Yup, I work as a shipwright welder and have had to refuse to complete assigned tasks. When I’m tasked with welding two large steel plates together, end to end, they both need to be double beveled. If they’re not, then all I can do is make thin surface welds which are easily broken.

That’s dangerous as these steel plates are an inch and a half thick and weigh a lot. Their weight alone will break surface welds. So I refuse to do the job. They ask why I refuse and I tell them about the lack of double bevel.

I’m even willing to break out the oxy/acetalyne torch and cut the bevels myself, but they refuse. They’re in a hurry, they don’t have time to do things correctly or safely, and they don’t care about making it someone elses problem. That’s the sort of shit that’s likely to cause serious injury or death.

Yes, I no longer order from Wish or Temu or any of these sketchy Chinese sites.

Purchases from Wish. A pair of block heels where the heel length didn’t match the shoe arch. Wearing them meant constantly falling backwards. It was so comically bad, the seller gave me a refund and said don’t bother sending them back.

A Gorillaz t-shirt, also from Wish. The picture on the website looked ok. However, what I received was so awful I thought it was a prank. The white shirt had what I assumed was yellow rust stains. It looked like a rag kicked underneath a disgusting kitchen frier and left there for years.

Some of the seams were on the outside and some were on the inside. The print itself was heavily pixilated, as if someone took an internet forum avatar image, blew it up, and stuck it onto a shirt.

I’m a leftist and I would like to have children, but can’t. I’m intersex and the “plumbing” simply doesn’t work.

I’m a welder, and no I would not. It’s not allowed on the shipyard. But even if I could, I wouldn’t. I’m a professional and I’m working with high power tools & equipment. I need to have a clear head.

Right wingers have been falsely screaming “anti-conservative bias” on every social media platform for so long that admins and moderators have aquiested. It’s not true, of course. Right wingers simply break the TOS and violate site rules far more often than left wingers.

Atheism describes what we don’t believe in, Satanism describes what we do believe in. We believe that superstitious beliefs are holding us back as a species, and is the cause of so many societal problems. We have a duty to help the world get over their superstitious beliefs through discussion, theatric performance, and activism.

I’d love if you capped everything off with what core beliefs does your religion believe in, and what entails one to be a Satanist

Unfortunately that’s still a hotly disputed issue in the Satanic community. Some are theistic, most are atheistic. Some are conservative and believe might makes right, most are liberal and believe in freedom and egalitarianism. I can’t give you THEE core Satanic beliefs as there are denominations who disagree.

But the atheistic freedom, humanism, and egalitarianism faction of Satanism is winning the “war” of ideas as that is the human tendancy. In this Satanic faction, the core is that human flourishing guides our morality, evil is the absence of empathy, and we have a moral imparitive to help humanity leave behind superstitious beliefs and embrace rationality.

And about checking the Bible, I have admittedly never read it front to back.

Well don’t feel bad about it. Most Christians haven’t read their own holy book which is simultaniously amusing and sad.

but in my opinion the Bible is a corrupt book

I personally wouldn’t say the book is corrupt, it’s just a collection of bronze age stories passed down by oral traditions. It’s only when people attempt to apply these stories to the real world that it becomes harmful.

I shall try to check Satan’s evil deeds and how many and what were they.

Funny enough, Satan in the Bible has a very different context. Originally, the term Satan meant “opposer” or “accusor” or something similar. It wasnt the name of a specific individual, it was a title. A description of what someone was doing.

In the story of Balaam and the talking donkey in Numbers 22:21-39, God sends one of his angels to be a “Satan” and block Balaams path. God has sent one of his own angels to be an opposer, an obstical to Balaam.

And you see the same thing with the story of Job. God isn’t placing bets against a person named Satan, he’s talking to one of his own angels who doubts Job’s faith.

Strangely enough, the earliest versions of Adam and Eve, the serpent wasn’t actually the devil at all, or even an actual serpent. The serpent was originally used as an insult to call others. It was only through centuries of oral retellings that the person trying to tempt Adam and Eve morphed into an actual serpent, then morphed again into the devil.

Here’s a helpful link about the 8 different Satans in the bible. https://overviewbible.com/8-satans/

Satanists often oppose tyranny and dictators. Its in our nature to rebel and oppose, to be an adversary against the unjust. It’s partially why we call ourselves Satanists. Theists hate us for trying to convince people magic and the supernatural doesn’t exist. They can’t prove it does exist, obviously, so they hurl insults and accuisations which we wear proudly.

It’s sort of like a drug addict going through withdrawls and hating the doctor for trying to cure his addiction. Theists hate us for trying to cure their addiction to superstitious beliefs.

So non-theistic Satanists are basically atheists?

Yes, it is an atheistic religion. That may sound strange to people who aren’t familiar with world religions, but there are a number of atheistic religions out there.

I am not quite Familiar with Right/left decomcratic/liberal and conservative politics

That’s fair. The left wing in the US wants to tax the rich, expand social safety nets, make healthcare free and universal, make college free to the public, build up the infrastructure, and protect civil rights. The left wing has no Repuplicans and very few Democrats in this political camp. This is where the majority of Satanists are.

Then there’s the political “center,” though the term has lost all meaning. They serve and obey the rich to the detriment of all others, they do very little for the people, they’re wildly corrupt and serve their own financial interests. This is where the vast majority of Democrats are, and a handful of Republicans.

The right wing in the US is basically the new Nazi party. They serve the rich to the detriment of everyone else, they want to reinstitute slavery, deport everyone who isn’t white, reduce women to property, exterminate all LGBTQ+ people, and take away civil rights. It is Christian nationalism. The right wing is made up of nearly all Republicans and a handful of Democrats as well.

And also why the name “Satanist” if the community is about pacifism and humanitarian? I have no doubt they and you are good ppl but I’m intreasted on who was and why the founder of this 100 year old religion chose to name it after the universal embodiment of evil, in every culture

Well I never said anything about pacifism, but yeah sure. A lot of people believe Satan is the bad guy, but is he?

I don’t expect you to actually do this, but I would encourage you to have a look through the Bible some time and count how many times Satan has done an evil thing. The answer is low to none.

Then count the number of times God in the Bible has done an evil thing. The answer is shockingly high. Christians like to deflect and blame Satan for everything, but according to their own religious doctrine that’s just not true.

We Satanists dont believe in a literal being called Satan or Lucifer or whatever. Instead, he is a symbol and an idol to look up to. To always do what’s right, even when the world calls evil good and good evil.

The religion is still relatively new, as in under 100 years old. We also don’t kill each other for dominance or superiority as other religions have historically done. As such, denominations can be wildly different which can be confusing to the general public.

There are two primary camps in Satanism, theistic and non-theistic. The large majority of Satanists are non-theistic, as in we do not believe in gods, devils, afterlives, and magic.

The majority is egalitarian and humanistic, and we tend to be left wing progressive (the terms “left wing” and “Democrat” are not synonyms). This is the camp I and my congregation are in. This is the camp that seems to be winning the “battle” of ideas.

Of course, there are theistic denominations of Satanism, but they’re relatively small, don’t usually have in-person congregations, and they tend to lean politically right wing authoritarian.

There’s a third camp of self-proclaimed “Satanists,” though they really aren’t. These are the clout chasers. They don’t know anything about Satanism, but they saw a few cheesy Hollywood horror movies and are emulating that.

John Ramirez and his ilk pretend to be ex-Satanists and make up wild stories for fame, attention, and money. The Christian communities eat it up without an ounce if skepticism.

It’s simultaniously sad and amusing how gullible those communities are. A ten second google search would show them the truth, but they can’t be bothered.

I am a Satanist. I swear no oaths, pledge no allegances, I neither bend the knee nor bow my head. The only thing I’m loyal to is the betterment of humanity as a whole.

I didn’t quit the LDS church, I was unofficially excommunicated for being born intersex and having a puberty not consistent with my assigned gender.

I have both sets of genitals. Both are small, deformed, and non-functional. The bishop at the time told my parents to keep it a secret and to raise me as a boy. Then puberty came along and I physically filled in as female.

It scared the ward members, it scared the bishop (different bishop than before), ajd it scared me. I didn’t know what was happening, nor did anyone else in the church. From their POV, a boy just physically changed into a girl.

The common sense thing to do was to consult a qualified and competent doctor about this, yet no one in the church did that. Not even my parents. The bishop gave my parents an ultimatum. Choose between God or your child abomination.

They chose God and my parents disowned & kicked me out. The church quietly turned their backs on me. They all wanted me to just go away.

I’m older now, wiser, and in a far more stable life. I’m even an ordained Satanic minister now, and I am happy. Our congregation welcomes those who are cast out. Words and deeds are more important than your physical appearance or what’s in your pants.

Edit: And before any LDS members respond with attempts to get me to rejoin, don’t bother. I no longer believe in gods, afterlives, and magic. Plus I will never rejoin the religion that cast me out for the crime of existing.

No, we would work together on tasks. I would walk to work while Other Me would take my car and get errands done. Or to change things up a little, Other Me could walk to work and I would run errands.

Hell, Other Me could play my online games and make progress while I’m at work. I’ve been meaning to level up my Black Mage in FFXIV, but life has kept me busy.

In the evenings, we would have to clearly explain to each other what we did that day and who we interacted with. Otherwise we risk diverging into two different people.

The point is whatever we choose for ourselves. Just because we eventually die doesn’t mean living isn’t worth it. I don’t care that one day I’ll eventually die, I enjoy living now.

In a word: Insecurity.

Matt used to he a firebrand on the Atheist Experience. He’s moved on to The Line show and continues with call-ins.

His “meanness” has been refined and aimed strictly at bad faith actors who call in. People who are honest and straightforward don’t get yelled at.

Is it the sweetness that you’re addicted to? The fizz itself maybe? There are drinks that are sweet yet not fizzy, and there are drinks that are fizzy yet not sweet. If you can find out, you can begin to substitute less unhealthy options. Then eventually quit entirely.

I left Twitter sometime after Elon bought it. The content in my feed drastically changed and was filled with racism, Nazi glorifiction, and child prawn. Reporting these posts did nothing, the automated respone system kept claiming there was no violation. So I deleted my account and never came back. I also actively avoid clicking on Twitter post links.

I didn’t quit Reddit, but it quit me. Reddit perma-banned me for speaking out against the genocide in Gaza. An admin even called me a “disgusting Nazi simp” because I opposed the genocide. The amount of admin and mod gaslighting & abuse is at an all time high.

I don’t do the Meta stuff because of all the cross platform account linking. I still have a FB account, but it’s not my real name, it lacks personal info, and it’s only to stay connected with family and IRL friends.

I got banned from Tiktok preemptively and I never learned why. I didn’t even have an account, but when I went to make one on my work phone, it said I’m banned. Weird. I tried making an account using my home phone as a test and it worked, but I just deleted it afterward without posting anything.

There really needs to be a digital bill of rights or something.

A power efficient e-ink laptop.

A laptop with a colossal battery life, I don’t care how chonky it is.

A smart watch that can do much more than the simple crap they do now. Larger is fine, maybe a smart bracer.

Multitools that are specifically designed for trades. It’s not tech, I would just love to have a multitool with specific tools for welding.

Some kind of wrist device where I can copy a file from one electronic device and paste it onto another device with hand gestures.

A Clockwork uConsole device that’s a bit more powerful and can use m.2. Those things are neat little kits, but they’re alway always always sold out of the good version. I wouldn’t mind a laptop in this format.

Doomsday prepping is the answer. Start building up a large supply of non-perishable foods, properly sealed for long term storage.

Have a wide variety of different food storage options. Having nothing to eat but rice will drive you insane (that’s not hyperbole, it’s serious).

Not just food storage, have tons of medical and hygeine priducts stored up as well. Things like toilet paper, toothpaste, wet wipes, ibuprophin, tums, etc. Assume there will be no stores or money in the future, plan acordingly.

Have all of your important documents in paper form. Keep all contact information, passwords, addresses, phone numbers, emails, and other important info on physical paper. There’s a strong possibility the internet will go down for a long period of time.

If possible, download Kiwik. Within the software, you can download all of wikipedia so that you have an accessable offline copy. It’s about 125gb in size.

Start downloading stuff you don’t want to lose. If you have a youtuve video ripper, start ripping videos on how to do things like repair your own car and other repair tutorials. Download videos and tutorials on how to cook if you don’t already know how. Also how to start and maintain a veggie garden.

Have a plan for the electric grid going down for a long period of time. Folding solar panels are a great way to keep phones and battery banks charged.

I could go on all day, but basucally you should prepare for a total government collapse. Internet, electricity, plumbing, trash removal, hospitals, police & fire rescue, depletion of groceries and store goods, etc. I have do doubt we’ll see these things either partially or completely collapse and fail.