I agree the video is cringy AF, but I don’t have a problem with the company demanding its employees return to working in the office rather than remotely. There are a whole host of tangible benefits (for both companies and employees) from coming into work and I don’t see a problem with a company insisting on it. There are some industries and/or jobs in which remote work is probably fine, but most organizations benefit more from having people come into a shared workspace.

Yes, because its calculation relies on the local speed of sound, which is varies based on several factors, including altitude.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mach_number

People always frown and say I’m being cynical or pessimistic whenever I tell them I’m a misanthrope. They assume I’m bitter and I irrationally hate my fellow human. Couldn’t be further from the truth. I actually like most people I meet. I just have a very low opinion of us as a species. If you look at the track record, I’m many of the most important aspects, it’s really abysmal. We have undoubtedly accomplished many great things, but we’ve also committed uncountable horrors—and both patterns will continue—but I’m not impressed in the final analysis. In fact, I’m pretty disgusted.

Anyone interested should briefly study individual psychology vs. group psychology. Specifically, why individuals are often better problem solvers than groups. There are reasons groups tend to make worse decisions overall than individuals. In a nutshell, it’s because the loudest voices prevail in groups, not the most intelligent, educated, insightful, etc. On a grand scale, that translates to those who want power the most are the ones who wind up in the positions that wield it. And this isn’t due to any social system or set of laws or constitution; it’s due to simple human psychology.

Your BIL likely has an intellectual impairment to get those benefits. Learning disabilities are not typically severe enough to disable a person from working. An intellectual impairment is a much broader term that essentially indicates the person’s IQ is significantly lower than average, and this very often is disabling enough to prevent a person from working.

and it’s the government model that is to blame?

Yes, because it leaves itself so prone to authoritarian takeover. As I’ve said before, this is a feature of communism, not a bug. A single, one-party “transitional” government is intended. You might as well just put up a sign that says “Dictator Wanted.” This is why there isn’t a single instance of communism on a nation-state scale that hasn’t quickly devolved into an authoritarian state. It’s not hard to understand this. Your government model has to account for the reality that people are going to disagree on things and faction out. Your model has to be able to manage that process. Communism insists everyone adhere to the same ideology, and those that don’t just get “re-educated.” It’s a horrible ideology, a horrible government model; naïve utopian fantasy at best, cynical authoritarian scheme at worst.

Lemmy overall is just different shades of red. Picking your instance just allows you to select pink vs. crimson.

Is that supposed to make me want it less?

No, it’s by definition not a “good” solution; it’s a last resort. I won’t deny that sometimes there are no other options, but those situations are rare.

Something to think about, in case you’re feeling suicidal: most suicides are done impulsively, and most people who survive suicide attempts regret making them. People tend to feel strongly suicidal for only about 15 minutes at a time. After that, the feeling tends to pass, so try to remember that if you do feel suicidal. The best thing you can do in those situations is either distract yourself or simply go to sleep, because that will allow time for the feeling to pass.

If you aren’t in therapy, please consider seeking out a decent practitioner. Even if you’ve tried it before and not felt it was helpful. Sometimes it just takes finding the right therapist for you.

Best of luck. I know life can be really rough sometimes.

Didn’t they also establish that Sargent is a hyper-religious Christian and that the majority of American flat-earthers are? If this is a religious belief for them then there’s absolutely no hope that they’ll change their views.

Because it’s recently escalated from a simmering series of minor conflicts to full-blown war. Hamas launched a coordinated series of strikes against Israel on Oct. 7th, massacring lots of people, and Israel has responded by bombing Gaza indiscriminately, killing thousands of civilians in their attempts to slay Hamas leaders.

This is “new,” in other words. It’s receiving a lot of attention because it’s a big change from the state of things prior to 10/7/23.

Fantastic film. Thanks for the reminder!

I’ve been on here since the Reddit API nonsense and it was always like this. Lemmy is a haven for the Far Left, and the Far Left is just as blind to nuance and their own hypocrisy as the Far Right is. It’s just something you have to put up with here, and that will be the case until Lemmy attracts a wider audience.

Prayer is just meditation by another name.

Find me the person who believes in the power of prayer who agrees with that statement.

And that is why meditation and prayer are not the same thing. Functionally, because prayer doesn’t work, all it can provide at best are similar benefits to meditation, but if you’ve ever prayed and meditated, you should know they are definitely not the same thing in terms of what you’re doing with your brain.

Your church has a stranglehold on the State of Utah and regularly influences the State government to pass laws that favor your faith above others. There was an article on Lemmy not a month or so ago about how the LDS church has been making acceptance of their views a condition for receiving social services. The “few bad actors” you and most religious people try to waive away as fringe elements of your communities are almost always present at the highest echelons of your churches and organizations, so I find it either incredibly naive or disingenuous that you ask me to ignore them.

No, I put it to you that you are in fact the innocent sheep that hides and defends the wolves in shepherds’ clothing. You point to the seemingly innocuous tenets of your faith while ignoring the harm your religion does to society. Your beliefs should not be respected because they are objectively wrong, but you don’t deserve ridicule for being indoctrinated; your defense of your church on the other hand should be actively ridiculed, because you’re defending something quite pernicious and harmful–and you should be ashamed of that.

As a Taoist, I don’t believe in any deity and my beliefs boil down to letting people be who they are meant to and want to be and supporting them as much as I can in their personal journeys.

If that’s all your “religion” consists of, then I wouldn’t categorize it as a religion. In my view, belief in supernatural processes as a requisite component of religion.

you don’t seem to have invested much time in understanding religion as a tool and concept outside of those areas.

You’re wrong. I know a lot about the benefits of religion–as well as how all of those benefits can be acquired without it.

Respecting people’s cultures and religion boils down to respecting people

No, it doesn’t. I can respect a person who happens to be racist without respecting their racism. Likewise, I can respect a religious person without respecting their religious beliefs.

I don’t think they should be shamed or ridiculed, that’s going too far. As someone else ITT said: people deserve respect, not necessarily beliefs or ideas. I think people with religious and superstitious beliefs should be gently and compassionately corrected. Ridicule and shame don’t have a good track record at changing people’s beliefs in the first place, and largely just serve to divide people and stoke unnecessary conflict.

But they don’t have a right to have those beliefs politely accepted by the rest of us. That’s my point: I don’t think they should be. I’m not advocating for secularists to actively ridicule believers; I’m saying I don’t think the societal expectation should be that we just smile and nod when someone professes a belief that is patently untrue. There should be perhaps some eyerolling and gentle correction, but not bullying.

You’re anti-theist, not an atheist. Get your bearings right for a start.

I’m both; they’re not mutually exclusive. Get your bearings right.

Honestly, I find the rest of your statements whimsical and unspecific, so I’m not going to respond to them individually. I will say that while my post was meant to convey the wish that modern society and culture not cater to these false beliefs in the ways we do today, I am staunchly of the belief that you cannot legislate culture and that attempts to do so always result in unjust authoritarianism; so, I would never advocate for laws that prohibit religious belief or the personal expression thereof (with certain limits based on context, of course) and would vote against them if they were proposed and I was in a position to oppose them. But I do find the fact that I’m expected to nod and smile when someone professes a patently false belief both nonsensical and detrimental to society as a whole. This opinion is unpopular by virtue of the fact that most people today disagree and think we shouldn’t correct people when they profess these kinds of falsehoods. As other atheists have pointed out, we don’t afford this luxury to flat earthers or people who believe Elvis is still alive. I simply think that’s as it should be and religious beliefs shouldn’t have this cultural privilege of being protected from casual criticism.

I think you know what I meant and I’m not going to bother with your trolling.

I’m not arguing that people should go around treating people who have religious or superstitious beliefs like shit; I’m saying we shouldn’t pretend their beliefs are acceptable and/or a matter of personal opinion or faith. They’re wrong. Objectively wrong. So, if someone were to say, “I’ll pray for you,” I think the response should be something like, “I’d rather you get yourself some therapy, friend; prayer isn’t real, God isn’t real, and your faith in these false concepts is holding you back.” As someone else ITT said: people deserve respect, but not necessarily their ideas.