Remember not too long ago when ‘Enlightenment’ seemed too far-fetched to be believed? Now perhaps you have some direct experience which lends credulity to the idea. Perhaps repackaging the idea as a ‘cognitive shift’ or ‘Insight’ has made it more palatable.

Upon reflection one may realize that close-mindedness, while energy efficient, prevented the consideration of any truth to the idea of Enlightenment for quite some time. A word of advice, then: Do not be deceived by those naïve cynics who, having a mere glimmer of Insight, purport to comprehend enlightenment as ‘merely this’ or ‘merely that.’ These kind of pseudo-rational explanations, while superficially appealing to a secular mindset, are absurd. The first glimpse of emptiness betrays this conception: the mind realizes that all it has ever directly experienced has been a product of its own activity, thus grasping for the first time the comparably unfathomable extent of the unknown and unknowable. (See this video). Indeed, those who feel most confident in their knowledge often know the least of anyone. It is like the blind leading the blind.

Truthfully, when one describes the ‘limitations’ of Awakening, more than anything else they are revealing the impoverished nature of their own accomplishments. To this mind, it seems that to seek the unexcelled knowledge we must not drop all conceit about the boundaries of possibility.

Tangentially, current reading has illuminated two deeply significant remarks related to the practice of meditation in Western cultures:

> The outcome [...] led me to become quite skeptical of what some have called the “odometer” approach to meditation in the West, namely the assumption that the more hours the meditator clocks on the pillow, the deeper the meditation. Both as a Western psychologist conducting outcomes research on meditators and as a meditation teacher, I have come to see that the great majority of Western meditation students, while they may become relaxed during meditation, rarely attain the deepest levels of concentration as described in the classical literature on the nine states, rarely have more than a rudimentary understanding of emptiness, and very rarely fully awaken or even p

Middle sentence cut out because it went over 300 characters. With it:

> Cynicism is first of all a style of presenting oneself, and it takes pride more than anything in not being fooled and not being foolish. But in the forms in which I encounter it, cynicism is frequently both these things. That the attitude that prides itself on world-weary experience is often so naïve says much about the triumph of style over substance, attitude over analysis.

In excellent article by Rebecca Solnit.

What to add more?

Back in the 60's, and even earlier, there was a relatively significant amount of protest music—or at least music that was critical of the status quo and engaged with politics.

Obvious examples include "Where have all the Flowers Gone?", "Blowin' in the Wind", "This Land is Your Land", "Masters of War", and "Fortunate Son". Most of the protest music of this era was explicitly about the Vietnam War for obvious reasons.

In the 70's you had "What's Going On?", which commented on the degradation of society, in general. Another example would be "Imagine" which (in John Lennon's whiny and out-of-touch style) commented on the state of violence in the world.

In the 80's, the Conservative Reagan movement worked its way into popular music and Rock'n'Roll, turning the counterculture on its head. Even still, there were some anti-war and generally iconoclastic rock hits: "Born in the USA" commented on the mistreatment of Vietnam Vets, "2 Minutes to Midnight" criticized the war machine, and "Run to the Hills" commented on Native American genocide.

I'm not familiar with any protest/anti-establishment music beyond the 80's. I'm curious why you all think this has happened. There are definitely some hip-hop and rap hits that have commented on violence, policing, and poverty, but they seem relatively few and are frequently caught up in the personal stories of the artists, rather than a political critique.

In part, I think it's because youth culture has become so politically disaffected that any display of genuine concern is seen as foolish and "cringe". I have a musician friend who's shown me a few protest tunes he wrote, and I always felt almost embarrassed listening. Something about the straightforward earnestness seems out of place and naïve these days.

I suspect two elements: (1) the consolidation of media publishing in a smaller number of corporate hands thus a greater degree of control over content; and (2) growing cynicism due to the development of astroturfing, which makes any earnest messaging appear "fake" and cringey.

TL;DR: Where have all the protest songs gone?

If all you care about is a rate of return then the 13d might help you upgrade your car or something. But if you want to upgrade the world, don’t be naïve about how much potential there is with this drug and how badly BP wants to control it, and how much Nader is an obstacle to that. As for me, I couldn't stand the idea of Gilead or any other BP having control of this drug. It's like the end of Raider's of the Lost Arc when they locked the arc up in a warehouse. Call me a cynic, but I don’t think BP would want to make money on LL as much as see it shelved, like it never happened. Think about all the symptoms in Long Haulers alone and all the medication they could sell to treat that. I could be very paranoid, or very perceptive, but I know this drug can change the face of medicine, which by the way, will likely change my lifestyle in a way that I cannot even fathom... But that’s secondary. Haven't any of you wondered how BP let Nader go as far as he has while such a threat to their business. Don't they know? Now we know... They know.. Hold the course...

PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL THE OTHER ROUTES I'VE ONLY FINISHED THE FATE ROUTE AND UBW ROUTE

I want to make sure I understand the story and am not missing anything since I really like this series I want to get the full picture.

[ANSWERED] 1). Archer said heroic spirits are just around to protect the people? Shirou stated that they are essentially the avengers and get called forth to “protect the world when a factor comes forth to destroy it” to prevent humanities extinction or destruction brought on by humans, so what calls them forth?

[ANSWERED] 2). Why was Gilgamesh talking with Sakura? How is he hiding is magical presence he’s still a servant at the end of the day, toshaka said she felt something ominous off of him like if she followed him she would die, but she didn’t say she felt a magical presence and that he was 100% human?

[ANSWERED] 3). What was Caster’s wish she stated she was already fulfilling until her death? I have an idea but would like to confirm.

[ANSWERED] 4). Shirou used projection magic to defend against soichirou’s attack on toshaka in the church’s dungeon (After archer betrayed them). So why is shirou not completely paralyzed at this point isn't that magic is beyond his limits? Throughout the rest of the story he continued to use projection magic without drastic consequences so was he just gettting better at it and that's why he wasn't destroying himself?

[ANSWERED] 5). How did shirou break free from archers reality marble? (the scene that happened before archer abducted rin in the church dungeon).

[ANSWERED] 6). How come archer looks nothing like shirou, he's brown and has different colored eyes and white hair.

[ANSWERED] 7). How much of Shirou’s life does archer remember? He stated he “doesn’t have your (shirou’s) memory anymore “ but remembers his final moments before he became a heroic spirit (the scene where shirou was saved in the forest).

[ANSWERED] 8). How was saber sheath still protecting shirou without a contract? Archer mentioned this when he was fighting shirou as an explanation for him being in one piece, but it doesn’t make sense, it feels like a plot armor to keep shirou alive.

[ANSWERED] 9). Was shirou getting stronger as he denied his future self? It’s implied while he was fighting archer that this was the case, otherwise there’s no reason he should’ve even won this fight let alone continue to battle no amount of willpower should overcome those inju

Whoever finds spelling errors or other mistakes will be thanked, just remember I'm posting this late at night. I don't take responsibility of any spoilers encountered on sites I linked. Wer das hier liest, ist toll.

I used to have "Not last day!" written here in my draft. Then it became the last day. I am so bad at scheduling.

MyAnimeList, Anime-Planet, Anilist, ANN

Sore ga Seiyuu - Voice Actresses about and as themselves

>Hiroshi Kamiya (looking at Futaba's shirt with a cat motif): Hmm... That shirt... > >Futaba (to herself): Oh shoot! I'm wearing super lame clothes today! If I had known I'd be able to talk to Kamiya-san today, I wouldn't have worn such a lame T-shirt! > >Hiroshi Kamiya: It's so cute! > >Futaba (to herself): Huh? > >Hiroshi Kamiya: Do you like cats? [He pulls out his phone] I have a cat, too. [He goes through the photos] Look. Look. Look, look! Isn't he cute?

Synopsis

Futaba Ichinose (Rie Takahashi) is a young and talented rookie anime voice actress- and as such stuck playing bit parts. But that's okay, she's got much to learn! She might be somewhat plain, nervous and clumsy, but she's going to make it through. And she has reason to finally be optimistic: Her newest role might be her breakthrough!

At the recording, the friendless Futaba encounters two fellow VAs who couldn't be more different than her: Ichigo Moesaki (Yuki Nagaku) might be just as much a rookie, but she has her style down: She's a Strawberry Princess from Planet Strawberry, super cute and always in frilly clothes. After all, who would want to cheer on someone they know works part-time jobs on construction sites or in food factories? The other, 15-year-old Rin Kohana (Marika Kouno) might look like a rookie, but she's been acting since Kindergarten! But despite being a veteran, she bonds with the others due to her young age and inexperie

Many of you probably already know this one blog, but with frequent posts asking about studies ,resources and documentaries I decided that it should be shared again.

Tons of studies, statistics, true stories , proofs of porn’s harm, articles, links to documentaries: ‘

https://antiporn-activist.tumblr.com/post/121315787461/anti-porn-masterpost-feel-free-to-reblog-and-add

Even more information:

https://anti-porn-unicorn.tumblr.com/post/190274236112/masterpost-of-anti-porn-masterposts

Copied and pasted for a quick taste (there’s more, check the links!)

Porn Culture and The Industry

There are over 68 million daily searches for pornography in the United States. Thats 25% of all daily searches (IFR, 2006).

The sex industry is largest and most profitable industry in the world. “It includes street prostitution, brothels, ‘massage parlors’, strip clubs, human trafficking for sexual purposes, phone sex, child and adult pornography, mail order brides and sex tourism – just to mention a few of the most common examples.” (Andersson et al, 2013)

Pornhub receives over 1.68 million visits per hour. (Pornhub, 2013)

Globally, teen is the most searched term. A Google Trends analysis indicates that searches for “Teen Porn” have more than tripled between 2005-2013, and teen porn was the fastest-growing genre over this period. Total searches for teen-related porn reached an estimated 500,000 daily in March 2013, far larger than other genres, representing approximately one-third of total daily searches for pornographic web sites. (Dines, 2013)

Internet porn in the UK receives more traffic than social networks, shopping, news and media, email, finance, gaming and travel. (Arthur, 2013)

Several recent studies have found that teenagers around the world report using porn to gain information about real life sex (Lauzus et al, 2007) (Wade et al, 2005) (Flood, 2009) ( Giordano & Ross, 2012)

Across the board it has been found women watch less porn than men. 17% of women admit to struggling with pornography addiction (Internet Filter Review, 2006)

Condoms are only utilized in 10.9% of top rated scenes (Bridges and Wosnitzer, 2007)

Every 39 minutes a new porn film is created in the United States.

20% of American men admit they access pornography at work.

13% of women admit to accessing pornography at work (Internet Filter Review, 2006)

70% of all Internet porn traffic occurs during workdays (9am – 5pm) (Sex Tracker, 2012)

The porn industry m

TALKING MONEY WITH: Alec Baldwin; Living Paycheck to Paycheck (All of Them Big)

Sept. 21, 2003 WHEN Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger married in 1993, they did not sign a prenuptial agreement. ''My ex-wife was someone I could never imagine getting divorced from,'' Mr. Baldwin recalled. ''My advisers all told me to get a prenup,'' he said, but ''I thought it was forever. We were very naïve.''

Stay up to date with live updates in our app

Go to app The couple divorced last year and are now resolving financial and custody disputes. Mr. Baldwin, the square-jawed, handsome actor who can be unusually combative, said this divorce was one battle he could have skipped.

Mr. Baldwin's marital problems have convinced him that all engaged couples need prenuptial agreements, especially when they have significant amounts of money that can become the focus of conflict. He has added that rule to others he tries to follow when he considers his finances, he said.

Though Mr. Baldwin would not be specific, he has accumulated a large amount of money: perhaps $20 million to $23 million, with about $14 million of that in real estate, according to real estate agents and people close to him.

Mr. Baldwin built such a fortune without ever reaching megastar heights. A well-respected actor, he is still best known for his role in ''The Hunt for Red October,'' the 1990 film. His other film credits include ''Malice,'' ''The Edge,'' with Anthony Hopkins, and ''Glengarry Glen Ross.'' In recent years, he has attracted attention as an outspoken political liberal as well as for several public outbursts.

The divorce disputes with Ms. Basinger have also received press attention. Mr. Baldwin is convinced that a prenup would have calmed the waters. ''Having a prenup is not about segregating assets,'' Mr. Baldwin said during an interview at his Art Deco-style office on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The office is in the same building where he owns an apartment that is his primary residence. '''It is about: while you and I respect one another, why don't we hammer out this agreement pragmatically,'' said Mr. Baldwin, dressed in slacks and a white sports shirt. ''In divorce the goal is to change partners and dance. A prenup helps people move on.''

Without a prenup, Mr. Baldwin may soon pay Ms. Basinger several million dollars, according to people close to him. Still, he appears to be disciplined about holding on to a decent chunk of what he earns.

Mr. Baldwin has a crucial piece of advice for a

I recently saw a few old posts pondering whether White Roses' machine could have actually been "real", and although that's a fairly obvious mystery, considering it was the sole driving factor of everything that White rose did ( and the underlying invisible hand that guided most of the "protagonists" actions as well), it is the one itch in the back of the mind that I've never been able to scratch.

I suppose it technically doesn't matter if the machine was real, (i.e., if it "actually" worked or not) since it still acted as the chief motivating factor in White roses universe. Like most things in Mr. Robot, I think it was more about what the machine represented than what it physically did.

If I were to guess the directors intention, I suppose the machines role was to underline the shows competing visions of what it truly means to create a new world, or whether that's even truly possible.

One vision (White rose's) required sacrificing the present world completely, throwing away all of the bad, but also, all of the good- including the memories and personalities people had cultivated for their entire existence- and exchanging it for a parallel universe were things (possibly) could be better. That's a huge gamble, and only one that a truly desperate, cynical person would make. Even worse, White Rose could have even believed it possible to just continuously jump from one parallel universe to another, effectively searching until White rose found the perfect world, or one that had the most equality, freedom and equity. The madness of not accepting reality, and actively attempting to usurp it instead of putting in any effort to positively change it (and with all her resources, she surely could have), is clear here, and its almost painful to think about how much someone would have to be hurting for them to spend so much time creating a machine for the singular purpose of no longer existing in their current reality.

The other vision (Elliot's) was sort of always lingering in the back of his mind- and that is that we must embrace the good of our universe and fight to change the things that we see as unjust. For instance, the massive redistribution of wealth that occurred in the final season was an act of vengeance, sure, but it was also the ultimate way of altering the present reality just enough so that the entire present could be redeemed, and the world could move forward in a way that could truly start to amend all of the bad that came before it. I think i

I read Seize the Fire because someone on here was talking about it being their favorite 90s romance novel (it seems to have been published in 1989, but close enough for me.) I just finished it and I'm honestly not sure whether it was weirdly-written and underwhelming, or epically romantic and unique. I feel like it's maybe genius, but I'm not sure that I like it...? Or maybe I loved how deconstructed it all felt...? Or maybe I'm thinking about it too deeply...? I just don't know. But I know I'll remember it, which tell me that it's something special.

SOME GENERAL SPOILERS BELOW- nothing too bad, but I wanted to give warning.

To begin with the hero of this book is a scumbag. Like full stop. Not a bad boy. Not a handsome trickster. Not a devilish rake with a heart of gold underneath it all. Nope. This guy will screw over anybody, up to and including the heroine, if it means surviving. (He does become loyal to her, as time goes on.) But he will ruthlessly steal, lie, cheat, and kill. I had trouble keeping all his schemes and lies straight. He is a British naval hero who hates the navy. He gets knighted, even though he's a "coward." He gets pissed off at the adulation of the crowds who have no idea what war really is. He's also dead broke and pretty damn clever. Oh and he's suffering from PTSD.

Our h is a chubby, not so attractive princess. She is not particularly brave, smart, sweet, hard-working, strong, or really anything special at all. She wants to be though. She is pitifully naïve, doesn't understand jokes, and believes the H is a courageous and noble solider, who will help her save her small country from her evil uncle. She is starry-eyed over the H and his many medals of valor. In return, he thinks she's very cute and she's got some jewels he can steal, while he pretends to help her. And the British government wants them to marry, to secure a treaty with her county. See where this plot is going...?

Nope.

It's not going that way.

THAT'S what I'm talking about with this book. Just when you thinks "Oh, I get what this book is about!" Wham. Suddenly it takes a hard left turn into some new plot. For the VAST majority of the book, we do nothing at all with the Princ

I have no idea where I might have seen this dynamic but I do like stories about people of different socioeconomic classes getting together, preferably ones where the person of higher status isn't the domineering type.

I'd like to read a story where the H is rich, sheltered and naïve, and the h is streetsmart and maybe a bit cynical. She could perhaps show him what the world is really like, or they could go on adventures or something. Bonus points if they meet when she tries to steal from him lol.

I prefer something adult that doesn't shy away from the sexual side of the relationship, but I'd be open to YA stuff as well. Any help is appreciated!

This man has been on a roll post TWD, being in critically acclaimed and Oscar nominated film like Minari and Burning, but I did not know he was this great of a voice actor. Let me preface this by saying that I inherently do not like naïve, idealistic teenage heroes like "Invincible". In a lot of mediums and shows, they annoy the hell out of me with their innocence and holding onto their code, but Steven Yeun, man Steven Yeun has made me love this character so dearly.

He plays the character with such earnestness, charm, and kindness but you can't help but throw away your cynicism and believe in him as much as he believes in humanity. Episode 8 is in my opinion one of the greatest voice acting performance of all time, the way Invincible tries so stubbornly to hold on the good he knows is still left in his father, even as he's getting beat to a pulp and his voice quivering with every last grasp of life .

This entire show is an orgasmic ensemble of superb voice actors but it cannot work when you cannot root and empathize with the titular protagonist, to which Yeun has done tenfold.

FYI - This is going to be a bit of a rant, but I also want to pose some questions at the end. This is also going to be a bit of read, so thank you ahead of time if you read the entire thing or respond.

So for a bit of background info - I'm a 22 year old gay guy living in the Phoenix, AZ area. I've got my life together (I just graduated undergrad with 2 degrees, I'm going to get a job and apply to grad school for psychology in a year). I have several very close friends that I can rely on for emotional support and good times. I have a decent body and I've been told I'm attractive. I've been going to therapy for the past 4 years and have done a LOT of psychological growth, reflection, and applying those insights from therapy and just generally dealing with my own psychological baggage. I'm still going to therapy and still working on myself. Basically, I know my worth and I know that I have a lot to offer a potential boyfriend.

So I started dating about 4 months ago (right as I turned 22), and in that time I've so far gone out with 6 guys. I waited so long because I knew I wasn't ready before (I was dealing with internalized homophobia, family issues, shame, attachment issues, body image, low self-worth, etc.). The first guy I met on tinder and he was 24, we exchanged snaps and talked for about a week, then we met up for a hike. So I knew based on our messages that this guy was bi, so I asked him his body count and he said 8 guys and 1 girl, so I asked him if he was typically more attracted to guys or girls or if it was split 50/50. He said he was more attracted to women but he'd fooled around with more gay guys because "gay men are easy". He said that about 20 minutes into a two and a half hour long hike, and things didn't get any better from there. Needless to say I didn't see him again because he was a complete tool. Keep in mind this was my first ever date in my entire life.

Second guy I met on grindr, he was 28 and bi. He didn't have any face photos and me being naïve, I didn't see it as a red flag. Anyways, when he finally showed me his face I honestly wasn't attracted to him but I was trying to be nice so we talked for about a week and he came off as pretty sweet and caring, so I agreed to meet up with him in person. Anyways, we meet up at a park and the conversation is pretty boring. I find out he's also bi and he tells me how he wants to be in an open, poly relationship (not my thing), so we just mutually ghosted each other after that.

Third guy I

Absurdism - Actual idealism - Actualism - Advaita Vedanta -` Aesthetic Realism - Aesthetics - African philosophy - Afrocentrism - Agential realism - Agnosticism - American philosophy - Anarchy - Animism - Antinatalism - Anti-realism - Antireductionism - Analytic philosophy - Anarchism - Ancient philosophy - Anthropocentrism - Anomalous monism - Applied ethics - Aristotelianism - Asceticism - Authoritarianism - Averroism - Avicennism - Axiology Bayesianism - Bioconservatism - Biosophy - Buddhist philosophy - Cartesianism - Categorical imperative - Charvaka - Chinese naturalism - Chinese philosophy - Christian existentialism - [Christian

Ever since grade three, my friends and I could make Derek Zimmer believe anything. Anything. From Pop-Rocks and Coke make your stomach explode; to earwigs actually burrow in your ears (and one’s on your shoulder right now!); to the typical urban legend of the babysitter and the killer upstairs – and that it actually happened to someone in our neighbourhood.

The best prank we pulled on Derek had to be in grade 6, when we told him that everyone had to go into the girl’s bathroom to change because a toilet had overflowed in the boy’s. This was during gym class too and in our school the bathrooms doubled as change rooms. Geez, he didn’t even question it – didn’t even wait to see us go in first. We followed right behind him while he carried his spare set of clothes with a towel over his shoulder. We didn’t even need to shove him in; he just walked through the door and we locked it behind him and from then on there was nothing but hollering and shrieking from the other side. I got to admit, I still get tickled thinking about it.

After grade seven it stopped being funny – pulling fast ones on him all the time. But, like a bad habit, we kept feeding him lies and watching him fall for them over and over again.

I guess it didn’t help that he had sheltering, hovercraft parents. I mean, the guy believed in Santa Clause until he was thirteen, for Christ’s sake! And they kept walking him to school even though he lived literally just up the street. It wasn’t until Derek begged them, after being tortured by our sneers and jeers, that they finally stopped.

You’d think that they’d have tried to protect him by teaching him not to believe everything he was told. But I guess since they did everything for him, he just always needed someone else to make up his mind.

I don’t want you to get the impression that Derek was slow or something. He was actually a pretty bright kid. He wasn’t top of the class or nothing – and his math and science marks were pathetically low. But, if you spent time with him, you’d see he was actually very insightful, especially when it came to abstract stuff like morality and friendship and artsy stuff too. Oh yes, I was friends with Derek, even though I constantly tricked and made fun of him. Yeah…I was one of those friends. He would actually analyze our favourite TV shows, comparing the ones he liked and the ones he didn’t and go into really meticulous detail about why some were good, and some were bad. What made a joke funny and what didn’t.

tl;dr I can't write fic, but I reimagined the entire plot of Princess Mononoke as a Red Lotus Korra mashup AU. I'm not sure what to do with it to be honest, but it's consumed too much of my waking hours to leave in a word doc on my computer, so I'll post it here in case anyone else will enjoy reading it. Thank you!

In a remote island in the southern Fire Nation, a dark spirit emerges from the ocean and attacks the village of the Bhanti people. Ashitaka/Asami manages to kill the spirit but is wounded in her right arm. The Bhanti shaman discovers that the spirit had been shot with a bullet imbued with a mysterious energy that burned and festered from the inside, unbalancing the spirit’s energy and turning it into a demon. Examining Asami’s wounded arm, the shaman realizes that the wound is cursed and has no choice but to send her away before the curse spreads and kills her, though she gives her a vial of the spirit water from the pools beneath the Bhanti Village Temple and tells her she may find answers in the Earth Kingdom.^(1 2)

^(1. Spirits have physical bodies for the sake of this AU)

^(2. Asami’s Yakul is either Naga or a cat-deer like) ^(Mula.)

Asami sets off to the Earth Kingdom, finding many scenes of carnage along the way, and discovers that her cursed arm is both supernaturally strong and violent. While buying rice she meets Varrick/Jigo,^(3) who says that bloodshed has displaced almost everyone and that conflicts with spirits have only increased in recent years. He tells Asami that the Forest Spirit Raava might be able to heal her curse, but the Emperor has promised a bounty to whomever can bring him the body of Raava, which he believes will grant him eternal life.

^(3. I know he’s presented as a lovable rogue in) ^(Legend of Korra, but I suspect without Zhu Li and his character development, Varrick would be Jigo in Mononoke-verse.)

Meanwhile, the citizens of Zaofu/Irontown attempt to bring supplies to their town by oxen-train, but they are ambushed in a mountain pass by four enormous wolves – Zaheer, P’Li, Ghazan, and Ming-Hua^(4) – and a human girl, Korra. The wolves cause chaos among the oxen and men, but specifically target Irontown’s leader, Lady Eboshi/Kuvira, who manages to shoot P’Li and Zaheer. P’Li calls to the others to retreat with Korra before Kuvira finishes her off with a headshot, with gruesome results. Cornered and wounded, Zaheer falls into a ravine.

^(4. Zaheer is rough

I submitted a claim for MST-PTSD in 2017, about 16 years after the assault... and I had zero evidence to back up my claim. In 2018 the claim was denied, but in the meantime I had started seeing a therapist at the VA hospital nearby to start working on my PTSD. After the denial, which I objectively understood, I was pissed off because it felt like the VA did NOTHING but read my statement and then reject my claim based on the fact that I didn't have any "evidence".

I stopped seeing the therapist and just turned inwards, becoming more cynical than I already was.

Fast forward to a few months ago and I had an epiphany, and started (virtually) seeing my therapist again. After a session I realized that one of the guys I'd been stationed with had been really close (as I recalled) to my abuser, and that he may have been a victim as well (we were roughly the same age, and both brand new to the Army). After several weeks of discussing the pros/cons with my therapist, I decided to make the leap and reach out to him about it. This went surprisingly well, as it turns out he wasn't assaulted exactly like I was, but there was an attempt to do the EXACT same thing to him as what happened to me. He just wasn't drunk enough/stupid enough to fall for it like I did. The way he described the situation was bone-chilling, because the NCO in question used the exact same tricks to convince me to play along, and there's no telling how many naïve young soldiers he'd done that to over the years (gee, wonder why he lived in the barracks when E5 were authorized BAH to live off base?).

So to my point.

My buddy who I reached out to is willing to write a statement (or whatever will help) to back up my claim if I was to appeal. Is this likely to have the desired effect? Is a statement from an almost-victim going to have any weight? I don't want to open this can of worms (again) just to have the VA toss it out... again.

Thanks!

Intro

The Political Compass Test is, frankly, not very good. It has become meme-worthy levels of obvious now that the Political Compass was created by people in the Libertarian Left quadrant to make people think they are more Libertarian and Left than they actually are. This is very apparent from how the questions are worded. They also put basically every politician in the top right, even when doing so is completely nonsensical.

So, because of this, I took it upon myself to do some renovations. I almost completely rewrote the test, rephrasing any and all questions that I felt were biased, misleading or confusing and therefore might lead people to get a result that does not affect their actual politics. Below is the test, with my edits and reasons why.

Part 1: International Issues

>If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily serve humanity rather than the interests of trans-national corporations.
>
>↓
>
>If economic globalisation is inevitable, it should primarily favour worker-owned, as opposed to privately-owned, enterprises.

The old question has plenty of bias built into it. Firstly, it conflates business as a whole with "trans-national corporations". Secondly, it presupposes that business interests and the interests of humanity are inherently opposed, which they are not. Thirdly: who the hell unironically believes that serving corporations is a priority over serving humanity? Even the most hardcore laissez-faire Libertarians believe what they believe because they see it as best serving humanity as a whole.

My edit frames the question as what it truly is: should globalisation see us continue to protect private property and business, or should it see us transition towards collective ownership (Socialism)?

>I’d always support my country, whether it was right or wrong
>
>↓
>
>It is important for people to prioritise the national interest over their own personal feelings and opinions.

Even the most dogmatic nationalist won't support their country no matter what. Nazis won't exactly care about their country if it starts advocating for a multicultural, communist society.

My edit more accurately reflects nationalistic beliefs. Even though I still strongly disagree with the edited statement, it is far more intellectually honest.

>No one chooses their country of birth, so it’s foolish to be proud of it.

>*Our race has many superior qualities

Ingenue Links: Lyrics, Music Video, and Best Version

I'd like to share some of my thoughts, and hopefully hear some of yours, on one of my favorite Radiohead-adjacent songs: Ingenue by Atoms for Peace. Basically, I think this song takes the perspective of someone embittered by experience who is having a sort of recurring conversation with an earlier, less experienced version of themselves. Here, let me try to make that make more sense.

You know that feeling at the beginning of something new, maybe a new job or relationship or moving to a new city? Sort of a wide-eyed puppy feeling where you 're willing to see the best in everything and you're careful not to make bad impressions or alienate anyone. Let's go ahead and personify that feeling and call it "ingenue." Ingenue is the part of you that tricks you into feeling like a new book will last forever, it's the college freshman who signs up for 17 different clubs on quad day, and it's definitely the person who says "Wow I'm in love!" waaaay too fast. We all know the ingenue.

Unfortunately the novelty of all new experiences is bound to wear off, and by a certain point we will become familiar and even kind of bored by very nearly anything. This is another version of you that you are probably familiar with, let's call it "the cynic" because I'm no good at naming things. This is the college senior who doesn't attend half of their classes, the person who hones in on the flaws of others, the part of you that has seen enough movies to know how the movie you're watching is going to end.

Like I said above, I think this song is sort of a conversation between the cynic and the ingenue. In the music video, it's portrayed as a dance instead of a conversation. But it's important to realize that both of these opposing forces in a person are equally critical - the ingenue moves us toward new experiences/people/places while the cynic will sooner or later determine the limits of our involvement with each experience. So to specify on my saying this is a "conversation," I think the song portrays a recurring internal negotiation between the ingenue and cynic inside of us over how much of a new experience to connect to, or "let in."

So now I want to discuss how I think the lyrics support this. Obviously this is all just my opinion but I don't want to keep typing "I think" again and again, so

Sudden Lee

Go post NSFW jokes somewhere else. If I can't tell my kids this joke, then it is not a DAD JOKE.

If you feel it's appropriate to share NSFW jokes with your kids, that's on you. But a real, true dad joke should work for anyone's kid.

Mods... If you exist... Please, stop this madness. Rule #6 should simply not allow NSFW or (wtf) NSFL tags. Also, remember that MINORS browse this subreddit too? Why put that in rule #6, then allow NSFW???

Please consider changing rule #6. I love this sub, but the recent influx of NSFW tagged posts that get all the upvotes, just seem wrong when there are good solid DAD jokes being overlooked because of them.

Thank you,

A Dad.

So far nobody has given me a straight answer

Ever since grade three, my friends and I could make Derek Zimmer believe anything. Anything. From Pop-Rocks and Coke make your stomach explode; to earwigs actually burrow in your ears (and one’s on your shoulder right now!); to the typical urban legend of the babysitter and the killer upstairs – and that it actually happened to someone in our neighbourhood.

The best prank we pulled on Derek had to be in grade 6, when we told him that everyone had to go into the girl’s bathroom to change because a toilet had overflowed in the boy’s. This was during gym class too and in our school the bathrooms doubled as change rooms. Geez, he didn’t even question it – didn’t even wait to see us go in first. We followed right behind him while he carried his spare set of clothes with a towel over his shoulder. We didn’t even need to shove him in; he just walked through the door and we locked it behind him and from then on there was nothing but hollering and shrieking from the other side. I got to admit, I still get tickled thinking about it.

After grade seven it stopped being funny – pulling fast ones on him all the time. But, like a bad habit, we kept feeding him lies and watching him fall for them over and over again.

I guess it didn’t help that he had sheltering, hovercraft parents. I mean, the guy believed in Santa Clause until he was thirteen, for Christ’s sake! And they kept walking him to school even though he lived literally just up the street. It wasn’t until Derek begged them, after being tortured by our sneers and jeers, that they finally stopped.

You’d think that they’d have tried to protect him by teaching him not to believe everything he was told. But I guess since they did everything for him, he just always needed someone else to make up his mind.

I don’t want you to get the impression that Derek was slow or something. He was actually a pretty bright kid. He wasn’t top of the class or nothing – and his math and science marks were pathetically low. But, if you spent time with him, you’d see he was actually very insightful, especially when it came to abstract stuff like morality and friendship and artsy stuff too. Oh yes, I was friends with Derek, even though I constantly tricked and made fun of him. Yeah…I was one of those friends. He would actually analyze our favourite TV shows, comparing the ones he liked and the ones he didn’t and go into really meticulous detail about why some were good, and some were bad. What made a joke funny and what didn’t.

Phil

Because a toothbrush works better