thanks for the strength sending all <3

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    L  L

the wizard has imparted FORTITUDE upon u

Conjuring all the International power of Women for you on this Day

STRONG

The job market is shit right now, it's not just you.

So it sounds like your sign is “trebuchet?”

But seriously (lol), it takes a lot less energy to yeet them into deep space instead. More environmentally friendly that way.

I suppose it'll depend on where they are relative to the sun. Maybe if I send them on an inclined trajectory, it'll go through some non-zodiacal constellations, and it'll break their brain trying to figure out what it means.

Im sorry you have been getting such inappropriate responses after sharing your trauma. Sharing is brave and you deserve compassionate listeners.

I have not been in this situation myself, but one thing I observed in the general discourse is people's outsized reactions to SA and especially CSA, but even animal cruelty, which to me always feels more like, and I hate to use this expression, virtue signaling. Like "oh I'm not the person who would think something like that is ever okay", idek if I'm explaining this right but this irks me even from my "ideological fellows" such as they are

And while they're being yeeted into the sun, through which constellation will the sun into which they're being yeeted appear to be transiting?

Something I believe very strongly is that people deserve rights no matter what they have done. Our current system where abuse inflicted upon incarcerated people is informally considered part of punishment for a crime is just not acceptable in any way. That might be an easier path to argue than directly for the human rights of pedophiles, Lol.

my dad? no, he's pathetic, powerless, and has had know way to know who or where i am for ten years. but there certainly are harmful individuals who i do wish were dead, if you know what i mean.

(awh i had a nice big response to you here but my browser updated and lost it)

I agree with the perspective of prevention. I think people (even ones who have done bad things) have utility, and preventing them from causing further harm (rehabilitation, etc.) is what we'd have in a more ideal society.

But, and I hope this isn't too personal... I have to admit some merit in wishing death, I think. (Sans suffering or sadism.) Before your dad was out of your life, did you ever wish he were dead?

Like, I cut my abusive mom (+family) off in 2019. She made threats that had me on edge for months, but she was also in bad health. I have to admit that the fact she could die any day really kept me optimistic.

She was lying about her bad health and is still alive, but years have passed and I feel safer now. But I still admit that I'd feel safer.

(i had a nice big response to you here but i updated my browser and lost it)

I appreciate your response here and agree with you too. I've been thinking of "Everyone I Don't Like Is A Pedophile" for awhile now (especially with Elon Musk's "pedo guy" thing in 2018).

"They seem to only exist as a boogeyman" hits the nail on the head. On the other side, if you argue, "Wait, pedophiles are just normal people, you can't identify one by their vibes," it sounds like you're just trying to humanize them in their defense.

I agree with this vent, entirely. The downstream effect of this level of violent rhetoric is that very few people who commit csa are actually prosecuted, for a few reasons. It essentially means that someone has to be fully dehumanized in front of a jury in order to be convicted, because they can't imagine anyone but the worst committing the crime. It means survivors aren't believed when their abuser is someone who is respected in a community. For children specifically, they often have a complex relationship with their abuser, and may not come forward to specifically because they don't see their abuser in this way.

It's also tied up in with the idea that someone who has been abused has been "ruined" in some way. I can always understand someone who has been through this kind of thing not talking about it, because they don't want to be perceived as a victim and have everything they do interpreted by others as an effect of the abuse.

I don't think this is going to get better either. The rhetoric in the air is just to call everyone you disagree with a pedophile, and then use that to talk up your righteousness as a person who's against pedophilia. While not really doing anything about it! They seem to only exist as a boogeyman. So yeah, you're totally justified to say something like "I don't need your violent fantasies" or something, because that's not really a justifiable way to act.

ah. ah i think part of it is like... i don't want them punished. i just want them to be better or at least unable to harm anyone.

i do think there is something severely wrong with Are Society's relationship with excessive punitive violence. if you've ever been party to violence like that, including possibly death, it's like.... once you kill somebody they're gone forever. once you traumatize someone through torture they're traumatized for the rest of their life. is that really a just punishment, if there are other ways to prevent them from doing harm?

i think a lot about my abusive dad and i'm just glad he's out of my life so that he can only inflict his abusive misery on himself. like i wouldn't mind him getting punched in the face for what he's done but torture? death? what does that evens serve?

I've been thinking about your post a lot because it's something that I feel like I have felt very strongly in the past.

For what it's worth, I don't think you're an evil person or anything like that. If you feel apprehension and other difficult emotions when other people like you, those feelings are real and I empathize with you in grappling with them. But do remember that it does not mean they're wrong to like you.

I think the pandemic might have forced a big hit. For me, the social skills I had built up in the ~4 years leading up to lockdown were basically entirely wiped away by isolation.

I've been thinking a lot about ways communication was essential for day-to-day life, and how preferences wiped that away entirely. I became an adult when self-checkout was in every grocery store I'd been to. And those shitty kiosks that fast-food joints like Dunkin Donuts have are really nice, because they take away the time pressure of trying to make decisions by squinting at a distant menu that's constantly sliding and fading. But it also means another place where we can avoid actual human interaction.

Not to get Spiritual, but every consciousness is kind of an amazing thing? We're all wet, small, imperfect models of the universe around us, and when people come together, we make a bigger, wetter, more perfect model of the universe around us. When people say "math is beautiful" and "science is beautiful", it shares that same beauty that exists when people come together.

I grew up with people bemoaning downward trends which didn't actually exist. ("People are getting dumber!" no they weren't. "Crime is going up!" the numbers say otherwise.) But now the downward trends are real and the idea of people getting even worse at communicating is scary. But I think you're right and it's a downward trend that is also happening.

people dont like blunt people because theyre evil and can only hurt, but its the only way i can be, so if im not blunt im completely silent, which is equally as evil if not even more to some. i just dont think i was meant to be

like i_got_killed says. take the step to reach out. you only need to take one step at a time.

I wish I could help you. I am often in places consistent with what you're describing (and it was really really bad 2020-2022). I wish "just pull it together" worked

I want to echo the sentiments from I_got_killed_one_time and nomorepie. You and your brain health are important to us.

Something I think helped me a lot was to create a habit tracker with a checklist of easily accomplishable basics. It's just a Field Notes journal. Like, my brain health is still in shambles, but at least this way my brain health is in shambles and I floss every day. If you're someone who benefits from checklists and notebooks, that might help a bit?

I _got_killed_one_time said it already, we care about you and wanna see you happy

Go to the doctor or just a therapist. They can be good for you. From knowing you i think you could benefit from a therapist, they can give you advice and strategies on how to deal with and ease out of the behaviours youre talking about.

You dont have to do everything yourself. It doesn't make you less nobel or more weak if you cant fix your brain and completely cure yourself from first principles. Because thats not possible. Its ok to get help. People want to help.

You're not alone at all. I feel the same way. At least with the pandemic, we knew those tend to fizzle out after a few years, but there's no standard expiration date for fascism. 2023 had plenty of problems, but from inside the US, it seemed to be the first relatively "normal" year since 2015 - and it will likely be the last normal one for quite a while. But while hardships are sure to come, falling into defeatism is doing trump's work for him (not that that's what you're doing; it's just a common sentiment I've seen online). The "it's all over, we're so cooked" mentality is just as harmful as the maga one. Because it's never "over" as long as people are willing to fight back.

It's truly terrifying how much more damage he's doing so much faster this time. Felt like we made it through his first term because he ultimately didn't actually do all that much, but this time around he's got Elon Musk in his ear giving him instructions on how to any% speedrun the destruction of everything.