WHAT HAVE YOU DONE ITS HAPPENING NOW. HELP HELP HELP HELP HELP ME OH MY GOD HELP YOU GU;YS CANT TALK ABOUT WOMEN ONA POST ABOUT WOMEN OH MY GO DP LAEASE
“average person eats 3 spiders a year” factoid actualy just statistical error. average person eats 0 spiders per year. Spiders Georg, who lives in cave & eats over 10,000 each day, is an outlier adn should not have been counted
talking about abuse when you’ve somewhat processed and come to terms with it is hard, because you don’t want to be all like “yeah they used to let me out of the iron maiden once a week for some fresh air and exercise” to the uninitiated, but the thing is. sometimes they DID used to let you out of the iron maiden once a week for some fresh air and exercise.
like my every movement and interaction with the world was heavily controlled and surveilled by another person unless they temporarily lost interest in me so i was essentially cut off from society beyond the unavoidable for most of my formative years idk what to tell you
Mozilla has the opportunity to do the funniest thing right now
It’s so fucked up that the “extreme” version of the punishment for using illegal methods to increase the value a business asset generates for your company at great cost to competitors and the consumer is that you get that asset taken away in a way that gives you the - again, illegally inflated - market value of that business asset and lets someone else occupy the market position that, again, it’s been determined is deleteriously advantageous and was created illegally.
I’m dead serious that I think the centrist position should be that Google does not get any financial compensation for losing the assets it’s losing, and that the code should be made publically available for any commercial or non commercial use so that anyone can meet the needs of users put out by Chrome no longer being a product that is allowed to exist (to the limited extent that being forced to migrate from a chromium based browser to Firefox could be described as being “put out”). It broke the fucking law, and to one of the most extreme and blatant extents in the history of this sort of law. The DoJ ruling is welcome because it’s the least extremely pro-capital ruling the wretched US is capable of, but let’s not pretend mandating Google get paid for losing its criminal enterprise is more than a couple notches away from Google’s radical cyberpunk government by corporation position of “governments don’t get to punish corporations for breaking their laws in any way ever.
Anyway I’m obviously not a centrist, I think corporations aren’t people (I can’t write the word "obviously” enough times here), and that you don’t punish “google,” you punish every single human person involved in these decisions, ban them from doing business again, and dissolve the brand system known as Google that has no actual material existence or intrinsic value and help the legitimate workers at the company use what physical assets do exist to form new healthier systems to provide the same services separately and by the direction of the workers. That’s obviously way too extreme to actually happen, just telling you what’s on the other side of “centrist.”
My sibling is alt-right and extremely hateful about his beliefs. He goes on tirades about liberal agendas and screams and insults me and our other family members when we attempt to debate with him. I live with him and being around him negatively impacts my mental health, especially with me being part of some of the groups he hates so much. I don’t know what to do. I feel so much hatred for him, but he’s my brother and we used to be close.
Members of the so-called “alt right” or “manosphere” actually bear very strong similarities to cult members - they become increasingly rigid in their beliefs, they have decreasing tolerance for ambiguity (everything starts to become either right or wrong, with no room for grey areas), they become increasingly preoccupied with “purity” of thought, their beliefs start to become the core of their personal identity, they accept the word of thought leaders without question or critical thinking, their relationships with family and friends deteriorate, and they often experience negative consequences at work or school as a direct result of their beliefs.
Dealing with a friend or family member who has joined the alt-right is very different from dealing with a family member who is dabbling with the idea of voting Conservative for economic reasons, or dealing with a family member who erroneously believes that Game of Thrones isn’t very good. Reasoned discussion and laying out your point of view will not work here. The tactics that you need to use with him are actually the tactics used to deprogram cult members, which includes things like:
Do not debate him. Never debate a cult member under any circumstances. It’s a complete waste of time for everybody involved, and it only serves to further entrench him in his toxic beliefs. Cult members do not approach debates in good faith - they are not open to having their minds changed, and they have no intention of ever listening to the other side. Cult members use debate as a tool to recruit people with possibly like-minded beliefs, or as a tool to gather evidence that the “other side” is delusional. The more you debate, the harder he will fight to come up with justifications for his beliefs, and the more satisfaction he will get from feeling like he is defending his “side” from attack. Shut down all debate with him. If he tries to start a debate, redirect immediately. If he makes an inflammatory statement at the dinner table, respond with something non-committal ( “hmmmmm”, “is that so?”, “okay” ) and immediately change the subject. Don’t get sucked in. No matter how hard he tries to open up a debate, deflect, shut him down, or walk away.
Treat him with detached politeness. I know that it is very difficult not to get visibly upset when someone is insulting the very core of who you are as a person and what you believe, but but you have to stay calm and detached here. Do not let him see that he is upsetting you. When he is going on rants about his beliefs, treat him like a child who is explaining the rules to a video game that you don’t particularly care about - have an air of detached boredom, and no matter how hostile he gets, respond only with politeness. Remember, part of the core beliefs he’s being fed is that people outside of the alt-right are “emotional”, and that his beliefs are “triggering” to those people. Give him no evidence to suggest that is true. Stonewall him. Give him nothing but bored stoicism in response to his outbursts. No matter how much he escalates or how horrifying his beliefs get, always act as though you are having a polite conversation about the weather with a stranger at Starbucks. If he tells you that women should should be property and gays should be killed, respond only with a polite “Well, I suppose that’s one perspective”, or “Yes, I believe you have mentioned this before”. Nothing takes the wind out of a cult member’s sails faster than being treated with calm politeness when they are expecting a fight.
Do not insult him or the people who share his beliefs. The glue that holds cults together is a persecution complex. Cults absolutely thrive on being persecuted for their beliefs, and they depend on it to keep members from leaving. “People outside this group hate you and they will treat you much worse than we will” is the message that keeps people from leaving hateful cults, all the way up until the Kool-Aid is served. He is being fed the message by his fellow cult members that he is hated for who he is - a, presumably, straight white man - and that “Liberals” hate him so much that they want to take away the things he is “owed” (money, power, security, etc) and give it away to undeserving minorities who haven’t really “earned” it. Give him no evidence to suggest that this is true. Refrain from insulting him, or insulting the people he views as thought leaders or role models. You can definitely express your political opinions and make it clear that you are not buying into your brother’s worldview, but keep things direct and refrain from personal attacks. If he is gloating about the president to intentionally get a rise out of you, a simple “I disagree with his policies” is all you have to say - launching into attacks about the president’s looks, family, mannerisms or intelligence is fuel for your brother’s hateful beliefs. Remember that when it comes to your brother, you are not acting in the role of a left-wing activist facing off against a dangerous right-wing activist with a platform. You are a concerned family member dealing with a family member who has gotten involved in a cult.
Ask polite questions, but do not engage directly with his beliefs. Do not read any of the reading material he recommends, listen to any of the podcasts he puts forward or view any of the videos he asks you to watch; it might be tempting to do so just to prove that you are engaging with him in “good faith” and that you have given his views an “honest try”, but this is a mistake. There is no such thing as “good faith” or intellectual honesty when it comes to cults, and there is nothing to gain from engaging in their propaganda. Do not treat anything produced or recommended by a cult as if it has value, because it does not. When he provides you with something he wants to you read, behave as though a young child has just handed you a live earthworm - thank him for the gesture, but decline to accept. Engaging with propaganda just legitimizes it, and gives him more ammunition to hunker down in his beliefs. When you do ask questions of his beliefs, be detached and polite. If he is ranting that all women are whores, ask him what the basis is for that belief. You are not looking to debate him or get a rise out of him - don’t fire back with counter-points, but make a polite, disinterested noise of acknowledgement, or ask for further clarification. You are merely looking for holes in his reasoning, or gaps where he doesn’t have evidence to back up what he says. You don’t need to point these holes out to him - there will be many. When he is unable to be specific, once again, make a polite acknowledgement ( “Interesting.” ) and move on.
Emphasize how much you miss your former relationship with him. Tell your brother that you miss him. Be specific - talk about the things that you used to do together, and the ways that he used to be involved in your life. If he tries to deflect and start talking about his beliefs again, or how he can’t be involved with you anymore because of your own beliefs or identity, don’t engage. Go back to talking about how you miss the relationship you used to have with him. If he insults you, pretend you didn’t hear him and remind him of a happy memory or a fun thing that you used to do together. It can take a really long time to have success with this tactic, but your brother does remember the relationship he used to have with you, and it is possible to remind him of what he is missing out on by continuing with his hateful beliefs. The idea is to take his beliefs out of the equation as much as possible - make him miss the relationship that he used to have. Any attempt at mending the relationship on his end will necessarily require that he get less extreme in his beliefs - it’s difficult to pursue a close relationship with someone and still insult them.
Remind him of normal life outside the cult. People in the alt-right - and other cults - tend to become hyper-focused only on issues that concern the cult, and begin to forget about normal life. Your brother is likely spending a lot of time and focus on things like the “sexual marketplace”, abortion rights, refugees, gay rights, female superhero movies etc. Bring him back to earth as often as you can with reminders of things that are outside the scope of the alt-right, and are minimally politically charged. Start a conversation about a new restaurant that is opening up in your town. Show him a funny cat video. Ask him if he’s seen a minimally controversial movie. Constant reminds of normalcy can gradually help him realize how hyper-focused he has become on a few small issues, and remind him that his worldview and priorities are incredibly skewed.
Protect your own mental health. Living with a cult member is exhausting. The combination of fending off the insults, being bombarded with hate rhetoric and missing the person they used to be is exhausting. Make sure you are protecting your own mental health. Take breaks. Leave the house and spend time with other people. Lean on friends and other family members for support. Take care of yourself. Getting someone out of a cult is a marathon, not a sprint, and it’s important to conserve your energy. It can take up to five years to get someone to fully leave cult beliefs behind. Be patient.
One of the hard parts about dealing with alt-right family members is that people make the mistake of approaching them as a political movement, when it is more appropriate to address them as a cult. The way that they operate is much more similar to the dynamics of a cult than the dynamics of a mainstream political movement, and deprogramming techniques are your best bet for getting your family member back. I highly recommend that you and your family read up on cults and the tactics used to get people out of them. It is especially helpful to read testimony from people who have escaped cults or successfully been persuaded to leave them - if possible, look for materials from people who have left the alt-right, and try to present this material to your brother. This is an incredibly difficult thing for a family to go through, and I highly recommend that you seek out other families who are dealing with similar situations - you are far from alone here.
Best of luck to all of you.
There’s a reason we call Qanon followers Qultists.
The subreddit r/QanonCasualties is also a good resource, or at least a place to find people who have experienced having their loved ones radicalized by the alt-right and having discussions on the topic.
over-psychoanalyzing blorbos is healthy and needed enrichment for the girlies in order to avoid over-psychoanalyzing themselves. like giving a dog a chew toy in order to redirect chewing on its hind legs
“Am I evil for resenting well-meaning displays of affection?” No. That’s Sasuke. Be safe out there
It Is As If You Were Making Love is a bizarre little game in which you move your computer’s slider to bring it to climax (after all those visits to PronHub it’s probably the least you can do for your computer!)
Trains are autism, rivers are ADHD. Ox-bow lakes are remnants of past obsessions you poured your soul into once but no longer make up a part of your life at all.
to be honest I think working on a sewing machine strains my eyes as much as being on a computer does. However, I am incentivized to remain alert and focused by keeping my fingers within stabbing distance of a needle making 60 stitches per minutes.
Me: oh boy I can’t wait to have a cool jacket
The hungry and voracious sewing machine: CHUNK-A CHUNK-A CHUNK-A CHUNK-A CHUNK-A CHUNK-A CHUNK-A CHUNK-A CHUNK-A CH
@luxlightly I wanna meet your junki deathmetal ultrafuck, they sound capable of sewing me a tool pouch.
It’s a Juki TL-2000Qi semi-industrial sewing machine and it can probably sew through solid steel.
It does exactly two things, a forward straight stitch and a backward straight stitch, and you’ll be GODDAMN grateful it even lets you do that. You want to do zig zags? Get fucked.
Threading it takes about 10 steps and feels like trying to defuse a bomb. It’s got a side fed bobbin case that takes an additional 3 or 4 steps to thread. If it’s not sharp or strong enough, it’ll snap through a heavy duty needle and without even slowing down, no matter stopping, sending the tip flying through the air at speeds capable of sending a piece of straw through a telephone pole. It’s compatible with exactly 0 of any other parts from any other brand machine except sometimes needles and it has a palpable air of bloodlust surrounding it.
But it’ll sew through 4 layers of denim like a hot knife through butter.
kicked out of the debate for interrupting all my opponent’s arguements by saying “me when i’m a dipshit idiot” and then threatening to kill them in increasingly erotic tones
I wonder when incarceration replaced military service as the fundamental shared experience of the American working class
fairly skeptical about either of these really being a fundamental shared experience, but if they were, the numbers crossed over in the mid-late ‘90s from eyeballing these graphs (military, incarceration), which sounds reasonable
still just a single digit percentage of the population in either case
apparently 11% of Americans served in WWII, and that was concentrated in particular demographics (young men from rural areas), making it a fairly common shared experience, although now that I think about it incarceration has the advantage that even if there are only two million people in prison at any given time it’s an experience that people are going to pass in and out of.
the internet suggests that 5% of Americans will spend time in prison, or 9% of men, or 25-33% (!) of black men.
I wonder when incarceration replaced military service as the fundamental shared experience of the American working class
fairly skeptical about either of these really being a fundamental shared experience, but if they were, the numbers crossed over in the mid-late ‘90s from eyeballing these graphs (military, incarceration), which sounds reasonable
still just a single digit percentage of the population in either case
apparently 11% of Americans served in WWII, and that was concentrated in particular demographics (young men from rural areas), making it a fairly common shared experience, although now that I think about it incarceration has the advantage that even if there are only two million people in prison at any given time it’s an experience that people are going to pass in and out of.
the internet suggests that 5% of Americans will spend time in prison, or 9% of men, or 25-33% (!) of black men.
The whole “I wish I could be with a woman, but instead I’m stuck with my stupid, gross husband/boyfriend” sentiment I see repeated in bi circles is just the “progressive” queer version of the boomer “I hate my wife” jokes
if he’s stupid and gross you should leave him and if he isn’t you’re just being cruel for internet points and he should leave you
So I read this article a few days ago, and I have been haunted by it ever since.
This young woman, Nevaeh, had an “oops” pregnancy. As you may have already guessed, she was from a Christian background–her name, “Heaven,” spelled backwards, is popular in Evangelical circles. She, “believed abortion was morally wrong,” and “didn’t care whether the government banned it,” since she wouldn’t have chosen to have one anyway.
Instead, she decided to carry the pregnancy to term and raise the baby, with the support of her mother and her boyfriend, the baby’s father. Her boyfriend, the baby’s father, gave her a diamond promise ring, and she picked out a name–Lillian–and planned a baby shower.
On the day of the baby shower, she felt unwell, then developed a fever and began vomiting. Her mother took to her to the ER, where she was given a prescription for antibiotics and sent home. A few hours later, she felt even worse, and her mother took her to the other hospital in their town, which had an obstetric emergency room. They did some tests, including checking the fetal heart rate, and told her the baby was fine. The gave her IV fluids and antibiotics, recorded her increasing fever, fast pulse, and high fetal heart rate, and sent her home again. She had to be taken out to the car in a wheelchair, because her pain was so bad.
A few hours later, she started bleeding, and they went back to the hospital with the obstetric emergency department. There, a different doctor did an ultrasound and was unable to find a fetal heartbeat.
Under Texas law, a medical practitioner faces up to 99 years in prison for performing any intervention that ends a fetal heartbeat. So, at this point, the doctors were free to treat her like a seriously ill human being, and not an ambulatory vessel for a life more valuable than her own–however, they hadn’t recorded the first ultrasound. To ensure they could demonstrate compliance with the law, the doctor ordered a second one.
Somehow, that ended up taking about an hour and a half, during which time Neveah’s condition got worse. By the time the second ultrasound was done, and the doctor was able to order a D&C to remove the deceased fetus, she was too weak to sign the release forms–her mother had to sign for her.
Before they got her into the operating room, she was dead.
If they were going to make an exception for anybody, they would have made one for her: a pro-life, Christian girl, who responded to her unplanned pregnancy by getting excited about becoming a mom. Who was not just unwell, not just in danger, but actually dying when she was refused care.
The Texas fetal heartbeat law does have an exception when the mother’s life is at immediate risk. However, the Texas Attorney General has made clear–and several Trump-appointed judges have backed him up–to Texas doctors that they will be charged with homicide if he, who has no medical credentials whatsoever, disagrees with their professional judgment that a procedure which ended a fetal heartbeat was necessary to safe the life of the mother. That’s why the doctor needed that second ultrasound.
That’s probably why the other two doctors sent Nevaeh home: they couldn’t be accused of an intervention that ended the fetal heartbeat, if they didn’t intervene.
The leopards that eat people’s faces, like all predators, go for the most vulnerable members of the herd. The guy up front on the podium, getting rich off bloviating about how leopards just have to eat a person’s face from time to time, he’s safe–not because of any loyalty on the part of the leopards, but because others in the group are softer targets.
wannabe mountain man grifter on tiktok who tricks 19 year old guys into eating raw meat and a man who just invented a new type of shoe that lets you walk on electricity
So I read this article a few days ago, and I have been haunted by it ever since.
This young woman, Nevaeh, had an “oops” pregnancy. As you may have already guessed, she was from a Christian background–her name, “Heaven,” spelled backwards, is popular in Evangelical circles. She, “believed abortion was morally wrong,” and “didn’t care whether the government banned it,” since she wouldn’t have chosen to have one anyway.
Instead, she decided to carry the pregnancy to term and raise the baby, with the support of her mother and her boyfriend, the baby’s father. Her boyfriend, the baby’s father, gave her a diamond promise ring, and she picked out a name–Lillian–and planned a baby shower.
On the day of the baby shower, she felt unwell, then developed a fever and began vomiting. Her mother took to her to the ER, where she was given a prescription for antibiotics and sent home. A few hours later, she felt even worse, and her mother took her to the other hospital in their town, which had an obstetric emergency room. They did some tests, including checking the fetal heart rate, and told her the baby was fine. The gave her IV fluids and antibiotics, recorded her increasing fever, fast pulse, and high fetal heart rate, and sent her home again. She had to be taken out to the car in a wheelchair, because her pain was so bad.
A few hours later, she started bleeding, and they went back to the hospital with the obstetric emergency department. There, a different doctor did an ultrasound and was unable to find a fetal heartbeat.
Under Texas law, a medical practitioner faces up to 99 years in prison for performing any intervention that ends a fetal heartbeat. So, at this point, the doctors were free to treat her like a seriously ill human being, and not an ambulatory vessel for a life more valuable than her own–however, they hadn’t recorded the first ultrasound. To ensure they could demonstrate compliance with the law, the doctor ordered a second one.
Somehow, that ended up taking about an hour and a half, during which time Neveah’s condition got worse. By the time the second ultrasound was done, and the doctor was able to order a D&C to remove the deceased fetus, she was too weak to sign the release forms–her mother had to sign for her.
Before they got her into the operating room, she was dead.
If they were going to make an exception for anybody, they would have made one for her: a pro-life, Christian girl, who responded to her unplanned pregnancy by getting excited about becoming a mom. Who was not just unwell, not just in danger, but actually dying when she was refused care.
The Texas fetal heartbeat law does have an exception when the mother’s life is at immediate risk. However, the Texas Attorney General has made clear–and several Trump-appointed judges have backed him up–to Texas doctors that they will be charged with homicide if he, who has no medical credentials whatsoever, disagrees with their professional judgment that a procedure which ended a fetal heartbeat was necessary to safe the life of the mother. That’s why the doctor needed that second ultrasound.
That’s probably why the other two doctors sent Nevaeh home: they couldn’t be accused of an intervention that ended the fetal heartbeat, if they didn’t intervene.
The leopards that eat people’s faces, like all predators, go for the most vulnerable members of the herd. The guy up front on the podium, getting rich off bloviating about how leopards just have to eat a person’s face from time to time, he’s safe–not because of any loyalty on the part of the leopards, but because others in the group are softer targets.
“neopronouns are weird” every time i wake up there’s a 75% chance that everyone’s vocabulary has changed overnight. brother what is a gyatt
people should find this post via carrier pidgeon
^^^ hey important addition to this post brought to you by an anon. to be clear the point of the post was not the term “gyat” itself but how quickly language changes HOWEVER this is an important discussion to have too
reblogging this again because people are missing the point of the post. and for the record i agree white tiktokers are the plague
ALT
ALT
