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I find it a little frustrating that you think any of this started with, because of, or will end with cheeto.

This:

a fractured nation, a failing education system, crumbling infrastructure, and a healthcare system that leaves millions behind

has always been the case, and it is a feature, not a bug. Always has been.

And it will never change as long as you continue to focus on the things the system tells you to focus on (like team red vs team blue, or the clown at the front of the stage) rather than on the system itself (a state mechanism built on slavery and genocide from day dot, and designed and enforced by and for the rich and powerful, who are the ones actually pulling the strings) and abolishing that.

And before OP gets their underwear in a twist - all states are oppressive and should be abolished, but a country founded on and with the biggest hard on for capitalism on the planet, and who has the power to, and has been since its founding, loudly and aggressively dragging the rest of the world on a race to the bottom (if not directly with war mongering and political interfering, then with profiteering off of their enemies war mongering and politically interfering), deserves all the criticism it gets, and the fact that it’s easier for you to create a straw person to dismiss the perfectly valid and long overdue criticism, than it is to hear them and sit with the mild discomfort it causes you to hear the truth and confront reality, is a you problem, not a lemmy problem.

Your brother is on a (specifically designed and heavily funded) pipeline to being a total piece of shit (not just with misogyny, but racism, and probably queerphobia and ableism too), do what you can to get him off it. A quick search brings up what looks to be some good info to start you off:

Manosphere

Misogynistic influencers are trending right now. Defusing their message is a complex task

De-radicalising incels out of the ‘manosphere’ through Reddit

Making a Radical Misogynist: How Online Social Engagement with the Manosphere Influences Traits of Radicalization

Swallowing and spitting out the red pill: young men, vulnerability, and radicalization pathways in the manosphere

Exiting the Manosphere

There are also many youtube videos on the subject, though I haven’t watched any recently, so I won’t link, but look up something along the lines of “manosphere right wing pipeline” and you should see some results.

If you’re really asking what it means, an Alpha is a

pseudo scientific myth that has been twisted and then adopted almost exclusively by toxic men to try and boost their own ego and justify their shit behaviour

FTFY

And you’re telling everyone here that you are an ableist… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism, no matter how warm and fuzzy the marketing team is able to make you feel.

I won’t post a photo because privacy, but there isn’t much to see anyway, everything past the hedge along the lane at the end of my drive is white. Not as in snow covered (which everything is, too), but as in cloud covered - gone. The fields, the hills, the neighbours, everything past the hedge has vanished in to the fog lol

Hear me out - butter beans with butter (or butter flavoured substitute) and teriyaki, maybe a splash of soy sauce or other umami. Heat till the butter melts, mix and cover the beans well, add to rice or have as its own thing. Sweat and savoury with an added richness, all in about 2 minutes. Nom.

Actually tinned beans (and other pulses!) + melty buttery-ness + flavouring is generally an easy to make winner. Black pepper and or garlic powder for something simple, add to those coriander paprika turmeric chilli for something a bit more interesting. Plop on a jacket potato or mix with rice and mince/strips/whatever meaty substitute for a full meal.

Tonight I’m having some in a curry (red kidney beans along with tinned corn, peas, and pineapple, with madras paste from a jar mixed with coconut milk, on rice with some chicken alternative).

I actually haven’t had chilli for a long time, but now I know what ingredients to order for my next grocery delivery lol

“Elaine don’t come in, I’ll get some for you!”

Spiderman pointing at spiderman meme lol

I discovered this game via a lemmy comment, and I feel like it’s my duty to pass the addiction along: Cookie Clicker (I play on pc, but it looks to me like it’d be pretty light on mobile)

I’m in the UK, we have the NHS, and several “sin taxes”, and they still pretty much exclusively penalise the poor (as does the NHS which has been defunded to oblivion in favour of rampant privatisation, so those who can’t afford to go private are left with the ruins), while those selling the “sinful” products (and private health insurance) continue to rake it in.

There is no taxing or legislating or regulating our way our of capitalism, which is exclusively responsible for those in power exchanging the health and well being of the population and the planet for profit, and they will never allow any tax or legislation or regulation to pass that would put them at any kind of disadvantage. The fact that some people still think they would, is frankly quite terrifying.

Can we please stop pretending America is the only country getting fucked by capitalism? Most countries with “socialised” healthcare don’t cover dental, or do to a very poor level.

Right, which leads to their empathy going to the rich, rather than with their own class.

It’s why the whole “temporarily embarrassed millionaire” construct exists in the first place - to manipulate enough of the working class to act against their own interests.

“Jealousy problem or a self-serving attitude” are a result of masses of propaganda and indoctrination (E: and the inequality baked in to the system) designed precisely to that end, not a natural state of being some people just posses.

Yup, I actually included a couple of lines about how anyone can become part of at least one marginalised group in the blink of an eye, but it didn’t make the cut.

I also refer to the Just world fallacy often, it has an absolutely massive over presence in our society, in large part due to organised religion (and not just the big 3, either), but it is absolutely fostered by the capitalist state too because it recognises just how powerful a tool it is at keeping people loyal and shifting blame to those oppressed by the system rather than the system itself.

And I also agree with your conclusion, though I think it’s less about general empathy (which can be so easily manipulated, as we can see by the numbers of poor people who empathise with the rich they’ve been convinced they might one day become), and more about building solidarity among working class people in spite of the division being sown by those with all the power, who invest large amounts of it in to preventing us doing exactly that, in fear of the power we hold if we do.

I think this is an important point to consider, but the emphasis is being shifted when it really shouldn’t - yes, pain is hell, and it makes life hard, even unbearable, but you know what radicalises pain patients? The brick walls we hit and slaps in the face we get at every turn when desperately seeking help and support from a system and institutions based on so many levels of bias and discrimination and exclusion (capitalism, ableism, sexism, racism, classism, queerphobia, fatphobia and on and on), designed to keep us out of sight and out of mind. Being dismissed as “hysterical”, a liar, a drug seeker, a lazy burden, a scrounger, fat, “uncooperative” (like when autistic people struggle to make eye contact, or in too much pain and trauma to communicate calmly). Being locked up, institutionalised, or just completely ignored. Being told it’s “too expensive” to provide us with quality of life, but rather encouraged to be “assisted” in disposing of ourselves instead, or doing it for us with lack of funding and support.

Yeah, being marginalised radicalises you, but not because of who you are, but because of the systems of oppression designed to marginalise you, which others simply have the privilege of not being directly impacted by (which in far too many cases results in not even believing they exist, which of course serves to maintain them).

I can’t think of one off hand, but yours (E: and several of the replies) made me lol, thanks 😂

The only reason grown ass men date children (laws on the age of consent were written by those same grown ass men, they don’t dictate reality) is so they can have someone who hasn’t yet learned how to recognise red flags to coerce and control. You don’t need to actively encourage him to be sending him the message that you, at the very least, don’t disapprove.

It’s up to you to decide how comfortable you are with sending him that message, and act accordingly.

Is it really?

I’ll say it again:

Maybe try listening to the people it actually impacts?

One of them is right here telling you you’re wrong, and I’ve provided more than enough information for you to start understanding why. All you’re doing by refusing to listen, is reinforcing my point - you’re less concerned with how this will impact the living, existing, very real and already hugely marginalised and abused people it is aimed to “help”, and instead are only concerned with what is convenient for you to see within your own limited understanding of the legislation, the hostile environment in which it is being enacted, as well as your situation now, and hypothetically in the future.

So for a third and final time:

Maybe try listening to the people it actually impacts?

Or just people who feel like a burden.

Except we don’t “just” feel like a burden, we are very deliberately made to feel that way by ableist capitalism, with the help of the state, and a multi-trillion pound media industry that pushes that narrative relentlessly because we’re the easiest scapegoat to blame the empty tax pot and other ills of society on, to distract from those really to blame.

The “this is great, I’d rather die than be disabled” many abled people react to this legislation with is part of that ableist narrative, because they can see, even if they won’t register it consciously to themselves, how badly society treats disabled people, and realise it’d be easier for them to opt out if they hypothetically became disabled (which is significantly more likely than them winning the lottery, for example), than to try and fix society for those already there.

(to be clear, I agree with you and am glad to see someone else who isn’t thrilled about this, and I’m just adding to your point because so many people completely neglect to take these factors in to account)

Most people I know

Maybe try listening to the people it actually impacts?

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/dr-uks-statement-passing-assisted-dying-bill

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/?s=assisted

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2024/11/28/assisted-dying-bill-letter/

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/assisted-dying-bill-disabled-scared-vote-against-oppose-kim-leadbeater/

https://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2024/03/scotlands-deceptive-euthanasia-bill.html?m=1&mibextid=K35XfP