We getting into strawman shit, or are you just not paying attention? The suicidal shit came before the military, not because of it. I’ve got plenty of real faults if you want to make a dig at any of them - no need to make shit up.

You’re missing the point - not everyone has the privilege to consider the cause.

Even now as a civilian in healthcare, which sounds infinitely more benign, I’m stuck working for a different flavor of orphan grinding machine in exchange for a paycheck. …but does that mean I should personalize the evil shit this industry does, like refuse care if someone’s too poor, or do provide care but financially ruin them in the process? I’m a surgical tech, soon-to-be nurse: I can’t control any of that shit. Should I quit in protest? Cuz that won’t change anything outside of severely reducing the quality of my own life.

Same is true of the military: you milk a living out of a shitty system. Are there other options? Sure, but the vast majority of those are shitty too.

I left “I’m a fucking idiot” in there for a reason. Had I played my cards better in the first place I wouldn’t have been stuck weighing whether I should kill myself or put myself into that kind of ethical disaster… which probably would have ended with killing myself anyway.

Lucky for me, they made me a medic, so I never had to find out.

Veteran here. It’s more like: “I’m a fucking idiot, but I could use some healthcare, and that college thing sounds nice.”

Plan B was to kill myself, so I don’t feel bad about enlisting - I got what I needed from it.

You’d be amazed how few people join because of cliches like patriotism. That said, it’d be way less fucked if people could get things like healthcare and education without needing to agree to blow themselves or others up.

I’m probably the least tech savvy person on Lemmy. If my dumb ass can figure it out, the subset of Reddit’s population who we’d actually want in Lemmy’s community should have no problem.

That said, onboarding could have been better, and you’re right about the potential hangups: “fediverse” sounds like some kind of federal government function like a hub website that links to all the different .gov agencies, and “Lemmy” sounds like a cartoon character. Choosing an instance was more stressful than it probably should have been; ultimately went with .world by blindly following the advice of a YouTube video, but on day 1 I was pretty oblivious to the extremist shit that’s associated with instances like .ml and had no clue what ‘tankie’ even meant.

That was two years ago though - no idea if that reflects what getting started is like today.

And again, that’s all coming from a relatively tech-dumbass, so I’d imagine it’s probably smoother for people less prone to starting a fire when they turn their computer turns on.

Edit: sorry to anyone who had to read that before the edit… when I’m tired I have an annoying tendency to think a word as I’m typing and then just skip to the next one. And I’m tired all the fucking time, so my posts have a lot of holes Q_Q

The graphics are fantastic, but it’s a nonstop grind and super pay-to-win, and the top paying players never get banned despite constant exploits.

I don’t really recommend it. 3/10

Judging by your post history, it looks like I agree with you on nearly everything, except apparently when it comes to splitting hairs over how much faith we have in the average American to actually get up and get their hands dirty to take our country back.

…and honestly, I’m a little jealous of that optimism. The past decade has made me cynical as fuck. You’re right to call me out for defeatism. This all seems so fucking hopeless to me, but I really ought to keep that shit to myself - not like I’d be doing anyone a favor by ‘winning’ them over.

Well, I specified the majority of voters for a reason. When a third of population looks at the possibility of someone as evil as Trump taking power, and are so unmoved by that possibility that they can’t even be bothered to so much as color in a quarter-inch rectangle in opposition to it, that’s a fucking problem.

Militias to protect protesters is one thing; militias to enforce the demands being made by the protesters is what we need.

Look at current events here: we’ve got the 50501 protests happening nationwide and frequently - nothing changes. There were protests constantly during Trump’s first go at raping the Constitution - nothing changed. There were protests against Biden and Harris over their support for the genocide on Gaza - nothing changed. This has been a recurring theme for the almost 4 decades I’ve been stuck in this fucking dumpster fire.

You know what did get shit done? Luigi put three bullets into a malicious healthcare CEO’s back, and we immediately saw some reform (nothing huge, but some). Teslas and Tesla dealerships started getting burned to the ground, and now (supposedly - hasn’t happened yet) Elon is backing down from his role as chief Nazi. The republicans carried out a literal insurrection; they now control the presidency, Congress, and the Judiciary. Any semblance of checks and balances, and they just arrest the judge.

Point being: good or bad, violence is the only thing that works here. We’ve dipped our toes into it, but we haven’t gone full guillotine, which is what desperately needs to happen. Protests aren’t going to accomplish shit until the ruling class has a healthy fear for what happens when the protesters’ demands are ignored.

…the fuck are you talking about? The majority of US voters wanted this shitstorm. This isn’t like two people oppressing the country - the problem is that the majority of us land somewhere on the spectrum between stupid and evil, and that’s a MUCH larger problem than just Trump.

Protests in the US have lost their teeth ever since the civil rights movement. Nowadays we don’t have the Black Panthers standing by with rifles to enforce the efficacy of broader non-violent side of the movement; and so long as they remain nonviolent, they’ll continue to be ignored. We protest all the time - it doesn’t accomplish shit here.

The French do it all the time. Are you saying you’re not as capable as those you call “cheese eating surrender monkeys”? You keep making fun of them, but if you don’t act, they’ll be making fun of you.

Again, what the actual fuck are you talking about? I haven’t made fun of the French a single time. 100% we’re not as capable as the French - the French are absolute badasses who respond to oppression by literally making heads roll. That’s why protests there work - the ruling class knows what happens next if they ignore the protests. And cheese is fucking delicious. I’d love if we emulated the French - we should start with the guillotines and end with fondue.

Telling the passengers of the Titanic to grab a bucket after it snapped in half is not as helpful as you might think.

This just in: hobby people have had for basically their entire life has big number!!

Yeah when one of those fuckers is driving behind me, I’ll just decelerate a mph every couple of seconds. Doesn’t usually take more than about 5 until they get annoyed enough to actually pass.

A tip from the drama department:

(@time stamp)

https://youtu.be/ermpMhbZXUA?t=65

…probably wouldn’t as well with the specific type of tape shown in the OP, but for most other types, this is a good one to shove into your muscle memory when tearing off a piece.

sigh

Might as well watch another movie.

…

…

…as though any of us could afford to go to the cinema once, let alone a second time just for shits and giggles.

1. Apply to a position above your experience level with a company you don’t give a shit about. Lie on your resume. Lie in the interview. Use fake references. The whole 9.

2. Fly under the radar until you have the actual experience to satisfy the job requirement.

3. Apply to that same position at a company that actually looks decent; this time don’t lie.

Low risk first steps (worse case scenario 1st company sees through the lie and you burn a bridge you don’t actually give a shit about; try again with another), job security with the keeper.

Remember when that actually happened? There’s been so much bullshit since 2021 that I completely forgot about that time we set our ocean on fire until you mentioned it just now.

…but you’re not wrong, it is beautiful in its own terrifying kind of way.

Exercise is definitely a good “try this first” for mental health, but at the same time, no amount of jogging is going to fix something you need medication or therapy for, or the fact that you exist in a capitalist hellscape.

You know those apple slicer things that look like a wagon wheel pattern blade with a circle in the middle so you can core it and slice it in one swoop? We found one for watermelons. No shit. In hindsight, I’m guessing it was supposed to be more of a funny novelty than something actually used, but… we used it…

It made it about half an inch into the melon, then shattered like it was some kind of ACME explosion. Bits of plastic went EVERYWHERE, my melon was now wearing a crown of blades, and I was just standing there with a handle still in each hand trying to process wtf just happened, like Wile-E-Coyote still holding the steering wheel of the car that just blew up around him looking straight at the camera like “well that just fucking happened…”

0/10

In English it’s usually “FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU–…” (trimmed due to character limit per post)

Meaning varies with context, but it’s most often an assessment of current events.

Aw fuck. I didn’t anticipate this leading to actual responsibility.

Well, what’s done is done: I’ll fill this role to the best of my ability.