I was corpo brainwashed when I was younger by Walmart, my malleable brain bought into the anti union propaganda and I was at a friend’s house and said something anti union and his dad, a proud union member shot me the fuck down which caused me to actually go out and research what unions do and the history and everything and now I’m a progressive.
I’m in HR and am fascinated by the fact many union workers voted for and will likely again vote for Trump, despite it being so fantastically clear it’s against all their economic, legal, medical, safety and employment interests. The UAW is focusing on these voters right now, something like 50%(!) of UAW union members support Trump. Outside of misinformation, racism, xenophobia, or misogyny, I can’t see why they would vote for him or how their interests would align. Religion is an answer but of course, Trump is as religious as he is coherent.
I think the vast majority of unions out there are good, but there are definitely a select few that give the rest a bad reputation.
At one of my previous jobs, our union was one of those that gives others a bad reputation.
It was a seasonal job, we had to pay the union whether we wanted to be in it or not. If we had an out of season work meeting for training, all of the money that we earned would go straight to the union and we might end up with a $2 check (if that).
We tried working with the union reps, but they just seemed so out of touch with our group. They would give themselves a big pat on the back for getting everyone a 2% raise and then raise the monthly dues… We barely made minimum wage so a percentage increase like that meant nothing to us.
10 years later and most employees working there are still just earning minimum wage while similar jobs in other cities nearby are earning twice that (at least).
Always made fun of vegans but then I actually looked into nutrition and how we don’t need to eat animals to be healthy. Yeah… So if I only eat them for taste, why the fuck would I want to kill them? Was a pretty big but also instant switch in my head.
I don’t have a problem with veganism. I love eating vegetables, and enjoy plenty of meals without any animal products. What I could do without is the vegan products that imitate animal products. I am so much happier with a vegetable “burger” that embraces the taste of vegetables instead of one that tries to mimic the taste, texture and appearance of beef.
Well good news, you don’t need to buy them :] and these products just existing shouldn’t be a problem to you, right?
For the most part, you are right, and I’ll acknowledge that how I worded that it sounded more complain-y than I really meant to. If anything I was trying to say that I thought it seems silly that things like that exist, and not that I have a big problem with it.
That said, I don’t buy those products, but they still work their way into my life. If you have a vegan in your circle of friends or go out with one you’ll eventually find yourself at a vegan pizza place, or being offered vegan “bacon” with breakfast.
I used to be what Americans call libertarian. Capitalism and free market ftw. I thought it would lead to a freer society.
At some point I understood that the consequences of capitalism lead away from what is actually my real goal - maximizing the liberty of each individual. If someone is afraid if they can afford food and housing they can’t really be free.
Now I support certain types of socialist policies with the same goal.
I personally split the difference now. I think if the hive mind was completely rational, liberty/ancap must work in principle.
But propaganda, and moreover just how much violence people are raised with even still on average in western households, let alone the insane variance in parenting quality from China to the hyper religious Middle East to the current lead-filled (or micro plastic filled?) brains of Trumpers to the insane gang violence of Mexico and South America to the total rape of the continent of Africa… prohibits there from being any volume of rationality required to make it possible for at least another 200 years.
…except before 200 years we will have needed to solve for all of our global crises anyway to avoid extinction (at least there is a non negligible chance)—and thus some mix of socialism via the state, and the “market” AKA Earth dying, with the occasional bout of rational zeitgeist, is the only way to save Earth and explore the stars.
There being totally different personalities that just don’t mix was something new to me when I started university in a different part of the country. Totally changing my social circle and meeting entirely new people was an eye opener. Growing up I thought that with a little conversation everybody could come to a single conclusion that would benefit everyone and work together. But now I know that there just are different people that want different things and there is no way to please everyone. And some even actively work against others just because they don’t like them without a valid reason.
One of the best things I’ve read in a long time. Thank you
I was pretty adamant that Biden should stay in the race.
I figured that if he left the Dems would eat themselves in a giant squabble over who’d replace him.
Never thought they’d fall in line behind Harris.
Nice to be proven wrong.
Veganism. I went vegetarian and stayed there for a long time, and I assumed taking the extra step to being vegan would be too difficult relative to what I thought at the time was a marginal benefit. A couple years back, I watched the documentary Dominion (NSFL) and realized pretty quickly that I’d been mistaken. Of course it was more than just Dominion, but it’s such an acutely traumatizing kick in the teeth that it was definitely the last straw.
In 2020 I got Left-washed by political podcasts and went from a Dem to a Leftist. The awful behavior from those on the Right also pushed me further Left.
I grew up in a religious household that eventually became infatuated with what essentially amounts to doomsday cultism after the 2008 financial collapse.
The religion encouraged a lack of critical thinking development, and I easily bought into the scheme. We became fairly extreme preppers, stockpiling food, planning to move somewhere even more remote that wouldn’t be a nukeable target while also not being downwind of fallout from a neighboring target. We purchased plans on how to build various styles of underground bunker on a budget, and guides on how to rear animals and farm for subsistence.
At some point I came across a video of Christopher Hitchens debating a Pastor. I almost didn’t watch it, as I was afraid that to even entertain the ideas of someone trying to tempt you away from the faith would be dangerous, a way for Satan to worm his way into my mind and prevent my soul from being saved during the end times that were right around the corner.
But I was curious too, very curious. So I watched it. And I couldn’t come up with a single logical argument of how he was wrong.
That was the first glorious crack in the mental armor I’d put up against doubt of any kind. I would think about it frequently, which led me to want to find evidence that would prove him wrong, so I watched a different debate with a different pastor, then another, each one widening the gap, until one day I had to admit to myself that it was bullshit, from top to bottom.
That opened the floodgates. What else have I not questioned? All this prepping, for what? All the mistrust in others, the seclusion, the countless hours of research on how to (impractically) survive as independently as possible… it was all pointless, or worse, actively mentally harmful.
Amazingly, when I slowly presented all these findings to my family, they saw reason. I think they were all as worn out from the constant terror we guzzled down from crackpots too, and if anything were relieved that it could come to an end.
From that point on, I made an effort to give myself a proper education, to finally trust in the scientific process, and to not be so intellectually lazy that I could be tricked into something like that ever again.
So the last time I really changed my mind in a major way was about a decade ago.
Questioned religion from a very young age. Went hard into the “New Atheism” movement as a teen. Figured physicalism was a necessary consequence of atheism.
In March, I binged several episodes of Walden Pod.
Now I’m open to the idea of a soul and an afterlife. (Not convinced, but open.)
I’m still an atheist, just not a physicalist. It seems childish to me now, in the same way that religion seemed childish all along.
Trump almost getting shot. I used to think the cia where experts in heigh level assassinations. Now im concerned they couldn’t afford a second shooter.
An expert can only go by what they can observe. The suspect kept things rather vague up until the incident. Also, he wasn’t a professional, which what an agency fears a step above anyone else.
you get the muntedcrocodile is making fun by implying that it was a cia plot, yeah?
Oh… I thought they were saying the CIA weren’t experts in finding potential assassins.
I mean, that is kind of what he means, in a way.
its so hard to find good assassins these days.
I’ve had many things I’ve changed my mind about this year, but they’ve all been related to past and ongoing wars. Currently there are six of these going on and it’s easy to think you won’t lose yourself in the immersion when just reading about them, let alone participating in them.
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This morning
