One of my neighbors told me that our middle class suburb was "skid row".

• That the rapture was imminent.

• That being black means you have to try twice as hard to get half as far.

• That "success" comes from hard work.

• That heaven is a real place.

• That we live in the best of all possible worlds.

Responses, in order:

We made it past the ones I heard about in 1988, 1992, 1996, 1997, 1999, 1 January 2000, and the infamous 21 Decmber 2012. It seems that predicting "the end of the world" isn't best left to zealots. However, climate modelling seems to be fairly accurate so far...

Being black (myself) has resulted in my trying twice as hard. I haven't yet made it half as far. Racism, in point of fact, sets EVERYONE back. Dismantling racism, and every other bigotry besides, gets us to the starting line.

Success — under a sustainable, humanistic, virtue-seeking, equitable rubric — eludes everyone who believes in its attainment within an explotative, supremacist, advantage-imbalanced, wealth-dominated system. There is no point at all in seeking success when drowning is the result of failure. Survival is sufficient for most. Some degree of comfort is luxury. Success, neutral buoyancy or flight beyond the trappings of this capitalist ocean, is a gate-kept and forcibly protected status. As it always has been. Desire for an echelon beyond survival, a measure of "success", depends on building connections to the gate-keepers or building new gates to keep; not "hard work."

Well, hell is real. We keep making it more real and with newer manifestations. Witness Gaza. Every warscape from Ukraine to Iran to South Sudan to Yemen. Every austerity measure. Every policy that disproportionately protects wealth and punctuates poverty. Heaven, on the other hand, is a vanishingly narrow set of possibilities. Basking in the glory of this world, and the universe writ large, could be real. But, again, hellscapes are more profitable.

Time travel, whether by quantum tunnelling or in a phone booth or DeLorean with a flux-capacitor, might permit us to test out possible worlds. Without time travel, or some multiversal panopticon, we are stuck with a singular perspective. We can only try to predict what will work and we can only reason from past patterns. This world, we cannot deny, serves few and harms many. Its progress is, by no means, absolute. Yet, general human behaviour progresses as though and other system yields an increase in chaos and suffering. It is difficult to see how. Modest, incremental change is capable of vast improvements in living conditions. Many corners of the planet choose care in place of villainy during an emergency. Protect the weak, organize resources, exercise patience, build back better. It is time we realize this is the start of a long emergency. Longer, by far, than Covid-19.

A man below 100 kg is a cripple.

Over a decade on the internet and I still don't know what to do when I agree with someone's general point but disagree with their logic in support of that point.

Weirdly nurses too we're super high risk for musculoskletal injuries that can really add up over the years. Even if you use 100% prefect lift mechanics every time you logroll or transfer a patient, or help them stand up, the patient often doesn't know proper lift mechanics and will do wild shit like use the back of your neck as a grab handle. Even in psych where our patients are mostly ambulatory it can be even worse because my patients are more likely to intend to injure me.

I'm glad some people are getting it.

I still remembered how very surprised I was when I learned that breast can produce milk without the woman beeing/having been pregnant or taking Hormones. Legit it's my anatomy, how did I learn that basic stuff in some kink context instead of anywhere else. I mean I don't know a practical use of that knowledge outside of that either, but it did fundamentally change how I understand breast/hormones/the body.

• Men are filthy because they're obsessed with sex and boobs (meanwhile women are insanely more obsessed with sex and boobs)
• Men who think women are attractive or look at them are fundamentally pigs (even when a woman is going out of her way to attract the male gaze)
• Men are purely obsessed with looks and are to blame for women's competition over mating displays, and the surrounding products/messaging (most adult women confess in a moment of truth that other women perpetrate the worst of the bullying and thus hold this system up)
• Men are abusers and women are victims. It is not possible for a woman to perpetrate abuse against a man or another woman. There is never violence in the same sex relationships, women don't do that. It is not possible for a woman to hurt a child, only men do that.
• All women are naturally trustworthy and of upstanding moral character (the "women are wonderful" fallacy)
• Men are by nature unfaithful (meanwhile equal distribution of unfaithfulness among genders, it fluctuates across age groups with older women being particularly egregious)
• Your purpose as a man on this Earth is to make a woman happy and give her children and supply resources
• A man is a failure if he prioritizes happiness and personal fulfillment over earning power
• The highest professions for women are teacher or comfort nurse, never doctors or scientists or engineers or anyone with strong credentials, education or career portability
• A woman's job is to make her man happy when he comes home from making the money
• If a woman is not servile and impeccable at all times, she is completely worthless
• Men are the warriors, it is their job to protect everybody and be maimed or die if necessary. Fear and self-preservation are weaknesses
• Everything about women is good, but as a man, you should never embody any of the traits which are considered feminine, and you must never be sensitive or you're a f....ot
• Men must to have giant penises, but if you do, shut the fuck up and tell no one. It is socially acceptable for others to continuously comment on man's penis but a man is a complete piece of filth if he talks about it himself
• Men who are interested in sex are disgusting perverts
• A man's penis is the worst evil on the planet
• Most men are violent rapists who are looking for any excuse to harm a woman or child if they can get away with it
• A woman can do anything a man can do (no, because biology is a thing)
• Women are fragile and weak and must be protected and cared for; they don't have the essential attributes that men do
• Every societal injustice is directly the result of the male gender, not capitalists
• Men are not victims of capitalists, they are purely the beneficiaries

Edit: Before you reply I want you to know something. I don't care to hear your cherry-picking pushback. These are the lies I was told.

Cooperative sports would be interesting. Two teams come in, and they need to get a ball through some obstacles together...

You could, maybe not where you currently live but there are houses around that are super cheap. Or buy a lot and a tent

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/53184-Pine-View-Dr-Springville-CA-93265/300064524_zpid/

Water and electricity plus a septic tank

Mine used to say if I ate too much cucumber I'd get a stomachache. Which is such an odd thing to restrict for an 8 year old...

But Reddit mods told me misandry fundamentally cannot exist and it is logically impossible to be sexist towards men while in a patriarchy

So you're lying.

It's not a battle of the sexes thing, nor an unreasonable Reddit experience thing; It is a series of lies that I was told as a child that were damaging to me. I am a man so it leans towards the men's perspective, but I tried to be fairly balanced because there were hideous things I was told about women too.

I think all of those lies are harmful to both men and women, and everyone in between all non-binary too. Children, society. All poisonous ideas that were continuously railed into my head by men, women, leaders, school people, everyone in my life growing up. And so many of these sickening ideas persist to this day.

Damn straight for the jugular with that list!

Yeah I was raised by a single mother and while not specifically told by her any of those points I internalized most of them (mind you, I opted for the word internalize and not believe on purpose). I think society as a whole tells that story, specially on mass media, and women seem to go with it knowing full well it is bullshit (I think it empowers them).

elaborate, perhaps?

Maybe just a quick way to fill a gap that had formed between the frame and the glass?

At the highest levels, absolutely. But thats also one in a million of those who are successful

It feels more like an either the top two or the bottom one, more than pick two

This is really about managing expectations. Have you tried the barbie dream house?

Haha just told this to my daughter today

They were agreeing with you.

That's what they meant about being a lie

The only way to get somewhere in this life is to get a business college degree.

Burger flippers are worthless.

Trash collectors make terrible pay for dirty work conditions.

I love you.

If I accept this guy, who was born by immaculate conception - instigated by his Father [who ALSO KILLED HIM] by way of an Angel - instead of just creating him - as he did THE REST of EVERYTHING ...... His Father, the all knowing, all seeing who LOVES ALL HIS CHILDREN will accept me into his kingdom. This guy, who made everything and is capable of everything and anything, who allows death and disease and war and suffering doesn't just make life easy for all of who he created. What bull.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinlone

only if you want to be a CEO in a major corporation. plenty of successful people who aren't sociopaths, but they typically aren't ceo/business/sales types.

and it's entirely possible you would have washed out as a traders person and never earned that.

very few people make bank in the trades, most make a OK living, but trades have massive drawbacks too.

this whole 'we need people in the trades, it pays so well' is a lot of bullshit, just like 'everyone has to learn to code'

all it mean is they want more competition in the field to drive wages down.

The Jefferson Bible is such a better take on n the story and how it takes the same story and turn it into a more down to earth guy who was like stop being stupid and quit following those old religion rules. You are hungry, in a field of food. It's stupid to not eat because some temple leaders tell us it's evil to eat today. Fuck those same guys who hold markets in that same temple. Be kind and do better people. The sick need help.

But who was Jefferson. Like he didn't do anything worth really understanding.... Unless you're interested in reading something that one of the greatest writers who has just as much impact on us as the other dude

Nah, generational wealth can still be squandered if handled irresponsibly.

You can still lose a race with a head start if you start running in the wrong direction.

I broadly agree with their sentiment but

• I basically agree with this one. I don't agree with climate change being a rapture but I believe this point isn't meant literally.
• The whole point on race is poorly argued. First, the original claim is just a figure of speech it is not meant to be a prescription. Their argument that it's a lie doesn't make any sense since they DO agree that black people have to work harder which is the speakers point. So they are essentially just failing to understand a metaphor. Also it's weird to make a single point that both says "Things are so much harder for black people" and also "this affects all races", they kinda just don't fit together rhetorically even if logically it's consistent. Also "get's us to the starting line" uuuuuuuh we're well past the starting line, racism aside. Racism and other prejudices feel like a consequence of being after the starting line, not before it.
• Idk what to say, success exists. It's possible to be successful even in a "explotative, supremacist, advantage-imbalanced, wealth-dominated system". I see their point about it being a shallow success but they go too far by claiming "there is no point at all". Also contradict themselves by saying there is no point but also you should desire for more. I acknlowedge that life is not fair and your circumstances of birth dictate the majority of your life but I also believe aiming up is really the only rational conclusion. If you don't work towards some definition of success (which can be defined another time) then what's the point of life?
• They don't really refute heaven existing, just assert that hell also does. As a metaphor in isolation it works but when the lead in is "Heaven is a lie", the rebuttle looks more like a literal claim. And gaza isn't literally hell. They reject the claim but the staple heaven & hell onto the real earth and it just doesn't work as an argument IMO.
• I'm not touching that whole "quantum tunneling" thing... Call that one 'the one that doesn't fit' I guess.

True, but you don't need to work hard to collect 10% interest annually

🫂

I hope you've got people who love you for you in your life, now.

When my dad didn't know better when I was a little kid, I told him how curious I was to try soy milk after seeing it in a kids' show

He told me to never drink it because then I'll start growing boobs

"The fuck, is this shit?"

"The fuck is this, shit?"

"The, fuck is this, shit?" - Christopher Walken Gnome

If you eat the bread ends, you will grow hair on your chest

When I asked my grandparents about it years later, they didn't remember doing it and they had no idea why they would've done it. :(

We are the good guys.

Big hugs friend ...

Just an apropos of nothing ....

I've had two friends tell me how they're sick of this woke shit. I said, I hear more whining about woke shit than any woke shit so you're gonna have to be specific. He said, "Chris' kid thinks he's trans now, like he's too young what the fuck is that?"

I was like, "I've never met Chris' kid and it seems you think they're doing it for attention but what if they are ..?"

It's like ... trans people got their own shit that they're going through and some of my friends act like it's their problem somehow.

Perhaps this is not good etiquette, but basketball was actually invented by a white dude.

The, fuck, is, this, shit? -William SHATner Gnome

I've noticed that when people talk about not needing a college degree, they always mention welding. I've personally never met a welder, but it seems they're the gold standard of blue collar work. Why is that?

My parents told me they put our cat up for adoption (it was a feral cat that only liked me) after I left home for university. My brother later accidentally let it slip they had the cat put down. I’ve never really forgiven them for that.

One of my friends switched her career over to welding and she loves it! Never too late!

The only reason I mentioned welding, is I did some welding and plasma cutting in college and actually enjoyed it. I would have gone into the specialty welding like pipe or something like that for the higher wages.

I never would.

Oof.

You have to have a college degree or you will be poor and struggling your whole life.

Good diet and exercise will keep you healthy.