Have you ever noticed that anything with "United" in its name is in perpetual danger of ripping apart at the seams?

It's like the word itself is protesting too much.

We need broad-based solidarity to solve the global crises we're facing, and we can't even get it right on our small scales.

#religion
#Christianity

It turns out that anyone can say anything about God.

What God wants, What God doesn't want.

What God likes. What God doesn't like.

Who God likes. Who God doesn't like.

And God doesn't show up to endorse or refute any of it. None.

So then we're left to discern. 1st priority: what is said about God just to make the speaker's life easier? Especially, what gives them more power, and/or less accountability?

A lot of what is said on God's behalf is simply self-serving.

@LiberalLibrarian Yep, our culture-prophets have given us the tools to "imagineer" our way into either Star Trek or Skynet.

@LiberalLibrarian Here's the thing about that: he might be right.

But if designed by him, this spells doom.

We don't have the capacity or the will to figure out how to distribute resources within capitalism. I have zero confidence that we'll magically figure that out post-capitalism.

So as a person pulling the strings, given his reckless and disastrously tenuous comprehension of humanity or reality, anything he creates will nearly certainly exacerbate and accelerate unintended consequences.

@see_the_sus I'm glad to hear it! You must be so relieved!

@redenigma "Yet by assuming my lateness, you are declaring you have the sovereignty to impose your own finite, mortal subjectivity upon an immeasurable, multidimensional phenomenon as a transcendent, objective standard."

“Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.” -- Brianna Wiest

@FrankCannon @CJLavoie I see what you did there.

I watched Top Gun Maverick last night. It's an entertaining flick, which hits all the nostalgia notes, and all that.

But I'm just not sure that the repeated refrain "Don't think. Just do." is a motto the US military should be comfortable with.

If this is feeding and being fed by the popular opinion of a voting public, y'know, that's worth being concerned about.

@Kaysymmetry Sounds like a Meta-zombie -- which is appropriately seasonal, unfortunately.

@Priestess Even 20x seems high to me, but legislation would have to start somewhere.

Considering that the current state of affairs puts them at a staggering 272x to 344x a regular worker's pay, that's a massive improvement.

This might also work if it wasn't legislated, but was included in a company's reporting/advertising.

@Museek I just discovered Buffy's music last week. And now all this controversy around her...it's perplexing.

Thanks for sharing this statement from her. I accept her story, and her explanation. I will not be a part of contentious accusations or counter-accusations.

I appreciate people who bring light and love to their communities and their audiences, and the people closest to her affirm that this is what she's done authentically for decades. She hasn't earned any further scrutiny from me.

@Jeber I understand the point you're making, and it's a good principle for resilience, but everyone has a line.

I will not yield all ground to so-called free-speech absolutists, and own the whole cost of their lies, accusations and conspiracies as a thing I, or other people, just need to get over.

There are times when the offence people provoke needs to be actionable.

@redenigma Related: the anti-woke folks are merely the next generation of the anti-politically-correct folks.

It's as deep-seated as it is facile.

@pewtergod Right?!

There are still so many people with money who want to just feel a part of something.

@sfleetucker So glad that donating to organisations which oppose trans rights is totally free of gender ideology.

Oh, wait.

@pewtergod Among other issues, people need to recognise that "investing" in NFTs is just newspeak for "donation."

I'm currently reading Brianna Wiest's 101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think.

There is a lot of worthwhile information in here. I'm starting to think about how this works organisationally.

Like, one of her points is that we don't change because we value something (eg comfort) more than we desire change.

An organisation has a character/culture, and it works similarly -- an aggregate of the individual, esp in vague, aimless wanting: comparison, fear, comfort, stagnation.

#selfawareness

Two sides of the same coin:

Don't use hyperbole if you want to initiate good conversation.

Don't fall for hyperbole if you want to be a part of good conversations.

This is my favourite song of the moment -- Easy by Laville:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaaNhpyFCnc