What is the point of your comment and ~ signoff ~ here? The original post is highlighting the hypocrisy of certain people looking down upon XYZ while proudly advertising their status as ABC. XYZ involves consensually selling illusions of one’s body in the form of digital images, video, chats, whereas ABC involves using one’s body to serve, ultimately, the large-scale destruction of other people’s bodies, property, lives.

Before you signed up for the military, had you never heard of a war before? Are you from a country where there had been no war or mention of war or there had never collateral damage from other countries’ wars/invasions?

Your comment comes across as this weird knee jerk defensive reaction like, well with ABC I got all these amazing bennies and I bet with XYZ you don’t get all those, huh?! And I’m Happy, too! I got Mine, soooooo take that XYZ ppl!!!

Meanwhile people on XYZ are trying to survive in this political/economic hellscape. (And it’s possible that ABC people are on XYZ too, they’re not mutually exclusive- that’s only what the hypocritical person in the original post would think)

Are the people whose lives were destroyed by your military’s mission… Happy?

Do you not realize this is how you came off?

You’re really revealing how militaries do not encourage critical thinking and empathy. Or how they actively recruit people who lack critical thinking.

Throwing a tepid “o yea young me just wanted bennies but now old me thinks war is bad and no one should do it” in a comment after others (rightfully, pointedly) respond to you does not cancel your original thought out.

Some of the people in my life I respect the most voluntarily joined military or police forces and then quit, because they realized how deeply fucked up it was. Or if they served their military time, afterward they devoted time and energy to antiwar activism and efforts to actually change laws, persecute their own country’s war criminals, and change things for the better.

Based on your comment, you are not that. (Yet)

Deeply reflect on your contributions to the world and try to remember you’re not the only person in it.

Omg I have never seen a Silver Jews lyric bumper sticker 😍 Also have a Subaru Outback this exact color but only distinguishing flair are huge gaping cracks and dents

Librarians are the best 😊

Word. I teared up out of happiness after a dental hygienist (who I currently see) offered me numbing gel for my gums during a cleaning (even let me choose the flavor) in a totally non-judgmental way. I was in my late thirties and I didn’t know any dentists would be willing to offer that sort of stuff to adults.

Me neither 😣

😂

Reminds me of the show Baskets

Someday the person may have the ‘aha… fuck’ moment and think back to you. I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with it. I’m ADHD only diagnosed about 5 years ago but my work’s CEO is basically 15 years older, SUPER undiagnosed, and has money/power/sycophants so he will never truly ‘deal’ with any of it, even as he may be actively ruining his company and his behavior is causing the best people to quit. The defense mechanisms go deep. We can’t force introspection unfortunately…

I wonder if maybe women would have more time and energy to do the actual pursuing then, instead of being sidelined, oppressed, saddled with the labor of care work which is necessary for the continuation of the human race. Are you saying birthing men wouldn’t take on that care work?

I’m no expert but I’ve been on the hiring end where I had to review and compile candidates’ letters, profiles, applications and then send the summaries/compilations up to my bosses (the actual hire-rs). I’d say just actively use your preferred name everywhere on LinkedIn, letters, resumes, etc., then only after you get the job and HR needs your govt info for tax/deposit purposes, send them whatever you have that’s valid at the time.

Big crowded city and I’m an introvert, but if you’re open to it you can have mini-interactions or chance run-ins with all sorts of interesting people or “human behavior” just over the course of one subway commute (NYC). The stereotype is that it would be bad run-ins of course, like muggings or unwanted encounters, but in my experience when there’s multiple people around, bystanders are actually willing to step in, help, talk to you and make sure you’re okay. People can be truly genuine in that moment, even if they have to continue in their way afterward, even if you’ll never see each other again. That is so much more comforting to me than the fake-polite thing and car culture of other US suburbs where I was sometimes raised. Sometimes the stranger encounter thing is just looking at another person and sharing a wordless “WTF is happening?” look, laughing, and connecting that way. But you can also be totally left alone if you want to be!

God death penalty is already bleak but this is so strange to me — I have hard-to-find veins, so nearly every blood draw of my life has excruciating. (Good phlebotomists with butterfly needles are so rare and special!) But I never thought about that happening when you are also bracing for death… and then it being halted, to be continued… months/years later?! Like what

Thanks. It was Mother’s Day over here and I was super depressed, even as I love my kids and they were so sweet to me. I’m not doing well at home or occupation, failing in all directions. Could only manage a few minutes of putting on a happy face today. I don’t want them to have the same struggles…

Good reminder.

Wholeheartedly agree

I was not a homeowner at the time (still not) but anyway I have so much respect for you for quitting. Thank you

I had not heard about this, and I scrunched up my whole face while reading the link. Ugh. I can’t un-scrunch, so much second hand embarrassment.

Noted - good point! I guess I meant ‘further left’ than whatever “far left “ boogeyman the original commenter had in their head.

I might be wrong but I don’t think this actually pleases “far left” — far left prefers maximums / taxing billionaires rather than just raising the minimum without any regulations to keep costs from rising indefinitely