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Cake day: June 19th, 2023

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  • Respectfully, when you talk about other people’s bodies in disgust it gives the impression that you don’t actually care about the people who inhabit those bodies; you’re just another idealogue seeking the affirmation of your own worldview, just like your opponents.

    I didn’t impose circumcision on my son because I want every person to be able to modify or maintain their body as they wish. Do you want the same? I’m curious if you support adult circumcision by choice and gender affirming surgery, or if you tell those people that they’re mutilated as well.









  • I came looking for a comment like this to agree that we need to discuss UBI more in the context of Universal Services.

    Personally, I think there’s a strong chance that universal services will emerge before or alongside a UBI. Both are more likely to grow gradually rather than suddenly.

    One great thing about universal services is that they don’t require as much top-down oversight to deploy, imo. You can join groups now that collect and distribute free fruit. Anyone with a skill can begin giving it away; if you’re a lawyer, you can give free legal services to immigrants; if you’re a technician, you can join or set up fixit clinics. Every time folks begin giving away labor value, they’re chipping away at the transactional structure that holds people hostage to capitalist labor markets. And as critical mass builds, more and more people are freed to spend less and less time hustling for their daily bread, and can direct more and more time to this Solidarity Economy. And unlike a UBI, you don’t need the government or the rich to buy-in: you can start practicing these things yourself and with neighbors now.

    If you want to build this but want something a little less anarchist, public school systems are an existing prototype of this: that’s why a lot of school systems also engage in food distribution and more recently experiments in social housing. You can join advisory committees and help deploy more services using your school district to pilot universal basic services!





  • I’ve just started having these conversations with my mom, because her mom just passed away at 99.

    My mom isn’t as temperamental as you’re describing, but she doesn’t like talking about death. However cleaning out her mom’s old condo has forced her to think about it, and that’s the lens of the conversations.

    It’s not going to be one conversation, btw. I think that’s the key thing to understand: you’re not trying to figure out how to talk to them about end of life planning one time, you’re trying to figure out how to talk to them about full-life planning maturely from now on.

    I would focus on specific issues rather then a broad concept; relate it to things that others are going through as a reference point; discuss it through the lens of ensuring a long, dignified life instead of about the end part; and try to offer appealing solutions rather than problems that they need to solve.

    For instance, ‘I was just talking to a friend who was visiting their dad, and he had a bad slip moving trash to the curb and is now thinking of moving into an retirement village. I’ve always imagined you guys living here forever, and I wanted to check if that’s what you guys want to do too, and if there are any renovations you’d be interested in to make it more comfortable.’