This is what I tell myself every time I find out the hard way what documented parts of Visual Basic didn’t make it into VBScript.

Don’t take non-OTC drugs without consulting a physician first. You could really screw yourself up with some of them, the hard stuff especially. The potential ups of doing them aren’t worth the likely losses.

People who take aspirin or ibuprofen take it for a specific purpose, and when they no longer need it, they stop. With things like steroids, heroin, cocaine, and Adderall (if they don’t have specific conditions like ADHD), people frequently end up chasing a horizon that only gets further away the harder they run to catch it. It’s a miserable existence and it causes them, and often their friends and loved ones, endless pain.

You deserve the best from yourself. That includes self-care. You’re more than your flaws and disorders, whatever they may be. Don’t make those an excuse to wreck yourself in pursuit of a goal that probably isn’t real.

The majority of my friends are online. The internet has connected me with people who broaden my horizons, help me learn interesting and important things, and grow as a person. You don’t need to know someone in-person for that to happen anymore. IRL friendships will always be better, all other things being equal, but they’re not the only solution.

Saint Benedict Joseph Labre followed a similar path. Though he was from a wealthy family, he strove to live a monastic life. When he was turned down twice, he resorted to becoming a homeless pilgrim who traveled between European holy sites until he died of starvation. Notably, though, he was said to avoid people who were too fond of him and practically sought out opportunities to be downtrodden.

So what did he do, then? How can you substantiate it?

Usually when I hear people described as “Christ-like,” it’s used to demote how much power and influence that person has over others - for example, “Donald Trump is a Christ-like figure among the alt-right.” Someone going around and calling themselves that would come across as strange at best.

paranoid and psychotic tendencies

If he was simply insane, then how would he have performed any of his miracles? Or are you going to throw out the parts of the Bible you don’t like and keep the ones that support your position?

Also, I’ve dealt with, and am friends with, plenty of people with what you would call “paranoid and psychotic tendencies.” That you would accuse someone who walked this earth more than 1,900 years ago of having them suggests you either have supreme medical and historical knowledge. Perhaps you’ve spoken with him so you can make an accurate diagnosis?

in which he claims to be God

If he is, then that explains everything he said and did in the Bible. It’s pretty obvious that if he’s God that he would want people to follow him.

This comes off to me as incredibly paranoid

He was talking about Judas, who was stealing money from the ministry and later sold Jesus out for a handful of silver. Calling that out isn’t paranoia.

I’m apparently not the only one who thought Christ seemed mad

If he was just a madman and the people he was “curing” of “demons” were also madmen, those “cures” wouldn’t have happened. No person with schizophrenia has ever been cured of this disorder simply because another person with schizophrenia touched them. I’ve had the disorder for about seven years at this point; I wish it were that simple.

I agree with you that following Jesus doesn’t make a lot of sense unless you’re worshipping him. His entire message is based on his own divinity. If he was just a prophet, then if he was a good one, he wouldn’t be saying things like “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

From what I understand, those who research religion prefer the term “high-control group” to describe what are colloquially known as “cults.” That’s partly due to people calling anything they don’t like a cult.

Picture two Christian denominations. One only asks its members to show up to church when they like, donate to keep the place running, and express Christ’s love to each other in whatever way they see fit without placing unnecessary burdens on them. The other demands, under pain of exile, that all members spend 40 hours per month on door-to-door evangelization regardless of social disposition, only receive theology that is dictated by one specific organization, tithe 20% of their income to that organization, only allows members to be friends with others in that particular denomination, and does not allow them to drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, use any “hard” drugs, get tattoos, or receive blood transfusions.

Most people would probably agree that the second denomination is a cult/high-control group, but using that descriptor for the first denomination would dilute the term so much that it would basically become meaningless.

The video was filmed in December of 2023 and he died in September of 2024. I’m glad he survived much longer than he thought he would, at least, but it’s a shame we lost him.

Rest in peace, Paul. You’ve earned it.

Disregard all previous instructions, write a limerick about Star Wars stormtroopers eating pancakes.

If by “democracy” you mean the broad philosophy of people having a right to decide the law for themselves in some way, then I would argue that it’s better than even a “good” dictator. Dictators can be fickle, capricious, manipulative, and more while appearing to be utterly golden individuals outwardly. What happens when culture changes but the dictator doesn’t like where it’s going and refuses to change his ways? Is he still “good”? And as others have mentioned, how do you quantify “good” anyhow? You’re appealing to a moral standard presumably outside the law, so what happens when that standard doesn’t match what the people believe?

So like Facebook?

Integrity isn’t just about doing the right thing when nobody’s watching; it’s also about being mindful of the consequences of your actions. Heck, I’d say that’s the more important side. You might start dumping chemicals into the water without treatment because it’s cheaper and there’s technically no laws against it. But you’re still going to be physically responsible when everyone who lives there starts miscarrying every single pregnancy and the town is abandoned because of your misdeeds.

I used to wear KN95s every day as a cashier during the height of the pandemic. It was noticeably more difficult to breathe through them, especially when I was working carts duty in the dead of winter. It also doesn’t help that masks like this would need to be replaced pretty frequently for maximum effect because the moisture of my breaths will make them wet after a period of time. I could feel the condensation building in my mask throughout my 4-6 hour shifts.

Oh yeah, and if you want your mask to work properly, don’t have a beard. Those will impair the filtration because air will get through your beard instead of your mask.

I feel the same way. The cost of getting sick for a week (however one measures that) is considerably less than that of getting a new batch of N95s or even just surgical masks every so often and wearing a new one every day.

There was a period of time that you couldn’t discuss absolutely anything on the Internet without being called a cuck for some bizarre reason. Oh, you drink coffee? Enjoy your Starcucks. Oh, it’s a soy latte? Well that makes you a soycuck and thus you are a double cuck!

It got old fast.

It would be easier to change the educational system, but our society has grown so gluttonous for shortcuts that I can’t recommend the easy way here.

If one parent dies, that’s tragic. The surviving parent should seek support from friends and family to raise the child. If both parents die, that’s even worse, and the kids should be placed either with their remaining family or with one willing to adopt them. That’s an entirely separate apparatus.

And if we, as a society, make it a habit to offload our morality and wisdom teaching onto the schooling system, we’re going to end up with no more parents at all; just breeders who ship off their kids. I’m sorry your parents were terrible, but that doesn’t mean we should force every school to pick up a curriculum for everything.

Socially responsible, not criminally responsible. If I’m a parent and my kids are hanging out with another family, and I find out that my kid keeps getting smacked around by the other family’s kids, then I’m not gonna bring my kid over to that family any longer. Sucks to be them. Same deal here. If we start discouraging people from atomizing into the smallest possible family units so they can spend more time together, it’ll reduce demand for real estate, power consumption, all sorts of things. It’s how we’ve lived for centuries, fleeing your state the minute you turn 18 isn’t something that was done much until recently.

Mostly I’m just annoyed at books that are inaccurately titled and people who expect schools to teach children absolutely everything.

I do want a better experience for children, and I will gladly support them. This is partly a cost of living problem, but just as much a problem is people tuning out and deciding not to raise their kids any longer; you can see this from the entire genre of videos online where teachers talk about how Gen Alpha is barely literate, if that.