I think of “the line” as the event horizon around a black hole. You can recognize it from a distance, but it’s not like there’s a physical barrier you go through when you pass it. That means that if you were actually falling into the hole, you wouldn’t necessarily know when you’ve past the “point of no return.” It’s all just more freefall (and eventual spaghettification) from your point of view. Only those on the outside, looking in, could see that you’re already full and truly screwed.

I think we passed the event horizon long ago. Anyone talking about “going back to normal” (as I’ve seen some politicians say) is depressingly naive. There is no turning back - the only way out is through.

Funny thing, I learned to roll my Rs by pretending to purr like a cat.

Oh man, the clothes thing. I have to consciously make it a point to remember what my nephews wear when I’m in charge of them. I’m terrified of losing sight of them and when asked, “What were they wearing?” I’d have no idea what to say.

This is really funny considering there’s a Bob’s Burgers episode about exactly that. The wife, Linda can roll her Rs but can’t whistle, while the husband, Bob can whistle but can’t roll his Rs. It’s a whole plot.

I can roller blade (in-line wheels), but roller skate? Impossible. Last time I tried was a disaster, I just can’t get the hang of them.

As one of those neurodivergent kids, my mom explicitly laid all the blame on me whenever she felt embarrassed in public. I was removed from activities countless times without any clear understanding of why - all I knew was I wasn’t allowed to do fun things. There was no accommodation for sensory issues, no space provided for me to self-regulate, no understanding that I was having a difficult time and needed support - just labels thrown at me for “being difficult”, as if by merely existing, I was a problem.

Every child deserves to participate in enriching activities regardless of their neurotype. By removing neurodiverse kids (and not returning after they calm down) or outright keeping them away from such events, they may internalize the idea that who they are is not acceptable. Parents, there are resources available today that didn’t exist in the 90s. There is no reason to raise your neurodiverse kid the way we used to be raised. If you don’t know what to do with your kid and you haven’t already done so, get help. Please.

broke mind virus

Oooooh, I like that! Their favorite phrase, turned around and reclaimed, and made fit to highlight their damage. This needs to spread.

He joined via a video link, I’m not sure if he was even in the UK.

Though I wouldn’t be surprised if he joined via video not because he couldn’t physically be there, rather because he’s scared of being attacked.

Could well be he couldn’t go himself because all his human shields kids had playdates pre-scheduled. Who knows.

Former President Barack Obama stressed that “this kind of despicable violence has no place in our democracy.”

With all due respect sir, if our democracy were functioning for all of the people instead of just for the rich, people wouldn’t feel the need to vote with the ammo box.

A politician with a proven track record of actually cleaning shit up?

They’ve got my vote.

Their critique is valid, what’s with all the assumptions? They’re pointing out additional details that enhance the darkness behind the message, not denying the original point. It’s not an exaggeration - it’s an observation. Different people notice different things. It’s an aspect of human diversity, and it’s supposed to be a good thing. Maybe it takes an artist’s eye to notice it, but the disembodiment of the girl can definitely be interpeted as a display of dehumanization toward their victims. Faceless, anonymous, they clearly see those girls as no more than sentient sex toys.

Are we so desperate to attack someone that we must complain when someone on our same side notices more than one shitty thing about our shared target? Are we not all in agreement that this is a really creepy card? It seems to me the real detraction here isn’t the new perspective provided, but the assumption that a new perspective only exists as part of some greater pro-Trump scheme.

I trust you, because if anybody knows a thing or two about people who like to sniff assholes, it’d be someone named Fartographer.

Your comment led me down a rabbit hole. I don’t know much of actors - I suck with faces and my unmedicated ADHD makes watching movies a chore, so I rarely do it. That means there are a lot of names I hear that don’t have faces attached. Jodi Foster is one of them.

Starting at her Wikipedia page, I went Jodi Foster > Bugsy Malone > Scott Baio > a news article from 2016 about Nancy Mack, the wife of RHCP drummer Chad Smith, being accused of attacking Scott Baio at a children’s school function by imitating how Trump treats women.

I had never heard this story before, but found it morbidly interesting. It sounds to me like both sides were right - it was inappropriate, but that was the whole point.

Ooh, and I found an update!

Anyway, just thought that was interesting.

The way it lands would probably depend on context, including who the speaker is. Having a uterus and calling yourself a “potential host” is vastly different from someone else, for example RFK Jr, using the term to refer to others. One is a deliberate subversion of the expectation that anyone with a uterus is supposed to be pro “having babies.” The other can be straight-up dehumanization (depending on how it’s used.)

Being on the internet, where the sex and gender of a speaker aren’t always obvious, you’re probably making a wise choice by avoiding the term.

With all that said, as a uterus-haver, I still laughed when I read it. So… ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

Indeed, I was never a “typical teen.” I always felt older than I was, and I’ve never fit in well with those my age. I came to most of my current religious and political philosophies in middle school, after I realized the beliefs I was raised in didn’t make sense and I plunged into self-discovery and research.

One of my mottos since that time is “question everything” (which lines up with the decision to pick this username.) Over the years, I’ve met people at various stages of that journey, including some who may never even begin it. I’ve learned, I’ve grown, and yet I’ve found that a lot of the conclusions I came to on topics long ago have only strengthened with more information. I saw fascism in my school admin, and 20+ year later, I know for sure that it was all part of the same big picture we see today. I saw corruption, I saw manipulation, I saw reasons not to trust anyone who expected blind authority. I was told I was “overreacting” by people who couldn’t see what I saw, and it’s hard to reconcile the normally-positive “having been right” with the negative of, well, gestures around.

I am not the same person I was as a teen, even if those core beliefs remain. For example, I’ve come to embrace polyamory, to understand and accept those with drug abuse issues, and have learned a lot about social situations (I may have been quick on figuring out a lot of things, but my social skills perpetually lag behind. Yay autism.)

The key thing that helped across the board was when I decided to refrain from taking sides on any major issues until after I’ve researched it thoroughly. Too many people react impulsively to new ideas, often against them, only to later on embrace them. I saw it in many of the adults that were around me, adults who heard a biased headline and drew wild assumptions based on it. But when the thing ended up actually being beneficial, they never acknowledged their past stance - they just quietly ignored it and acted like being pro-whatever is how they’d been all along. I told myself I never wanted to become such a hypocrite, and the best way I’ve found to avoid it is to take in information and consider all sides of it prior to forming and expressing an opinion on it.

I know that’s not “normal,” though I do wish it was. But yeah, I can understand how “having the same beliefs as teenage-me did” is more likely to be a sign of stagnation. However, self-reflection is practically a daily task in my life. If some of my beliefs haven’t changed since my teenage years, it’s because they’re still solid today.

Indeed. I didn’t intend to deny that. The phrase just got me thinking, and I realized that “normal health” is hard to even imagine. It would require so many things to be different. The chronic stress alone must be destroying us.

I’m from the US. I live in a country with health care too expensive to stay on top of. Where it’s normal to skip routine check-ups because they would cost too much (if you can even get a day off work in the first place.) Our jobs either do not offer vacation time, or limit any time off to something like 2 weeks or less per year. Most areas are unwalkable, while in others, any adult who rides a bike is assumed to have had a DUI (that is, people assume they lost their driving privileges. Why else no car?) Nothing about my environment is healthy.

Ergo,

I have no idea what “normal health” means.

If they’d said ““All” 90s kids were born in the 80s,” yeah, that would be gate-keepy. However, they used “mostly,” which leaves room for outliers. If you remember the 90s, you can still fit the bill.

Which means like it or not, you’re one of us. 🙃

I just want to say, this is the first time I’ve seen/heard the 2030s referred to as simply “the 30s” in a casual sentence. It still feels weird. But eh, that’s life. I still remember “2002” feeling like a far-off future.

I realized recently that teenage-me was right about a lot of things I believed about the future, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about it.

It’s like my anxiety is doing a victory dance on my hope’s grave.