mbg721

22 ms·

331.
by mbg721 4y ago
As a religious believer, I upvoted this because I think you have a very good point--denying sensory evidence without a good reason is weak. The strongest argument for religion, the Aquinas-style one, is that faith fills in the missing piec
332.
by mbg721 4y ago
The Mythbusters had it right; the difference between science and screwing around is paying attention and writing it down.
333.
by mbg721 4y ago
Is that genuinely true of Catholics in your area? I had thought the organized structure of the brand made them far less prone to young-earth theory than non-denominated Protestants.
334.
by mbg721 4y ago
Yeah, as a Catholic-school graduate, that seems bizarre. It would be more likely to hear my teachers deny transsubstantiation than to deny evolution.
335.
by mbg721 4y ago
Maybe in 50 years I'll sound as cringey as Song of the South or something, but I still maintain that gender identity is a created social phenomenon and that encouraging alternative identities is destructive.
336.
by mbg721 4y ago
Because there's no particular reason to act differently from your birth sex other than for sexual practice. What else does gender actually mean, if it means anything at all? The fundamental conflict of the current culture-war is &quo
337.
by mbg721 4y ago
Having a sex at birth isn't, but the idea of gender being a separate thing from gender is contentious precisely because it's connected to sexual practice.
338.
by mbg721 4y ago
It's interstate commerce for sure.
339.
by mbg721 4y ago
Alternatively, we can't think sexual practice is in any way a willful choice, or else we're demanding a backward theocracy.
340.
by mbg721 4y ago
That's the heart of the problem; society can't decide what behavior, if any, is deviant, and so we err on the hands-off side. Except that we then have unused outrage, so we lash out when somebody runs an errand and leaves their d
341.
by mbg721 4y ago
To add to this, in the US at least, a lot of that income is paid in the form of various benefits such as health insurance and retirement contributions that aren't immediate liquid cash, so it feels like less on the receiving end.
342.
by mbg721 4y ago
The problem is, who else would have the desire and expertise to be on the committee? Regulatory capture is a hard problem, because anyone qualified to regulate is going to have some interest.
343.
by mbg721 4y ago
I think the real lesson, rather than "leave the USA", is "have a close-knit support structure".
344.
by mbg721 4y ago
I think the answer I was expecting was that it's a two-step process: 1) Be lucky, and 2) Don't be unlucky. My next-door neighbor is actually a local politician, but her party affiliation is the one I dislike, so I'm getting
345.
by mbg721 4y ago
Even if it were, would that make it better??
346.
by mbg721 4y ago
When the reaction to a slur is pure confusion, then you've won.
347.
by mbg721 4y ago
"We've got it! Quit walking alone! Brilliant!"
348.
by mbg721 4y ago
I agree 100%; what can a layman like me do to fix it?
349.
by mbg721 4y ago
The fact that people experience this and then somehow don't say "burn it all down" is miraculous.
350.
by mbg721 4y ago
It should be pretty obvious who's a low-info vice tourist and who's a geeky Dutchophile. I can't imagine those circles intersecting very much.
351.
by mbg721 4y ago
Lots of pro-life organizations actually do meaningfully help children after they are born. I regularly give money to a pregnancy center that buys car-seats for low-income moms. But that would get in the way of the story.
352.
by mbg721 4y ago
Darn, and I was so hoping to be a chess grand-good-at-things-person. How are the Guardians and the Commanders doing?
353.
by mbg721 4y ago
You're right, I am a pasty white guy, and I'm also not in the business of telling people what to say or not say. All I know is that there are a couple of magic words I can say that will instantly ruin my life.
354.
by mbg721 4y ago
In a professional context, using your real name? I never would, in this political climate. I probably never would have anyway, but morality is unimportant in the face of zealousness. I think most people agree that it's a stupid and
355.
by mbg721 4y ago
Yeah, I heard "blind, deaf, and dumb", but never in actual context until then.
356.
by mbg721 4y ago
That's a little different, it's more like saying "Hey, the horse is escaping!" when the barn was already leveled to build a KFC which later became, briefly, a beeper store, and is now a place that sells THC-related goods
357.
by mbg721 4y ago
I'm using "casually religious" to mean "I go to church because my parents always did, but I don't really believe in that superstitious nonsense." Catholicism in particular is going through a stark divide right
358.
by mbg721 4y ago
I heard it used in the non-vocal sense once in a Perry Mason episode, and it took me a minute or two to realize what they meant.
359.
by mbg721 4y ago
What one can learn by doing that is that the abrupt "stop the record" noise still exists even though records aren't a thing. Like the "save" icon.
360.
by mbg721 4y ago
The politicians who want to ban specific words for being violent are the same people who want to ban guns for being violent, and it doesn't effectively address the problem in either case.

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