VigoTheCarpathian

Agreed, and I think it gets lost in the media churn. I think the long term implications of the disease are lost on people and in the data, since we only talk infections and deaths. We don’t know enough about what kind of care burden this will put on people long term, with or without hospitalization. Not saying the nomenclature is correct, but I think they need to start talking about it in terms of war-time casualties, including people permanently debilitated, with lung/cardiac/neuro issues post infection. I think there’s probably some easily validated ratio of people who recover but will need help to total of the deaths that needs to be hammered on in the media “yy people dead, zz living casualties of Covid-19 - these people will never be the same and will need long term healthcare to the tune of $xx billion dollars”.

I do not really see any viable society-based interventions for this, if you are putting it this way. No one I have seen here is pointing fingers specifically at men and saying “you are at fault” and advocating for mass re-education or something targeted at all men. And I do not think that “toxic masculinity” is a byline for “all men need to grow up/shut up”. What it does is articulate a lot of the attitudes held by men and women in society that are causing this angst. You’re basically asking us to solve the blowback of capitalism, with the wage/earnings conversation. When your system is “more $$ = winning” and your society has more male “losers” in this game, males need to re-evaluate their role and incentives in the game (lots of good individual stories here about just that, people not going with the narrative about what makes their partnership work economically or what makes them feel successful). Or you change the system fundamentally (and I haven’t seen anything compelling that would do this - and if we go with your “hard wired” theory, it’s likely impossible to scale something like that). You don’t ask the other players to handicap themselves or give other players more consideration because the losers haven’t adapted fast enough. I would say that with this whole incel /MRA phenomenon is a failure of a subset of men to adapt to the world around them gracefully, because they grew up thinking they would never have to adapt.

Part of what I think of as the patriarchy is the delusion men suffer in a lot of places (US, in my experience) that they are only worthwhile if they are providing. That switch seems to flip two ways when it comes to this discussion - feeling that you as a man are earning a living and “deserve” a partner, based on a false promise of what success looks like. Or for whatever reason, a man might not be able to provide, personal or environmental - and this leads to resentment and a feeling of worthlessness and then outrage. Because a single, unsuccessful man ain’t shit in the patriarchy, no matter their inherent worth as a person. Privilege (specifically patriarchy, here) is like running a long distance race...and then you see yourself getting passed by a bunch of people, some carrying weighted backpacks (women doing the same thing you are in society, but with a lot more resistance). While logical folks might think they need to train harder (improve as a person), or find a different length race to run (find a different measure of success), there’s a lot of vested and historical interests saying “but...but...dad said I would win a medal here” and externalizing blame to protect what you have built your ego around.

#1. Gone a bit earlier/more enthusiastically on the dating apps - I re-activated my accounts in Feb after a long hiatus, and was intent on taking it leisurely and finding a good long term connection instead of the experiences before. But with work and the family bubble, I’m not responsibly going to be able to bring someone else into our sphere without a lot of testing and communication to all involved...which just sounds fucking exhausting at this point. It’d be great to have had a play partner this whole time, since the horizon looks bleak on that front for a while. Otherwise, a long damn vacation featuring soaking - my favorite hot spring getaway burned down a few weeks before I had a rescheduled reservation to go. Oh, and I would have gone to a live music or comedy show every other night in Jan/Feb.

#1. I think I took issue with the ease that you imply anyone can change their circumstances and get $ out of their vehicle. There are so many valid reasons why a person may be driving a nice-looking and/or new vehicle, and not be “gaming the system”, which is what your comments seemed to imply. #2. I equate the car thing directly with clothes, both in utility, functionality, and appearance - as well as how easy it is to convert them to cash. I guess I would take note of some person in a 3-piece suit in a breadline, but it would be more of “geez, that must be difficult” rather than “sell your vest for some soup, jackhole”. Is there some kind of “must be this poor to ride” metric that people need to meet to request aid, or is there a different perspective that I missed with your comments?

I locked in a pretty decent rate on a new-ish car in January, a solid investment in my career and a better mpg for my regular commute. I now absolutely would not need this car as I have to work from home, and best of fuckin’ luck selling a car right now for anywhere near what it is worth (thanks pandemic). A lot of people probably need their car, and are in situations where they would lose money by selling them or be in a worse position to be employed (like having a reliable car to get to work). I could be put off that the people who are going to the food bank aren’t wearing burlap sacks, or that the appearance of their hair indicates they might have access to styling gel and not the soot/grime combo the poors are supposed to have. But i’m not, because I don’t buy into that “welfare queen”/“panhandling millionaire” nonsense.

I honestly wish I knew at what point bad faith voter fraud allegations actually become treason or some other kind of high crime to a politician. It’s sad we’d have to make some enforceable rule with consequences about it, but even in children’s games, you get punted out if you don’t want to play by the rules. Allegations against our nation, and how we elect our leaders without a proof = your party removed from the ballot the next year? Or a rescinding of exemptions for political donations to your candidacy?

Yeah - this one demonstrates a new definition of “superspreader”.

Really enjoyed the episode - it was great to see a maritime planet (desert and ice are pretty played out across the SW-verse). I was slightly outraged at the crack at the mechanic, and the state of Razorcrest at the end of the episode. Honestly having a hard time remembering - weren’t the mon calamari some of the best battleships in the original rebel fleet?

Same - I have a set of adjustable weights, but it’s been pretty hard to be dedicated to just dumbbell/body weight for the last 9 months. It’s hard to motivate myself to do 2x resistance training a week with the same equipment (I guess it’s the lack of variety). For whatever reason, cardio and YouTube yoga seem to provide a lot more stress relief, I least look forward to the sweat - so I have been doing a lot more running and HIIT than I preferred before quar. Wish weather was more accommodating to bicycling, it was a great long workout on the weekends.

My partner and youngest were sick last weekend, my oldest and myself had slight fevers and stuffed/runny noses, sore throats. I work at home, but was supposed to work a reassignment shift for my company for COVID-related staffing (greeter at a clinic or hospital, extra surface wipe downs, running meds to patients curbside) but had to opt out because of my symptoms and go get a drive through test. Negative results today but had two days of feeling under the weather AND existential dread AND probably all kinds of psychosomatic symptoms - we’re very careful and don’t have any outside contact without planning/communication/self-quarantine.

If we could get a TV show and a radio show for him (“Trump and Sources of Narcissistic Supply”, because he had no friends), competing in the directly with Hanitty/Tucker, and Rush Limbaugh, and watch those enablers be devoured at their own game like a mother spider by its young...that’d be a lovely Christmas present.

I think the deaths need to be much more visible, worldwide and directly ascribed to people - every time a politician talks on the TV, or the media talks about Trump, there should be a mandatory screen showing a person on a ventilator coding out, or a slideshow of the faces of the corpses, or stacks of bodies. Same for things like the CMA or story of the maskless folk - just a calvacade of the failed citizenry, the dead next to the idiocy. Maybe with a “We are choosing to lose this war. We are choosing to kill one another’s families and friends through selfish risks.”

I sort of agree - from my perch in Portland and having seen it in other areas of the state, it’s less about wanting to fight/kill than you instigate and intimidate. They’re basically Trump w/o the podium, weekend warriors trolls showing up and trying to get people to pay enough attention to them that it validates their existence and identity and they can then be “against” whatever they feel at the moment - antifa, BLM, Biden presidency. When you ignore them, they whine and scream louder - when faced with consequences, law enforcement, fines, jail, they seem to cower and disappear (the majority). But there are the loonies who show up in their midst, like any group, and actually do what all of these dipshits espouse and we get a Jeremy Christian or a Kyle Rittenhouse.

Not that the Dems have any great track record in messaging or execution, but is there anything public they could do to force Rs in Congress to have a referendum on their own election legitimacy, if they are going to be silent on Trump not vacating? Something that’d require their newly elected positions to pay for a recount or else sign/support abiding by the results of the election? I don’t see how anyone can say “president deserves to be heard in court” and “nah, the legislature election is fine, doesn’t need to be in court” - make them own that they are trying to have it both ways.