Chit-Chat: The Feels

[Dimity]

2 minutes ago, Harvey said:

You think there will still be democracy in 4 years? 🤣 He made it clear he wants to dismantle it. 

He's made it clear his personal heroes are Putin and Kim Jong Un.

[bluegirl147]

3 minutes ago, Harvey said:

You think there will still be democracy in 4 years? 🤣 He made it clear he wants to dismantle it. 

He only wants to dismantle for himself. He doesn't care what happens after he is gone.  Most of his supporters in the government are along for however the ride lasts but even they know once he is gone reality will probably set back in.  And his donors masters are only here for the tax cuts and deregulation he is promising.

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, annzeepark914 said:

I met her at a fundraiser for Gov. Jim Hunt in Raleigh, back in '92. As I stood in a loooong line, I kept thinking of all the things I'd say to her (what a role model she was, how much I admired her, etc). When I finally got to shake her hand? All I could do was thank her for coming to Raleigh 🙄.

That reminds me of when I met Gloria Steinem after a protest.  I was heading to a little hole in the wall deli to get a sandwich, rounded a corner and damn near collided with her.  Did I open with my thoughts on her inspiring speech, my thanks for Ms. Magazine, or anything like that?  Nope, I got so befuddled by seeing her face to face, I fixated on the fact she was carrying food from the same deli and started babbling about sandwiches!  I did then pull myself together to talk about more important things, so it's a great memory, but I will forever roll my eyes at myself for how it began.

I met Cecile Richards in her capacity as president of Planned Parenthood, when I was attending a conference.  I figured this was coming when I read of her glioblastoma diagnosis.  Particularly nasty cancer, that one.  As if this day didn't suck enough already.  This is one of those times when I understand why people convince themselves there's an afterlife -- how great it would be if she and Ann were indeed reunited.  But Ann managed to miss having to see Trump elected the first time around, never mind this shitshow.

[bluegirl147]

3 minutes ago, Bastet said:

This is one of those times when I understand why people convince themselves there's an afterlife -- how great it would be if she and Ann were indeed reunited.  But Ann managed to miss having to see Trump elected the first time around, never mind this shitshow.

My best friend and I both thought if Cecile was dying then why not leave today. Can't say I blame her.

[Blergh]

I think  we need to take strength in the fact that today IS Dr. Martin Luther King,Jr.'s Birthday and use that to draw strength via his and so many other examples of how to endure tough times and persecution to eventually have fairness prevail!

[Avaleigh]

3 hours ago, Yeah No said:

In other words, to make me feel like I'm not entitled to my feelings or opinions because they're invalid while theirs are. And they won't even hear me out either. To them I'm no entitled to an opinion.

I understand where you are coming from. I've had it happen to me just by simply questioning the wisdom of certain pushes. One of the topics I remember getting blasted about online years ago was when Brandeis University came up with their list of oppressive language. I thought that this was an example of the sort of changes that aren't really necessary in terms of advocating for social justice. Words like picnic, freshman, victim, etc were on the list, and I thought this was an example of unnecessary criticism on language that gives the rightwing supporters ammunition to pounce on the so-called ridiculousness of so-called "woke" ideology. (I refuse to use the word woke unless it's in reference to other people using it because it's meaning has been completely warped, and they're essentially doing the same thing to DEI.)

My argument was that silly stuff like this ends up getting us sidetracked from the social justice issues that are genuinely important. These lists of oppressive language were exactly the sort of thing that would make some people roll their eyes, and my concern was that we'd lose sight of the larger picture if we started infighting over nonsense like this. Being critical of minor issues like this should be okay without people behaving as though it means you're carrrying water for the other side.

When I argued that maybe we should try to not focus on stuff like this, it was as if I'd said that I was voting for Trump. At least I felt a little validated when Brandeis eventually removed the list of oppressive language from their site (afaik), but the real reason this incident is memorable for me is because I was stunned at the lack of tolerance from people who indentify as socially liberal. It didn't matter either if the POV was from a woman or a minority or a person who votes like they do. 

I want my party to at least be open to hearing different points of view. Ideally too, my side is going to be okay with people having a different take on a minor topic without it turning into this thing where they're questioning their basic humanity. If I vote the way that you do, support the same causes, advocate for the same political issues, is it really that big of a deal if we're not necessarily on the same page in terms of, say, what strategy I think the party should use for the midterm or if I think it's unnecessary to push a ban on words like picnic? As long as a person is in step on the bread and butter issues, that should be enough to keep people from making comments that indicate they think you're essentially supporting a party that doesn't care about the things you value.

I'm honestly nervous about even posting this just because of that experience when I made the choice to wade into this topic. At the end of the day though I feel like people are more tolerant here than some other places, so that's what's giving me the courage.

[bluegirl147]

I had to look up why the word picnic was problematic.  I had no idea.

[peacheslatour]

Just now, bluegirl147 said:

I had to look up why the word picnic was problematic.  I had no idea.

Can you tell us?

[kittykat]

I just looked it up too and the long and short of it is that picnics were events back in the day in which African Americans being lynched were the main event. Oof.

[Dimity]

7 minutes ago, Avaleigh said:

I'm honestly nervous about even posting this just because of that experience when I made the choice to wade into this topic.

There are definitely a couple of issues that I feel strongly about that are not in step with the mainstream in terms of "I am a liberal and proud of it".  I've learned to just not engage when these topics come up because it can get ugly. 

Edited 11 hours ago by Dimity

[anony.miss]

Even when running a con, the $Trumps can't keep from looking like idiots - the dollar sign looks like an S, so the crypto meme spells "Smelania". 

Maybe it's the name of her new First Lady perfume? ("Smelania - because eveything about me coming back stinks...")

Edited 10 hours ago by anony.miss

[Dimity]

Remember when First Ladies had some class?  With $Melania it's all about the crass.

[bluegirl147]

5 minutes ago, anony.miss said:

Even when running a con, the $Trumps can't keep from looking like idiots - the dollar sign looks like an S, so the crypto meme spells "Smelania". 

Maybe whoever made that ad did that on purpose. 

And she is smiling.  When is the last time we saw her smile?

I can't even imagine being so gullible as to buy anything let alone cryptocurrency from anyone in that crime family.

[anony.miss]

The theory that "picnic" orginated with lynchings isn't  true - it's orginally a French word from the late 1600s:

"Images circulating on social media make the claim that the word “picnic” originates from the racist, extrajudicial killings of African Americans. This claim is false.

...According to Dr David Pilgrim, author of several books on the history and cultural symbols of the Jim Crow era, the word picnic derives from the 17th century French word “pique-nique,” a term used to describe a social gathering in which attendees each contributed with a portion of food or another useful item.

Pilgrim writes that a 1692 edition of Origines de la Langue Francoise de Menage includes the word pique-nique. Since the derivate word, picnic, did not appear in the English language until around 1800, this suggests it did not originate in the U.S."

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/fact-check-the-word-picnic-does-not-originate-from-racist-lynchings-idUSKCN24E21F/

 

 

[Dimity]

Just now, bluegirl147 said:

I can't even imagine being so gullible as to buy anything let alone cryptocurrency from anyone in that crime family.

And the timing is interesting.  Could they be making it any clearer that the reason $Trump wanted back in the White House was to keep lining his pockets by picking the pockets of everyone else...oh and to stay out of jail too of course...but mainly it's all about the money.

[bluegirl147]

3 minutes ago, Dimity said:

And the timing is interesting.  Could they be making it any clearer that the reason $Trump wanted back in the White House was to keep lining his pockets by picking the pockets of everyone else...oh and to stay out of jail too of course...but mainly it's all about the money.

I don't know a lot about crypto currency but the more there is lessens the value right?  The fact they want it to continue to be unregulated is a huge red flag.  I'm guessing there will be a giant sell off and those left holding the crypto will be left with nothing.

[Bastet]

35 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

My best friend and I both thought if Cecile was dying then why not leave today. Can't say I blame her.

Yes, definitely a "Well, at least she didn't live to see this" situation.

6 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

And she is smiling.  When is the last time we saw her smile?

When she got to air kiss Justin Trudeau instead of her husband?

[Avaleigh]

2 minutes ago, anony.miss said:

The theory that "picnic" orginated with lynchings isn't  true - it's orginally a French word from the late 1600s:

"Images circulating on social media make the claim that the word “picnic” originates from the racist, extrajudicial killings of African Americans. This claim is false.

This is one of the reasons why I didn't understand why this word made the list of banned words. It should be okay for people to question stuff like this without people automatically suspecting that you're an advocate for the other side. 

[kittykat]

34 minutes ago, Avaleigh said:

My argument was that silly stuff like this ends up getting us sidetracked from the social justice issues that are genuinely important. These lists of oppressive language were exactly the sort of thing that would make some people roll their eyes, and my concern was that we'd lose sight of the larger picture if we started infighting over nonsense like this. Being critical of minor issues like this should be okay without people behaving as though it means you're carrrying water for the other side.

When I argued that maybe we should try to not focus on stuff like this, it was as if I'd said that I was voting for Trump. At least I felt a little validated when Brandeis eventually removed the list of oppressive language from their site (afaik), but the real reason this incident is memorable for me is because I was stunned at the lack of tolerance from people who indentify as socially liberal. It didn't matter either if the POV was from a woman or a minority or a person who votes like they do. 

I do agree with this.  I have gotten so frustrated with far left overly PC crowds who jump on every word you say but I would still choose to hang out with them over a crowd of anti-woke MAGAs. My main concern with the far left PC crowds is that a large group of them are the ones who stayed home or voted third party because Gaza took precedent in their list of issues over domestic ones which are more likely to affect them.  And while we can't ignore either issue, choosing a foreign crisis over a domestic war on half of our country's population reeks of cart before the horse 

While we can talk about why certain micro aggressions exist and why they should be addressed they should not eclipse the main issues. I don't believe old texts should be rewritten to contain more modern, progressive language.  Those texts are a reminder of how people thought back then. Unfortunately that gives the far right fodder to attack us with.  That's why they throw out all these Boogeymen stories like trans operations in schools because it distracts everyone from the real threats.  I just wish the left could mobilize better and not fall victim to so much infighting.

Edited 11 hours ago by kittykat

[bluegirl147]

3 minutes ago, kittykat said:

My main concern with the far left PC crowds is that a large group of them are the ones who stayed home or voted third party because Gaza took precedent in their list of issues over domestic ones which are more likely to affect them. 

One of my friends said she read there were more protests on college campuses regarding Gaza than there was for all the new anti abortion laws. That is shocking to me.

[anony.miss]

20 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Could they be making it any clearer that the reason $Trump wanted back in the White House was to keep lining his pockets by picking the pockets of everyone else...

Absolutely. Just in case anyone was clinging to the idea $Trump would behave like a leader,  not a con man running a pump-and-dump crypto hustle,  he made it clear he sees the country as a cash cow he can milk with two sticky hands. 

And a "Tip of the (overly wide-brimmed) Hat" to his wife:  $melania caused a 40 percent drop in the value of his coin. Bet that spoiled $trump's inaugural morning but good. Couldn't happen to a vicer guy!

"Unfortunately for $TRUMP buyers, the $MELANIA announcement undercut momentum their buying momentum, causing Trump’s coin quickly to lose billions in value.”

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/what-just-happened-with-usdtrump-and-usdmelania-meme-coins.html

Edited 11 hours ago by anony.miss

[bluegirl147]

Whatever happened to Presidents can't make money while they are in office?  And there are people who still believe Biden is the corrupt one.

[Bastet]

I'm not going to read any of the specifics of today's disgrace until tomorrow, but Mother Jones wins my vote for headline of the day:  Florida Man Unconditionally Discharged Into Oval Office

[peacheslatour]

There is a method to her madness. She wore that hat for a reason. 🤣

[Avaleigh]

47 minutes ago, Dimity said:

There are definitely a couple of issues that I feel strongly about that are not in step with the mainstream in terms of "I am a liberal and proud of it".  I've learned to just not engage when these topics come up because it can get ugly. 

I understand that it isn't reasonable to expect every topic to be able to be discussed without the discussion turning heated. I think when it comes to minor topics like the ones I mentioned, I think that's where I'm hopeful that everyone would be able to weigh in without it turning into a metaphorical knife fight.

[Absolom]

5 hours ago, PRgal said:

Don't think there are enough women in STEM fields?  Maybe start encouraging girls in elementary school and see how things are in 20 years. 

Old lady here.  I've been there, done that.  I was a science major in the 60s.  That's 60 years folks that we've been encouraging girls in technical fields and it's still an issue.  BTW, I was the only female student in ALL of my engineering classes.  At work I was usually the only female in the meeting.  In the 90s that began to change. That only took 30 years.....

[Dimity]

6 minutes ago, Absolom said:

At work I was usually the only female in the meeting.  In the 90s that began to change. That only took 30 years.....

Good for you for sticking with it.  The biggest issue with women and engineering right now isn't so much that young women are not choosing to study engineering it is that they are not staying in the field once they graduate.  Multitude of reasons of course but the biggest is no surprise, systemic discrimination.  It's still one of the "old boy" disciplines and that hasn't changed as much as it has in other fields.

[bluegirl147]

5 minutes ago, Dimity said:

The biggest issue with women and engineering right now isn't so much that young women are not choosing to study engineering it is that they are not staying in the field once they graduate.  Multitude of reasons of course but the biggest is no surprise, systemic discrimination.  It's still one of the "old boy" disciplines and that hasn't changed as much as it has in other fields.

See also tech.  We have seen what can happen to women in male dominated fields and it's not always pretty.  And now we are most likely going to have a Secretary of Defense who doesn't think women should serve in the military. As if there wasn't already a lot of sexual harassment and worse in the armed services

[Absolom]

13 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Good for you for sticking with it.  The biggest issue with women and engineering right now isn't so much that young women are not choosing to study engineering it is that they are not staying in the field once they graduate.  Multitude of reasons of course but the biggest is no surprise, systemic discrimination.  It's still one of the "old boy" disciplines and that hasn't changed as much as it has in other fields.

I have to admit while it's far from ideal now everywhere, it has changed tremendously.  I had a professor refuse to give me a grade because he'd never had a female student before.  He retired rather than give me a grade for the course.  His loss. I had group projects where I was never told when and where we were to meet. I was ignored and learned to be subversive.  I also had group projects where I was allowed to lead and we did well. I did find supportive bosses and stuck with them.  It also helped that I could out-engineer almost every guy I met along the way.  By the 2000s I was a boss and a manager and brought the young engineers up the right way and the women we hired all thrived and stayed. 

[PRgal]

32 minutes ago, Absolom said:

Old lady here.  I've been there, done that.  I was a science major in the 60s.  That's 60 years folks that we've been encouraging girls in technical fields and it's still an issue.  BTW, I was the only female student in ALL of my engineering classes.  At work I was usually the only female in the meeting.  In the 90s that began to change. That only took 30 years.....

Mom, is that you? 
 

ETA;  my mom worked in IT in the 70s and into the 90s.  She was one of five girls in a class of 100 kids (as in grade) at a boys’ school that took girls in the sixth form years in HK in the 60s.  Met my dad there.  They didn’t date then because good teenagers in 1960s HK didn’t date. 

Edited 9 hours ago by PRgal

[Dimity]

[Lantern7]

I just asked a question for the public on Facebook, but I know that I’ll get responses here.

When was the last time that the United States were truly united, even if it was for a brief period?

Here are my rules:

• No tragedies (9/11, Oklahoma City, Challenger)
• No deaths (bin Laden, Hussein)
• No sporting events (Miracle on Ice, USWNT winning World Cups)

[Bastet]

9 minutes ago, Absolom said:

I did find supportive bosses and stuck with them.  It also helped that I could out-engineer almost every guy I met along the way.

My dad was an engineer who became a program manager, and he was glad when sexist asshats didn't want any of the few female engineers on their programs, because he very much wanted them for his -- he knew if they'd made it through college and into a career at the company, they were smarter, more dedicated, and stronger when things got tough than any of their male counterparts. 

People in general liked working for him, because as long as you were ethical and did good work, he left you the hell alone to get it done.  But women, especially, whether administrative staff or engineers - it seemed like he got a letter from every woman who'd worked for him after his retirement.  It's profoundly sad how unusual it was for them not to be harassed or dismissed that they were so grateful to him, but I'm glad he was one of the good guys back when they were even more of a rare find.  Hopefully his example also led some men to do better when they became managers.

[peacheslatour]

Whelp. There it is.

[Avaleigh]

6 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Whelp. There it is.

I'm torn between choosing anger or tears, but right now it's anger. It's so disgraceful, I can't even. Worse, people are already making excuses for it. 

[peacheslatour]

Just now, Avaleigh said:

I'm torn between choosing anger or tears, but right now it's anger. It's so disgraceful, I can't even. Worse, people are already making excuses for it. 

Yep, I've heard them. It's purely along the No True Scotsman line of stupidity.

[Lantern7]

23 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Whelp. There it is.

Am I naive for thinking he wasn’t doing that? That’s just an unfortunate arm angle coming from the worst thing to come out of South Africa since Oskar Pistorius. Or should I keep Tim Walz in my heart and refer to Elon as “dipshit”?

Edited 9 hours ago by Lantern7

[Ohiopirate02]

2 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Am I naive for thinking he wasn’t doing that? That’s just an unfortunate arm angle from the worst thing to come out of South Africa since Oskar Pistorius. Or should I keep Tim Walz in my heart and refer to Elon as “dipshit”?

There is video of this that shows he is doing exactly what it looks like he is doing. I did not listen to the audio to see what he was saying.

[Ceindreadh]

50 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

I just asked a question for the public on Facebook, but I know that I’ll get responses here.

When was the last time that the United States were truly united, even if it was for a brief period?

Here are my rules:

• No tragedies (9/11, Oklahoma City, Challenger)
• No deaths (bin Laden, Hussein)
• No sporting events (Miracle on Ice, USWNT winning World Cups)

Live Aid?

[Lantern7]

Going to YouTube, searching “Elon Musk, raised arm,” playing video from PBS NewsHour, and yep, he did that. Of course he did. Elon Musk exists solely to counter all the good Nelson Mandela did in his life.

[Lugal]

15 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

Am I naive for thinking he wasn’t doing that? That’s just an unfortunate arm angle coming from the worst thing to come out of South Africa since Oskar Pistorius. Or should I keep Tim Walz in my heart and refer to Elon as “dipshit”?

So I'm not the only one seeing Elon Musk giving a Nazi salute?  Thank you for reminding me why I've hated Elon Musk long before he associated himself with Trump.  And for years I've referred to him as Elon Musk: Billionaire Dipshit.

[Lantern7]

1 minute ago, Ceindreadh said:

Live Aid?

I didn’t think of that. I don’t know if it was “big” enough, but it didn’t fall into my rules, and I don’t feel like making one saying “no concerts.”

[SoMuchTV]

4 minutes ago, Ceindreadh said:

Live Aid?

 

2 minutes ago, Lantern7 said:

I didn’t think of that. I don’t know if it was “big” enough, but it didn’t fall into my rules, and I don’t feel like making one saying “no concerts.”

But wasn't Live Aid a fundraiser for famine relief?  So it would fall under the "no tragedies"?

[Anela]

41 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Whelp. There it is.

I just came here to ask if anyone else saw this.  I saw the video - he did it twice.  This one, and then he turned around and did it again. 

I saw video of people doing it in 2016, too, but it wasn’t in public, like this.  

[peacheslatour]

Laure Ingraham 2016.

[Dimity]

46 minutes ago, Avaleigh said:

Worse, people are already making excuses for it. 

Of course they are.  During the Convoy Idiocy in Ottawa a few years ago there were repeated pictures and videos of some of the participants carrying Nazi flags.  Of course the supporters denied it.  When confronted with the video they talk about Hindu symbols and still made excuse after excuse.

[Anela]

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFBd0cHp3rQ/?igsh=MXUyN3A0NjZvNzN1

period-tracking app, Ovia, now says that you must include the State you live in.  

[peacheslatour]

2 minutes ago, Anela said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DFBd0cHp3rQ/?igsh=MXUyN3A0NjZvNzN1

period-tracking app, Ovia, now says that you must include the State you live in.  

I'm past needing to worry about that but I would never sign up for something like a period tracker. Not in this day and age. I don't even have any apps on my phone.

[bluegirl147]

1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

Whelp. There it is.

It was just a matter of time.  And CNN going out of their way to not refer to as a Nazi salute but instead as a Roman salute. 

[Avaleigh]

12 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Of course they are.  During the Convoy Idiocy in Ottawa a few years ago there were repeated pictures and videos of some of the participants carrying Nazi flags.  Of course the supporters denied it.  When confronted with the video they talk about Hindu symbols and still made excuse after excuse.

Still going back and forth between feelings of anger and sadness. They're literally not even hiding it anymore. Whatever veneer or sliver remained where they'd pretend that they aren't that bad--it's totally gone and has been ever since he was re-elected.

This all just reinforces for me how very much I am in agreement that people have every right to be concerned about the direction this coutry is headed. 

I know I should be past surprise at this point, but this really did shock me.