I’ve legit wondered about this and one of the many reasons I don’t want kids is I don’t think it’d be fair to inflict my lifestyle on them, no matter how morally correct I feel.

My basic thought though is that as long as social media is the dominant means by which cultural trends are spread and amplified, anti-consumerism will be hard to spread.

Once modern social media became dominant, social justice pivoted from our own sins (wearing slave made clothes, children losing limbs for our new phones etc) and switched to dunking on public figures and large systemic forces. I think that’s because it’s much easier to share, make jokes about etc evils that you are not currently doing. That is to say, it’s a lot easier to make memes about say, OscarsSoWhite when none of us are in the Academy than say, “my shoes are made by kids who occasionally burn to death” while many folks are wearing those types of shoes.

I love rocking tebacious D at karaoke, the right crowd gets into it and ends up yelling along and everyone seems to appreciate attacking with more gusto than skill.

Part of why I generally go with Double Team, many fun stage effects etc.

And I just got a better job after having a bad one.

I’ve also known addicts who’ve quit.

Does that mean “just get a better job” “just quit your addiction” and “reject consumerism” are reasonable answers to people struggling?

This is the same as “I would just have a better job.”

Some normal folks are out there, trying to give their kids as normal a life as they can despite their financial circumstances and not all of them are as enlightened as you claim to be online.

It’s fucked but with a charitable view, I can see some logic.

For all the nonsense, there are a handful of good deals on the Friday/Monday. If I were living paycheque to paycheque, seems like a bnpl scheme could let me budget say, November to February for christmas gifts, interest free unlike a credit card.

That being said, that’s the theory. I imagine a lot of folks end up in over their heads much like credit cards etc.

Probably a pretty rough spot for those employees. I imagine their pensions, health benefits and retirement stuff hinges on the definition of administrative leave etc.

If you were one of the employees on admin leave with a sick kid dependent on that healthcare plan… How big a risk would you make your kid take for you?

Thanks for the context, OP seems a bit of a goof.

Making a weird complaint post based on one interaction is reddit drama level boring/silly.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hegseth-ssecretary-of-war-name-plate/

I’d guess it’s still ai generated in that someone asked an ai to print their labels.

The life aquatic studio sessions - Seu Jorges covering Bowie in Portuguese.

Lucky you! I am 0% surprised she’s funny, that combination of smarts n funny is what makes her writing so goddamned good.

Incorrect answer but I’m very excited every time she has a book, Mary Roach.

It seems a little wild to plan a wedding at which the bride wouldn’t be considered legally responsible enough to have a celebratory drink. But if your folks are all good with it, I imagine there’s some cultural context I’m missing.

Do you feel like you are much different than you were at say, 15? And similarly different then as to the man you were at 10?

It is different but still, imagine one of your best friends from childhood. With the benefit of hindsight, would you be confident saying you’d be best friends until death, let alone the trials and tribulations of raising a family?

That being said, you know your situation better than I.

This is a lowkey perfect answer, well done.

Yeah, I know I’m in the minority in the fediverse on this but for the last few months (for some of what I wanted, about 10 months) I’ve kept glancing at a few things that weren’t urgent but would be needed soonish, and now the prices have all come down a good chunk for Black Friday.

I get if you’re randomly scrolling amazon looking for deals, yeah, that’s garbage. But if you’ve been patient, with actual specific ideas…

Let me spin that little statement of yours around since you want to try and sound smart, you go to buildings of grocery stores, banks .etc for free.

There are few things funnier than watching someone being condescending while making the dumbest argument imagineable.

It’s literally just SMTP/POP — where’s the “value add”?

I’d say to the majority of people, that first part reads like nonsense.

The value add is thus “you don’t have to learn computer stuff.”

Maybe recency bias, but a lot of stuff from the new Running Man hits home. Maybe not the murder TV show but (obviously minor worldbuilding spoilers):

Bifurcated society, where the have nots have to check in to enter the nice part of town. (Related story: A couple years ago, I visited America for a wedding. After the pre-wedding reception, I was walking back to my hotel through an upscale neighbourhood, in a suit. Within a half hour private security drove by, got out of the car, hand on gun and explained they’d received calls about me walking on the sidewalk. The guy then insisted he drive me to a more suitable area.)

Unions existed but reporting to them gets you blacklisted, people need work so safety regulations only exist on paper.

Veterans Affairs is taken over by the Y and reduced to a miserable hostel and not much else.

Time in a green park is awarded by lottery and only briefly.

Ubiquitous private security.

One media network, that is free and mostly exists to pit haves vs have nots. (Pretty much social media already)

Etc. I think the part that really gets me is you don’t have to imagine particularly hard to see us getting there.

Oh, best believe we used that line all the time, unironically. It’s like they’d all watched Glengarry Glen Ross and missed the entire point of the movie/play.

That’s messed up!

My rule, especially when I was working in South East Asian neighbourhoods, was something like “stop saying yes to the first dinner offer! There’ll be something amazing you haven’t had yet by door 5.” (Those folks were crazy friendly, really blew me away and opened my eyes to a whole range of delicious foods.)