay marriage. I don't mean this in a confrontational or hostile way, at all. I'm genuinely intrigued.
Stingray3906
22d ago
I've gone in the complete opposite direction as you when it comes to cannabis. I used to feel very strongly that it should be outlawed, that it is a gateway drug, that it will make you crazy, etc. But as the years went on, with states legalizing it for medical and later recreational use, I just haven't seen the "downfall of society" that conservatives have been espousing since time immemorial. As I understand it, the benefits of legalization have been (1) decreased arrests for possession and growing, (2) a viable treatment option for neurological and psychiatric disorders, (3) an increase in safe and quality products, and (4) an alternative recreational substance to alcohol. I am a daily cannabis user. I have a dry leaf vape and a 510 vape that I go between. I only consume cannabis after work to wind down and I certainly don't get behind the wheel when I'm high. I don't find it do have affected my performance at work in any way. Are there people who abuse cannabis? Absolutely. Should those people seek out treatment? You bet, no different than someone who's an alcoholic or abuses any other substance. Are there people who drive high? Certainly, and they should be prosecuted in the same fashion as any other impaired drivers. I find it very interesting that staunch conservatives will be so opposed to legalization and yet they will give alcohol a free pass. One could certainly make the argument that alcohol is an objectively more dangerous substance -- binge drinking can lead to poisoning (you could wind up in the hospital needing your stomach pumped), hangovers are a bitch (never had one coming down from a high), it can lead to developmental abnormalities in unborn babies, lead to liver disease/failure/cirrhosis. I don't see any concerted push by conservatives to bring back Prohibition, but yet when it comes to cannabis legalization, they immediately push back.
Stingray3906
23d ago
I've always thought that you can get agreement on abortion by addressing the root cause. What causes abortion? It's unplanned pregnancy. What causes unplanned pregnancy? It's sex. What can you do to prevent sex? Don't have sex unless you know the risks and you are both emotionally mature enough to partake in it, or, use contraception to lower your risk of an unplanned pregnancy. How do we get people to do both those things? Sexual education and free or reduced-cost contraception. As a part of sex ed, you teach that while contraception can prevent a majority of pregnancies, only abstinence can prevent it 100%. Everybody gets what they want here: liberals get the fact-based learning about sex and contraception and conservatives get the abstinence-only perspective.
Stingray3906
1mo ago
My partner has told me that bras can be uncomfortable for women to wear. Admittedly, as a guy, I don't quite understand much about them other than they support a woman's breasts.
My question to you is, what impact does it have on you personally if more women stop wearing bras? Men don't get scrutinized for their nipples being visible in public. Why should women?
Stingray3906
1mo ago
I don't see any. Gorbachev inherited a slowly-Westernizing USSR that would gradually become more fractured as member states started to splinter off until the "union" was no more. Harris, if elected, would inherit a post-pandemic, recession-defying US that is in the midst of, what I would argue to be, the most significant social crisis since the Civil Rights Movement.
Stingray3906
1mo ago
That is correct, and I agree.
Stingray3906
1mo ago
I am a cis male, asexual. My partner is a cis female, also asexual.
Stingray3906
1mo ago
This is probably not the answer you want, but I've simply stopped putting people into binary gender buckets when it comes to dating and relationships. I think the more that you affirm your partner's values and ambitions and hopes and dreams, and in turn openly share yours, the more intimate and meaningful your relationship will be.
Stingray3906
1mo ago
I am trying out the 2000 IU fruit flavored chewables from Aldi.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
Putting this binary issue aside, perhaps the Olympics need more mixed-gender sports. Maybe add in floorball, mixed badminton, korfball?
Stingray3906
2mo ago
They are obvious caricatures of black people, no doubt. They talk in AAVE, they scat, they banter, they dance in stereotypically black ways (albeit circa 1941). But I'm not certain that most leftists these days would consider any of that to be a bad thing. I think the modern day leftist would probably call it "representation"; it's highlighting and drawing attention to race, and inserting it into a movie that would otherwise be without any particular spotlight on race. Most of the actors voicing the crows were actually black, also.
On its face, sure, one could argue that it isn't racist. But once you add in the cultural context of the time period, especially in the South, I think its harder to make the case that it wasn't an intentional decision to stereotype Black people. I remember taking a course in high school called, "Male/Female Literary Perspectives," and we spent a whole unit talking about gender and racial stereotyping in the Disney animated canon. The crows Dumbo did come up in discussion, as well as the hyenas in The Lion King, as examples of possible racial stereotypes and how those stereotypes could become associated with their character -- in particular, the hyenas being aggressive and dangerous towards Simba and Nala while all having Black and Hispanic accents.
Though its interesting now in current year, how you have people in social justice circles decrying how whitewashed Disney animated films were, and now we have all these remakes with much more diverse casts.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
Stingray3906
2mo ago
Sure. Intersectionality affirms the lived experiences of every stakeholder in a decision-making process. While there could certainly be overlap, even a large overlap, between two different people's shared experiences, it is important to also seek out the nuances that make them different.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
Fundamentally the issues are caused by wealthy leftists not having to live the consequences of their ideology.
Very, very true. You have wealthy liberal donors who, while they do live within the district for the candidate their monetarily supporting, they live in the wealthy, suburban, sheltered part of it.
If you really want to improve things I'd suggest spending your weekends operating a shuttle service that takes the rougher individuals from downtown to and from the upperclass parks and neighbourhoods.
Or take wealthy liberal donors to the rougher spots downtown.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
In fact, if you tried to form a vigilante group to stop the criminals, the government would instead go after you and destroy you.
This has happened in the city near where I live. They conceal carry, and while they haven't been told to stop or arrested, they've faced criticism from the mayor for carrying and for taking the law into their own hands.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
I'm really indifferent on whether they capitalize both or not. To each their own.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
See my response to lurker.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
You're right, those are both fair points. Let me clarify. I started doing it about two years ago when more and more media outlets began doing it. It seemed like the right thing to do, so as to not offend anyone in text-based conversation.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
I haven't been here long enough to know what is accepted and what isn't, but it is my personal preference to capitalize the word black when talking about a Black person/people.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
After I typed that, I realized it was actually through asking ChatGPT, not Google. My bad.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
The question is what sort of person would object to not capitalizing black, if white isn't also capitalized.
Why can't black be capitalized but not white? I don't think it's necessary in this case to capitalize both. It's the same sort of thing when people counter "Black Lives Matter," by saying, "All Lives Matter". The former statement isn't being made to belittle the lives that aren't black, but rather, to affirm that Black lives truly matter to them and worthy of the same protections in society that non-Black people have. Capitalizing Black in the context of race but not white is done for a similar reason: there is a greater consensus that Black people have enough shared experiences that their identity should be recognized. As it stands right now, the same cannot be said for white people.
Whose guidance? Were these advisors "trained marxists", holders of PhDs in critical race theory, or did they ask for the opinions of people who do not see race as that important? I think it was the former, so their decision is just laudering what they wanted to do anyway through academics.
Do you have any evidence to suggest they were "trained Marxists"?
Stingray3906
2mo ago
I was tired of dealing with the groupthink and circlejerking on Reddit and I Googled "forums that allow for nuanced and respectful political discussion".
Stingray3906
2mo ago
If I didn't capitalize the word "black" in my sentence, there could be people here who would demand I capitalize it. What would you have me do?
Also, from the link you provided:
After a review and period of consultation, we found, at this time, less support for capitalizing white. White people generally do not share the same history and culture, or the experience of being discriminated against because of skin color. In addition, AP is a global news organization and there is considerable disagreement, ambiguity and confusion about whom the term includes in much of the world.
It would appear that this decision made by the AP wasn't just something they decided out-of-the-blue. They sought guidance, they considered it, and decided that for now, this is the best way to handle it.
Stingray3906
2mo ago
I mean, I'm progressive and I acknowledge the nuance in gender and race issues in our country. Race isn't a monolith. Gender is not a monolith. I would reject any fellow progressive's premise that every white person is inherently racist and that every man is anti-feminist, simply because there is a non-zero amount of white people who aren't racist and a non-zero amount of men who are anti-feminist. There are white people on the right who aren't racist, there are Black people on the left who are racist. There are conservative feminist men and liberal misogynist men. There are non-straight conservative black men, and straight, liberal white men.
The list goes on. People don't ever fit neatly into specific boxes. The whole point of progressivism, to me, is to allow for intersectionality so we can have collective conversations about how to make our country better.
I believe its legal now in half the US states, plus all of Canada. I would hardly call that "a few places"
It is not. It requires a great deal of upfront capital, real estate, permitting, and marketing. Products have to be registered with the state, tested for potency, mold, and hazardous chemicals.
What kind of people do you think consume cannabis?
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