• 3 Posts
  • 18 Comments
Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: December 24th, 2023

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  • I think a huge misstep of the original argument is “career politician bad”. Biden is seen as a one man “dynasty” because he has ~50 years of experience. Obama and Clinton are only seen as dynasties because they had active First Ladies so there’s a “power couple” image.

    I think it’s fair to say there are political dynasties- the Kennedy’s, the Bushes- and it makes sense that they will tend to happen naturally. If my dad was president of the United States, at the age of 12 I’d have a much better understanding of the Washington Political Machine than most people.

    Usually when we think of “Outsider” candidates, we think of people who have 0 government experience who enter the arena. Notice that Trump isn’t mentioned in the post. Ofc Trump was as embedded in the Washington establishment as much as anyone else when he ran in 2016, having ran for president previously and using the ol’ “wine and dine” method generously to help him get a leg up in business.

    I personally don’t think it’s a bad thing to have a ton of experience in getting a lot of people to do one thing together- oddly enough that’s an INCREDIBLY HARD THING TO DO. We need all sorts of people in politics in order to represent the people accurately. The Tim Walz’s and AOC’s in congress brought so much to the table- they know what it’s like to grow up as the everyday American. The Biden’s and the Pelosi’s have been removed from that world for so long it’s understandable they might not have the most accurate picture of modern American life, but they do have the deep understanding for how to get things done. In Biden’s single term, he has outpaced most presidents in getting legislation passed. I remember being optimistic in 2020 hoping Biden would be a modern LBJ, and by gum I think ol’ Joe did it.










  • People are saying get hobbies… And yep.

    I’ve been very “successful” on the dating apps, but they almost always resulted in a one night stand or a fling for a few weeks. You meet someone with the expectation of romance and you never form a friendship because you see eachother as romantic partners first. That may work for some people, but I see it as a loss of foundation. When I don’t have a history with someone before being intimate, I tend to feel overwhelmed with the anxiety of expectations.

    For me I found swing dancing was a great way to meet people. It’s fun, there isn’t necessarily an expectation of romance, but it also is a mood where romance can happen. I also thought to myself “I can either sit on my couch high AF while feeling like shit as I swipe left and right while trying to hold a virtual conversation that mostly goes nowhere, or I can go dancing. If I strike out on tinder, I feel like I wasted an evening. If I strike out dancing, fuck it I had a great time anyway!”





  • So I consider myself an optimist, but even I know it’s stupid to say “I’m happy I only suffered a little bit so I will ignore solvable problems”. Also I find it very weird and disturbing that the argument “you are free to die” is being used to promote what I assume is a free market approach to healthcare. Or maybe you don’t have an angle other than to tell OP that they aren’t in pain, when obviously they are, and that’s fucked up.

    Yea, there’s a lot we have going for us with medical advances, but let’s not forget the reason millions die every year is not because lack of medical advances, but rather lack of access to those advances. Those millions of people didn’t choose not to afford it. They didn’t choose to die.

    Being an optimist isn’t about ignoring the problems of the world and calling people who are upset about these problems bitter. It’s about looking at these problems head on and believing you can address them. If you are an optimist, the light you shine should allow you to see.






  • Hello, I’m meep_launcher, and I’m a recovering moderator.

    Not only did my tools get taken, after the mass exedus, my mod queue exploded. There were so many more racist reports than before, and I was mod of a political satire subreddit.

    Turns out the exedus took all the left leaning redditors leaving behind real pieces of work.

    Glad I made the switch, and I set up cartographyanarchy here, so maybe I can get back to doing what I love, shitposting maps.

    Shitpost maps with me!

    One more edit, I want to get this community up and running, so if you post in the next 24 hours I will write your map a song and post the link in the comments.

    Oh also DM if you want to be a mod! Definitely looking for folks skilled in the art of Lemmy, coding, or just being all around wholesome.


  • I think what has helped me is watching John Green/ Hank Green’s YouTube channels. The fact is bad news happens fast, but good news happens slow.

    A maternity ward was built in Sierra Leone thanks to the coordinated effort of thousands of people across the world. Patents for Tuberculosis tests and treatments have been released in the countries that need it the most. This is a disease that takes millions of lives every year, not because we don’t have the technology, but because people don’t have access to the treatments. Of course this was something that should have been taken care of decades ago, but the fact we can pressure pharmaceutical companies to release their patents for the good of humanity must mean something.

    Despair is seductive, it asks nothing but to feel sad, and you can always find reasons to despair. But the correct answer to consciousness is hope.

    I work in Chicago with non profits that are dedicated to building safe communities, to saving local and global ecosystems, to public health access, to helping house the homeless.

    I fully believe that there isn’t anything wrong with the world that can’t be solved with what is right with the world. And when I feel despair, which I am oft to do, I look at my friends, my community, those that roll up their sleeves, shake hands, and do what they can with what they have.