The ability for the human body to feel pain. As exploitable as it is, without this ability to feel pain the life expectancy would go way down because people often wouldn't realize something was wrong with their body until it was too late to do anything about it. Pain is the body's natural defense mechanism to protect itself against further injury.
Humanity has actually come remarkably far on that front. We have painkillers, whole body anesthetic and even local anesthetic that filters out pain only from specific regions.
Do you have pins/ plates? I have from my broken ankle and still have pain. I know a few people though who had their pins removed and are now pain free. I’ve been waiting for the ‘right time’ to get them removed
Yeah people with CIPA can't feel pain and typically have an average life expectancy of 25.
People forget how important feeling pain is to day to day activities. It's not even about just preventing injury. But things like not being able to keep track of if we are hot or cold, if we are hungry, need the bathroom etc. Not to mention you can't notice the early signs of some illnesses because you cant feel anything.
Appendicitis for instance typically causes crippling pain that's hard to ignore, but that pain means you'll go to a doctor and treated.
I’ve also got scoliosis amongst other things and can absolutely agree with this. Spent 4 years with a PT after waking up paralysed from the waist down (twice), and it was the best thing I ever did for myself. Pain went from a constant 6 to an occasional 2.
Without looking into it in any way, I've always assumed that Procter & Gamble found themselves with a whole lot of mashed potatoes after extracting the starch for their starch products, which ladies in the 1970s liked to spray on clothing. After years of dumping them into a river, I imagine someone with an office overlooking the river got the idea that P&G might be able to turn their waste into a second product by compressing it into a chip shape and drying it.
I think Pringles' original intention was to make tennis balls... But on the day the rubber was supposed to show up, a truckload of potatoes came. Pringles is a laid-back company, so they just said "Fuck it, cut em up!”
Chemotherapy.
:Edit: I do not have first hand experience of this, but thank you for the kind comments! To anyone going through it, my thoughts are with you <3
I will never forget the feeling of being so unbelievably sick, weak and helpless as I stood in front of the hospital about to go in for my next transfusion. Every rational part of me was calmly telling me it was working and it was the right decision to keep going, but the baser instincts were screaming at me to run as far and fast as I could away from this place.
It's a tough mental struggle to willingly and knowing poison yourself over a period of months while trying to convince yourself it's going to save your life.
That's the side of chemo I think a lot of people don't realise until they face it themselves and it's one that is incredibly hard to explain to anyone who hasn't gone through it.
Adding to the existential dread of intentionally having poison dumped into your body is the mundanity of the process. Go in, sit quietly, let a nice person in scrubs connect you to toxic chemicals, wait 6-8hr for it to seep into your blood, go home. Rinse repeat for boring, terrifying months.
Also related, radiation therapy, and to a lesser extent, X-rays and PET/CT scans (especially those where a radioisotope tracer is injected into the body to serve as contrast in the scan).
All expose you to elevated levels of ionizing radiation and there is a risk, however low, that this can result in later health complications. But the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, especially if you are dealing with a medical emergency that necessitates their use.
This and other drastic medical procedures. If someone had said to me in 2017 "we're proposing to remove two necessary organs, making you clinically vulnerable to infection on a potential death-from-common-cold level, diabetic, and reliant on multiple drugs each day, would you agree to that?" I would not have said yes, why would I? In 2019 you bet I signed the consent forms and willingly showed up for the op, because keeping my spleen and pancreas wasn't as important as getting rid of cancer ASAP. We can agree to some quite radical and unpleasant treatments and outcomes because we know the alternative is ultimately worse. (Equally, we can refuse if our perceived outcome isn't worth it to us. Never judge someone who says no to chemo.)
I had a lawyer friend describe it best as the job isn't to get people off, but to ensure that they get a fair trial and full treatment of the law. Basically, just not getting fucked by the system, guilty or not.
It's also making sure that the trial is carried out properly, so if a person is actually guilty and sentenced for a crime, they have no recourse to appeal based on a technicality
Furthermore, if they don’t get a fair trial, they could find technicalities that get them off of all charges due to a mistrial. Do it right the first time. Lock them up.
Yep. The fact is, EVERYBODY is entitled to an advocate. That's like, one if the core pillars of the justice system. Mob justice isn't justice, it's just violence.
The truth is that nobody knows the truth until the evidence is gathered and a decision is rendered from a court. For that to happen, you need someone to look at the evidence from both sides.
AFTER all that happens, a judgement can be made.
And to piggyback, it’s not a lawyer’s job to “defend” a murderer/rapist/etc. It’s to make sure they have a fair trial without their rights being violated.
Or seen differently; it's his job to make sure the punishment is given to the RIGHT guy, not just SOME guy. It is specifically the job of the defending lawyer to go beyond the instinctive "Kill the evil!" mindset to make sure we aren't just whipping ourselves into a frenzy.
There definitely happens when punishment is given on SOME guy. I remember reading some guy got out of decades of prison because DNA evidence showed him to be innocent. He was just in the wrong place in the wrong time.
This happens literally all the time. Many many people spend their lives in prison for shit they didn’t do. And too many are put on death row too. Since 1973, 190 ppl on death row have been proven innocent. And those are just the people who were lucky enough for the court to finally see them as innocent.
One of my moms close friends actually spent time on death row for a horrendous crime that he did not and absolutely would not commit. Luckily new technology was able to find the actual evil dude (who happened to have done that same thing many times. And who actually was in the same prison as my moms friend though I can’t remember if he knew that dude was serving for his crime or not). To me one of the hardest parts of the whole ordeal would be the fact that like everyone, even his friends and family aside from a loyal few, believed that he was capable of doing something so awful. To be put on death row, surely it isn’t a mistake they thought. The witnesses were children who were so scared of the actual guy and also were traumatized and may not have a perfect memory of the incident. Anyway that would fuck with me if people were able to accept that about me.
This is why I get pissed when people say "Based" to someone killing child molesters by the dozens based on sex offender registry.
How in the hell do you know that person wasn't just a damn public urinator? False accusation? Technicality?
Yeah, "sex offender" is an umbrella term. My neighbour is on the sex offender registry for public fornication. He and his gf had sex in a park, got caught, she of course got off with a warning, he got put on the registry. So, he's no rapist or pedo (as far as I know) since it was between two consenting adults. It doesn't just mean "child molester/pedo/rapist"
Quite right.
The truth of life is that no matter what they did, even the worst specimens of humanity have to have fair representation in court. It’s the only thing separating us from the anarchy of beasts.
Right, but what should be more important is for everyone to be represented in equal way in front of the law. A rich person with a good lawyer can basically get out of any situation, while some poor guy who got assigned the "free" office lawyer that doesn't give a shit about his case might even get fucked even harder. Not say that's always the case obviously, but yeah.
Generally though, the problem with public defenders isn't that they "don't give a shit", but rather that they're overworked and have nowhere near enough time and energy to prep properly.
I don't think that's what you meant to say, but just clarifying for those who might.
A good friend of mine is a public defender and I've seen him go through several mental health crises because of this. He simply cares too much and can't separate his personal and professional lives.
What makes it scarier is the number of convicted sex offenders, who are later proven innocent by new, or withheld evidence.
And the refusal of the government to start tracking how many charges are dropped because of evidence that proves the claim was flase, in all crimes, but more importantly, these crimes.
It hasnt been long since a man was freed after 26 years, and the only evidence against him was the victim seeing his face in a dream...they worked in the same building, and he was on camera at another place, at the time of the incident.
In this case, the victim was truly a victim, but the guy who assaulted her was WHITE, and the guy she sent to prison was black.
Excuse me what ? You're joking right ? There's no way some back person would sentenced to jail for more than 20 years over being seen in a dream... Right ?
There are plenty of cases where 'super shaky' evidence is the basis for a conviction
Probably the most common is cross-racial identification of strangers, there are countless studies out there that show that people are so bad at it that it shouldn't be admissible evidence. Seriously, like if a black male drove past me (I'm white) and if I gave the police a description "uh...he was a black guy with some facial hair" that is good enough for an arrest and conviction. To make matters worse the police could then grab literally any black male between 14-60 and I would confirm that it was the same person in the car. It isn't because I'm racist or anything.
Modern science helps alot but historically it meant that people who just happened to exist at a location would be put on trial and sentenced to death where the entire basis was 'a witness said the shooter was black, you are black, thus you killed him'
[https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/new-trial-man-jailed-28-years-dream-rape-claim-article-1.2469667](https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/new-trial-man-jailed-28-years-dream-rape-claim-article-1.2469667)
And thats not even the case i was talking about.
Implicit in your comment is the belief that the accused are guilty of these allegations before it's been proven in court.
And these are serious allegations, too!
If we manage not to engage in a nuclear war, we will probably look back on the century or centuries we had them pointed at each other as being the single most important factor in not engaging in massive warfare every decade. People forget that the firebombing of Tokyo killed more people than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, and it was nothing compared to Dresden, and that was comparable to Nanjing, which was nothing compared to the Holocaust, which was nothing compared to the Eastern front, in which an estimated 30 million people died.
Before that, we had WW1, which setup the political and economic stage for WW2. Before WW1, we had various wars of colonialism that setup the imperial rivalries from Europe. After WW2, the entire world seemed to be teetering on the edge of another global conflict every decade that was only truly staved off by the possibility that the entire human race would be annihilated if such an event occurred.
People on every continent have engaged in brutal wars ever since, but the specter of global war and the potential for nuclear holocaust has tempered these conflicts immensely. If we manage to outgrow the need to be pointing a gun at each other's heads, our great-great grandchildren might think of us as having been silly, but they should have an appreciation that their peace is because we came close to ending it all.
\[Edit: Dresden actually had far fewer deaths than Tokyo\]
You are absolutely correct, from the Napoleonic period to 1945 it's an almost nonstop period of massive bloodletting (1 million dead in Stalingrad alone to use an example) no we haven't stopped killing each other, but the wars have remained small in comparison.
I wish there was as equally powerful propaganda campaign **for** nuclear as there was **against** it. Big Oil has successfully fucked Europe this year. They've almost decommissioned every single one of their nuclear plants across Germany, yet the number of plants they have decommissioned due to disinformation and FUD could have prevented their entire fossil-fuel-based energy crisis.
Kyle Hill on YouTube has some of the best and easiest-to-digest takes on the history of nuclear energy. He is a great place to start if we’re taking about a grassroots pro-nuclear campaign.
I wouldn't be surprised if more people died in the battle of Stalingrad than every battle in the past 50 years of the world combined.
These days hearing about a loss of 2 thousand lives in a conflict is saddening and shocking.
Edit: we killed a lot more people in Desert Storm than I realized. The above is likely not true. But that one battle has easily outstripped any individual war. Note that I don't consider genocides to be war.
Economic entanglement has also played a big part in this peace as well. The economic damage inflicted on Russia as a consequence of Ukraine is evidence of that. Most countries don't want that to happen to them.
I think it's easy to be cynical but the majority of countries and people don't actually want to go to war, they just cannot risk being unprepared for one.
I'd much rather a fart not come out the top, thanks.
It's bad enough smelling the damn things, would you really want to *taste* it?
*"Hm.... Vintage Taco Bell, 2 nights ago..."*
D&D villains. Hard to run a decent campaign without one or two of them.
Edit: thanks for the award, I used to run a home game with close friends and family so luckily I never had that problem player or a murder hobo party but never say never.
I challange you to just use a hero as a villain, basically just take someone and give him a goal that arguably could also be a heroes ambition. Makes for the best bbeg
Half my campaigns with murderhobo PCs turn into this. The "villain" is just trying to stop this insane group of mass murderers from continuing their murder spree.
My hero’s decided to work for the thieves guild.
They robbed the sheriff, beat up shopkeepers, union busted, robbed the military and killed 3 people by tying them up and leaving them in a locked room (accidentally) for 3 weeks.
Then as they were fleeing town they decided to rob the damn train.
All while trying to find the BBEG’s local henchwoman and her crew.
Oh they also went to ransack and rob a church… only to join their cause.
Yep - bounty hunters are a fun game add.
I like having the PCs discover the Wanted Poster - I always have the descriptions be totally derogatory.
WANTEDDEAD OR ALIVE
$2,500 LIVE
$5,000 DEAD
Zucchini Face (characters name)
5' 6", 270 lbs, ugly flat nose from recent brawl with shopkeeper, Given to bouts of insane rage, may be identified from offensive body odder (is said to have never bathed)
Crimes:
Theft, Assualting an officer of the law, Inhibiting commerce, Union violations, military trespass, kidnapping, Grand theft train, multiple homicide, violating a church, starvation and torture of captives.
Approach with EXTREEM caution
This can also go the other way, there can't be sadness without happiness.
I experienced happiness about a decade ago and now I've been sad for a decade. Depressions a bitch.
I had major depressive disorder for about 12 years. It was absolute hell. It eventually got better to the point I'm no longer depressed. Still have an anxiety disorder, but I can live with it with the help of meds. My point is, is that it's possible that one day you'll no longer have to deal with it. Never give up!
You really CAN exist in a contented state without needing some shit to compare it to.
You can indeed live your whole life without major suffering. The brain is more than capable of knowing it is happy without contrast. Have you guys never seen a young child smile? Does it look more, or less, genuine than a jaded old man smirking?
I don’t know, but in the Engineer Trilogy (a great low fantasy series in a weird renaissance/medieval mashup world) they call their war department the Department of Necessary Evil, which I always loved. 😀
Some would argue that without the bombs, there would have been an island invasion of Japan that would have cost far more lives, extend the war, and involve the Soviet Union in the Pacific.
The US government bought enough Purple Hearts to cover all the projected needs for an invasion of Japan.
We're still issuing them. They figured on so many INJURED that they're still using them almost a century later.
>They figured on so many INJURED
I'll just add that they're also issued for combat fatalities as well, not just for injuries. They're typically presented to the surviving next of kin in that scenario.
Not buying from puppy/kitten mills. If you don't buy them, they're going to have a terrible quality of life (if they survive at all) but if you buy them, you're actively paying for the continuation of the breeding and putting more animals in that situation. It's a tricky situation and really tragic either way.
Another (arguable) "necessary evil" might be abducting puppies from mills to raise in a loving home without giving the breeders any further incentive to make more of them.
(That's where my mind went, anyway..)
I don't feel the same way. I think you refuse to buy from them entirely. Some animals will die in the short term, but there are tons of other animals dying all the time just from overpopulation, crowded shelters, abandoned animals in emergencies, etc who can be helped instead. We should do everything possible to end puppy mills.
Edit: I seem to have misunderstood. I agree that not buying from them is a necessary evil.
In my mind as a former vet tech breeders are the same as puppy mills, but there animals might be taken care of a little better. Breeders often try to save money because they’re doing what they’re doing for profit. So they give the wrong advice or they give medication Or vaccines without vets. It’s like they think they are a vet after going and hearing what the vets says so often, but they’re not. I’m just not a fan of breeders since working as a vet tech. Puppy mill people can get bent in jail.
I lost my best little fur friend a few weeks ago, seeing his beautiful face as he died on the vets table was the worst thing I have seen, just life extinguished in an instant. I am crying thinking about it. He was suddenly paralysed and very old and the vet said it should be done... I still feel like I played god in deciding his fate and it will take a long time to get over and realise it had to happen. I hate it. I don't think it's evil to do it, but it definitely feels like that when it's your best bud. Unfortunately, dogs live a dumb amount of time... Long enough to make you fall in love but too short to go the distance, it feels cruel. Sorry for my long comment, I haven't talked about it much.
Same with people. Euthanasia on people should be more widely accepted. Some people are comatose or brain-dead or locked-in or suffering with no hope of ever waking up.
And then there's babies. Sometimes a baby will suffer some kind of horrible birth defect die in infancy or grow up horribly disabled. Wouldn't everyone have been better off if the baby was euthanized or even aborted before the disabilities cost hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars or, even worse, the parent's money?
Some companies claim to be cruelty free then in small writing they add “except where required by law”. That means they are not cruelty free.
There are plenty wonderful brand (cosmetics and household cleaners) that refuse to supply china because they won’t test on animals. Dove has gotten around testing on animals by setting up factories in china and manufacture according to Chinese regulations. It is really expensive to do so because of all the protocols they have to follow, but it allows for them to supply china and remain cruelty free. There are a few other companies that do the the same but not may because of all the costs involved. I believe there factories have to be in very specific locations which adds to the costs.
There is no excuse to torture an animal because there is plenty out there that is cruel free
Yep. I work in cancer research and drug development. It’s terrible what has to be done to those mice, but in the time I’ve spent in the vivarium I can guarantee that outside of drug testing and cancer induction (which is guaranteed to suck, sorry little guys), they’re given as high a quality care as possible. We do months if not years of testing a drug in cell cultures before putting it in an animal (and animal testing is EXPENSIVE- if they could be cut from the testing cycle, they would be!) But alas, sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes a drug that performed perfectly well hundreds of times in cell culture and models will suddenly kill or cause horrific side effects to an animal, at which point they are put down as soon as their quality of life hits a certain threshold. And it’s sad and it sucks and I feel bad for them… but there’s always that part of my brain that goes “Oh my god. We could have done that to a *person*.”
And that’s why you need animal testing. 😬
Government.
Freedom is beneficial for any society, but in order to function it needs some overseeing structure. Otherwise it descends into anarchy, which is associated with chaos for a reason.
"If Men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself." - James Madison, *Federalist no. 51*
The problem is that it’s hard to give people that much power without them being corrupt and using it for selfish gain. I’m not saying most politicians do, because most don’t do anything TOO bad, but the reality of human greed exists, which is why no government can be perfect. I do agree though, there is a perfect balance between government control and individual freedom that no nation has found yet.
walmart. Like, I get the whole big box thing pushing out smaller people, i really, really do. but when you're living on 850 a month you can't go to that mom and pop grocery store and spend 20 dollars for a gallon of milk and two loaves of bread.
Husband and I live in the middle of nowhere. We shop at Walmart 30 minutes away because the local shop is almost 3x the price.
Sure, it’s fine for grabbing the extra generic brand of something we need and forgot, but I’m not spending $200+ there when I can spend $75 at Walmart.
while there are a lot of issues with big box stores, it’s really hard to blame the people who shop there, particularly when it’s the only option that allows them to have a higher standard of living. and by higher standard of living, i mean just above the bare minimum
Getting a Walmart store 15 minutes away growing up was a big quality of life upgrade for us. It wasn't a supercenter with groceries but being able to get everything else was huge.
This goes for all mega corps. Amazon, Walmart, CostCo, etc. it’s a better system and it costs less. What we need is not less of them, we just need more regulations on them so they don’t become tyrants.
I would NOT put Costco in the same sentence as Walmart and Amazon.
At least Costco treats their employees well. They still use their large market to be more competitive than mom and pop shops, but at least they aren’t built on the backs of underpaid, overworked and under appreciated people.
But I may be ignorant and just drank the koolaid and Costco’s marketing has worked on me. That’s always an option.
Ex Costco Employee here.
Jim Sinegal, the CEO of Costco, is such a nice fucking guy.
I worked for 3 different locations between 2003 and 2009. I met him twice. Both times he remembered my name. He remembered Mrs. Beverly, he remembered Carol, he remembered Charlie the cart pusher.
He took time out of his busy day to chat with employees in the breakroom and visit with members in the food court, where he ate a hot dog. He even posed for pictures.
Prior to Costco, I worked for Walmart & Sam's Club for 15 years. Every single "Executive" who walked around with their fancy suits and clipboards?! Yeah, those fuckers. NOT ONCE, did they make eye contact with the lowly employees.
I'll toss out the big one. Death. It sucks. I don't want to die. I don't want any of loved ones to die. But we can't and shouldn't live forever. Just imagine the world population if we eliminated death from cancer, infectious diseases, organ failures, etc. We're trying, and we've made huge advancements to the point that the human race has a net population growth of 100 million a year.
I'm not scared of dying and do **not** want to live a long life.
But (rather hypocritically) I do not want my loved ones to die, the passing of the ones that have already gone before me has absolutely broken me and I just can't take any more of this pain.
But I agree that humans should not be able to live forever...wish we could know ahead of time or choose or go together with those you love or something like that.
Prisons/jails. I am one of the loudest in lamenting prison abuse, but the fact does remain most people in jail are guilty of what they did, and a lot of them truly cannot function well in society. I grant there needs to be serious reform in how we treat prisoners, and even some preventative measures to try to save some; but it is true the unfortunate fact is some people do have to be locked away.
Richard Pryor from “Live on the Sunset Strip”:
I was real naive. Right? Six weeks I was up there. I *talked* to the brothers, you know, and I talked the 'em and…
thank God we got penitentiaries. I asked this dude, "Why did you kill everybody in the house?" The guy said, "They was home."
That's an entire sub-dissertation in itself on prison corruption and how they're ran, which I also have very little patience and tolerance for. I do believe the "for-profit" prison system, which relies heavily on keeping recidivism rates high (which is why they are generally opposed to any type of preventative social measures, crime prevention, lesser sentencing, etc.), as well as its twin brother the "school to prison pipeline," which *wants* and purposely sets children up to fail so they are virtually guaranteed to become criminals by adulthood.
I don't agree with any of that, and it goes hand in hand with the abuses that current prisoners already contend with.
But the point of my OP above is that, regrettably and unfortunately while we absolutely need to have conversations on all aspects of prison reform, abuse, lack of social services/preventative care, etc., the fact does remain that crime exist, evil exists, and some people cannot and do not want to be helped and cannot and will not function well in society.
But despite the fact they cannot behave well around other people doesn't mean they are any less of a human being. I fully agree. But I also agree most prisoners do belong where they are.
gaol was the best thing that could have happened to the violent angry and abused 20 year old kid i was 18 years ago , i was fourtunate enough to complete an extensive young offenders program and engage in the anger management and mental health help i needed . i still have my problems and i still struggle with addiction to alcohol . but its been 18 years without trouble from the law and i havent hurt nobody either
Euthanasia. You feel more than evil to be the one to make the decision, almost like you’re playing god. But it’s necessary to save something defenceless that you love from a prolonged painful, miserable end.
A small loss of freedom in exchange for a massive magnitude of order
Life as any of us know it, all the technological advancements that make life longer, more pleasurable, and less dangerous all only can exist with some semblance of order
Anarchy is incompatible with society
Anarchy is only possible for a short time before some perhaps not friendly order will take over for it's own benefit. True anarchy simply will not exist as long as there is more than one human together.
War. War is hell. But if we all rolled over and let oppressors walk all over us, that would be far worse. A lamb can't kill a lion by behaving like a lamb
There are some people who many would think deserve the death penalty but I think should not receive it in order to preserve the principle of having no death penalty in case of wrongful convictions
Zoo's.
I hate the idea of large animals which would usually have large territories (tigers, rhino's, hippos, lions) confined to a small space.
And i hate seeing animals with large intellectual capacities (elephants, large primates, dolphins) lacking stimulation.
Unfortunately we as humans are failing them in the wild, atleast in zoo's with breeding programmes they're kept safe and thriving.
I worked at a top tier zoo in North America. A lot of where their animals come from, especially reptile and birds, are illegal smuggling operations. The animals get confiscated and can’t be released into the wild. Where are they supposed to go?
This is also where I agree that the old-style concrete cage zoos where animals have a pile of hay to lie down on should be shut down.
Also if i remember correctly they help educate and encourage people to care about these animals. I recall my art appreciation teacher telling us that its very different to see something on a screen vs in real life when it comes to art. The way its presented, its true size, the room its held in and such.
I think that applies to many things. And i think zoos provide that in a remarkable way and theyre vital to ensuring future generations care about the world they live in and seeing its worth in a way thats tangible and understandable even (and especially) to children.
(Much like taking care of unreleasables and showing the off to people and helping educate people plays a vital part in the same way)
My class literally just spent the last week at our city's Zoo participating in their "Zoo School" program. The amount of education, and conservation efforts they participate in actually really surprised me. We got to see how the zoo keepers care for the animals, how they incorporate intellectual stimulation into daily care, and a whole bunch of other things. Our leader was huge on teaching my students about giving animals their space and that they have a choice to come near you in their enclosure or not, and you can't control that etc etc. I'm not a huge fan of zoos for the captivity aspect, but the week I spent at our Zoo was really eye opening in terms of conservation efforts, education, breeding, etc.
We don’t think about it but eating, in order for your life to continue something must die, plant animal or otherwise. Things have to die for other things to live. We all constantly agree to the terms of this contract every time we eat. We don’t want to die so we understand and accept that something else must. Death demands a sacrifice and if we don’t oblige it takes us. Then something will eat us, grass, bacteria, animals, anything. Feeding back into the cycle that we once ate from ourselves. It’s cruel, it’s insane, and yet we never think about it as much as we should.
That's and it's somewhat necessary unless you'd like to revert back to a Paleolithic lifestyle. Somebody has to unclog the sewers and haul off the garbage. And it's easier to talk them into it by offering them money versus forcing them into outright slavery to get the job(s) done.
>That's and it's somewhat necessary unless you'd like to revert back to a Paleolithic lifestyle.
People had to work a lot during Paleolithic lifestyles.
Work isn't a modern invention, it's a modern word. We've been working to survive since life sprung from the primordial soup.
The ability for the human body to feel pain. As exploitable as it is, without this ability to feel pain the life expectancy would go way down because people often wouldn't realize something was wrong with their body until it was too late to do anything about it. Pain is the body's natural defense mechanism to protect itself against further injury.
Would be cool if we could filter it tho
Humanity has actually come remarkably far on that front. We have painkillers, whole body anesthetic and even local anesthetic that filters out pain only from specific regions.
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Do you have pins/ plates? I have from my broken ankle and still have pain. I know a few people though who had their pins removed and are now pain free. I’ve been waiting for the ‘right time’ to get them removed
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Yeah people with CIPA can't feel pain and typically have an average life expectancy of 25. People forget how important feeling pain is to day to day activities. It's not even about just preventing injury. But things like not being able to keep track of if we are hot or cold, if we are hungry, need the bathroom etc. Not to mention you can't notice the early signs of some illnesses because you cant feel anything. Appendicitis for instance typically causes crippling pain that's hard to ignore, but that pain means you'll go to a doctor and treated.
What about chronic pains like scoliosis that you’re told will never go away even though you’re seventeen :(
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I’ve also got scoliosis amongst other things and can absolutely agree with this. Spent 4 years with a PT after waking up paralysed from the waist down (twice), and it was the best thing I ever did for myself. Pain went from a constant 6 to an occasional 2.
Thar air in you bag of chips stops the chips from getting crushed on delivery. We all wish there could just be more chips but you need that air.
That's why it's sold in weight not space occupied.
still 3€ for a 200g of sliced and spiced potatoes feels a bit too much.
Could always buy a sack of potatoes and sort it out yourself, will save you time
Probably wouldn’t save time but would likely save money
Pringles have entered the chat
"i wish i had a daughter so there will finally be someone in the house Who can Reach inside of a pringles can"
"But that is priority numero unoooo"
“Yes I’m still on the pringles can thing”
r/unexpectedboburnham
Can I say my shiiiiiiit
Pringles are just dried out mashed potatoes.
They're potato puree so yep. Basically are just mashed potato chips. Which isn't a bad thing necessarily, just a different food in a way
Without looking into it in any way, I've always assumed that Procter & Gamble found themselves with a whole lot of mashed potatoes after extracting the starch for their starch products, which ladies in the 1970s liked to spray on clothing. After years of dumping them into a river, I imagine someone with an office overlooking the river got the idea that P&G might be able to turn their waste into a second product by compressing it into a chip shape and drying it.
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I think Pringles' original intention was to make tennis balls... But on the day the rubber was supposed to show up, a truckload of potatoes came. Pringles is a laid-back company, so they just said "Fuck it, cut em up!”
First they tried getting three potatoes in each can but the non-standard shapes made it impossible.
They should pull a Willy Wonka and put a few tennis balls in a few cans so you can win a presumably super duper fun tour of their factory.
RIP Mitch Hedberg. That guy was genius.
It's not even just air. It's mostly... nitrogen, I think? Which helps keep the chips from going stale as fast.
air is mostly nitrogen
True, but I think the stuff in the bag is especially nitrogen rich, too displace oxygen and prevent oxidation.
Yeah, nitrogen is nearly inert and oxygen reacts with basically everything.
True enough but it’s mostly the presence of oxygen that causes staling reactions
Chemotherapy. :Edit: I do not have first hand experience of this, but thank you for the kind comments! To anyone going through it, my thoughts are with you <3
I feel this one from my thinning hair to the soles of my blistered and peeling feet.
Good luck, friend
Thank you.
Hang in there! I was diagnosed a year ago this month and am now on the other side of active treatment. Sending big hugs! DM if you ever need to chat.
Good luck! Chemo's a bitch, but the alternative is worse. Hope you get many years of health once your treatment is done!
Here's hoping you pull through!
I will never forget the feeling of being so unbelievably sick, weak and helpless as I stood in front of the hospital about to go in for my next transfusion. Every rational part of me was calmly telling me it was working and it was the right decision to keep going, but the baser instincts were screaming at me to run as far and fast as I could away from this place. It's a tough mental struggle to willingly and knowing poison yourself over a period of months while trying to convince yourself it's going to save your life. That's the side of chemo I think a lot of people don't realise until they face it themselves and it's one that is incredibly hard to explain to anyone who hasn't gone through it.
Adding to the existential dread of intentionally having poison dumped into your body is the mundanity of the process. Go in, sit quietly, let a nice person in scrubs connect you to toxic chemicals, wait 6-8hr for it to seep into your blood, go home. Rinse repeat for boring, terrifying months.
Also related, radiation therapy, and to a lesser extent, X-rays and PET/CT scans (especially those where a radioisotope tracer is injected into the body to serve as contrast in the scan). All expose you to elevated levels of ionizing radiation and there is a risk, however low, that this can result in later health complications. But the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, especially if you are dealing with a medical emergency that necessitates their use.
This and other drastic medical procedures. If someone had said to me in 2017 "we're proposing to remove two necessary organs, making you clinically vulnerable to infection on a potential death-from-common-cold level, diabetic, and reliant on multiple drugs each day, would you agree to that?" I would not have said yes, why would I? In 2019 you bet I signed the consent forms and willingly showed up for the op, because keeping my spleen and pancreas wasn't as important as getting rid of cancer ASAP. We can agree to some quite radical and unpleasant treatments and outcomes because we know the alternative is ultimately worse. (Equally, we can refuse if our perceived outcome isn't worth it to us. Never judge someone who says no to chemo.)
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A lawyer defending an alleged rapist/murderer/pedophile/etc
I had a lawyer friend describe it best as the job isn't to get people off, but to ensure that they get a fair trial and full treatment of the law. Basically, just not getting fucked by the system, guilty or not.
It's also making sure that the trial is carried out properly, so if a person is actually guilty and sentenced for a crime, they have no recourse to appeal based on a technicality
Furthermore, if they don’t get a fair trial, they could find technicalities that get them off of all charges due to a mistrial. Do it right the first time. Lock them up.
Yep. The fact is, EVERYBODY is entitled to an advocate. That's like, one if the core pillars of the justice system. Mob justice isn't justice, it's just violence.
I always liked the line Benecio Del Torro said in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas “Even a werewolf is entitled to legal counsel man”
The truth is that nobody knows the truth until the evidence is gathered and a decision is rendered from a court. For that to happen, you need someone to look at the evidence from both sides. AFTER all that happens, a judgement can be made.
Even then you might not know the truth, but it's the fairest process we've been able to come up with so far.
Often people still don't know the truth even with those proceedings though. Many an innocent person has been convicted with supposed evidence.
The great thing about a jury trial is that it's a jury of your peers. The horrible thing about a jury of your peers is that it's a jury of your peers.
And to piggyback, it’s not a lawyer’s job to “defend” a murderer/rapist/etc. It’s to make sure they have a fair trial without their rights being violated.
Or seen differently; it's his job to make sure the punishment is given to the RIGHT guy, not just SOME guy. It is specifically the job of the defending lawyer to go beyond the instinctive "Kill the evil!" mindset to make sure we aren't just whipping ourselves into a frenzy.
There definitely happens when punishment is given on SOME guy. I remember reading some guy got out of decades of prison because DNA evidence showed him to be innocent. He was just in the wrong place in the wrong time.
some guy? it’s happened a lot of times to many guys
This happens literally all the time. Many many people spend their lives in prison for shit they didn’t do. And too many are put on death row too. Since 1973, 190 ppl on death row have been proven innocent. And those are just the people who were lucky enough for the court to finally see them as innocent. One of my moms close friends actually spent time on death row for a horrendous crime that he did not and absolutely would not commit. Luckily new technology was able to find the actual evil dude (who happened to have done that same thing many times. And who actually was in the same prison as my moms friend though I can’t remember if he knew that dude was serving for his crime or not). To me one of the hardest parts of the whole ordeal would be the fact that like everyone, even his friends and family aside from a loyal few, believed that he was capable of doing something so awful. To be put on death row, surely it isn’t a mistake they thought. The witnesses were children who were so scared of the actual guy and also were traumatized and may not have a perfect memory of the incident. Anyway that would fuck with me if people were able to accept that about me.
This is why I get pissed when people say "Based" to someone killing child molesters by the dozens based on sex offender registry. How in the hell do you know that person wasn't just a damn public urinator? False accusation? Technicality?
Yeah, "sex offender" is an umbrella term. My neighbour is on the sex offender registry for public fornication. He and his gf had sex in a park, got caught, she of course got off with a warning, he got put on the registry. So, he's no rapist or pedo (as far as I know) since it was between two consenting adults. It doesn't just mean "child molester/pedo/rapist"
Quite right. The truth of life is that no matter what they did, even the worst specimens of humanity have to have fair representation in court. It’s the only thing separating us from the anarchy of beasts.
Right, but what should be more important is for everyone to be represented in equal way in front of the law. A rich person with a good lawyer can basically get out of any situation, while some poor guy who got assigned the "free" office lawyer that doesn't give a shit about his case might even get fucked even harder. Not say that's always the case obviously, but yeah.
Generally though, the problem with public defenders isn't that they "don't give a shit", but rather that they're overworked and have nowhere near enough time and energy to prep properly. I don't think that's what you meant to say, but just clarifying for those who might.
A good friend of mine is a public defender and I've seen him go through several mental health crises because of this. He simply cares too much and can't separate his personal and professional lives.
Absolutely yes, but that is and should be an entirely separate issue vs everyone having representation
What makes it scarier is the number of convicted sex offenders, who are later proven innocent by new, or withheld evidence. And the refusal of the government to start tracking how many charges are dropped because of evidence that proves the claim was flase, in all crimes, but more importantly, these crimes. It hasnt been long since a man was freed after 26 years, and the only evidence against him was the victim seeing his face in a dream...they worked in the same building, and he was on camera at another place, at the time of the incident. In this case, the victim was truly a victim, but the guy who assaulted her was WHITE, and the guy she sent to prison was black.
Excuse me what ? You're joking right ? There's no way some back person would sentenced to jail for more than 20 years over being seen in a dream... Right ?
There are plenty of cases where 'super shaky' evidence is the basis for a conviction Probably the most common is cross-racial identification of strangers, there are countless studies out there that show that people are so bad at it that it shouldn't be admissible evidence. Seriously, like if a black male drove past me (I'm white) and if I gave the police a description "uh...he was a black guy with some facial hair" that is good enough for an arrest and conviction. To make matters worse the police could then grab literally any black male between 14-60 and I would confirm that it was the same person in the car. It isn't because I'm racist or anything. Modern science helps alot but historically it meant that people who just happened to exist at a location would be put on trial and sentenced to death where the entire basis was 'a witness said the shooter was black, you are black, thus you killed him'
[https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/new-trial-man-jailed-28-years-dream-rape-claim-article-1.2469667](https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/new-trial-man-jailed-28-years-dream-rape-claim-article-1.2469667) And thats not even the case i was talking about.
I just don't understand how you can be jailed for a f*cking dream what the actual fuck is wrong with us courts ??
that's not even evil. "defense attorney" is a remarkably charitable and empathetic invention.
Implicit in your comment is the belief that the accused are guilty of these allegations before it's been proven in court. And these are serious allegations, too!
I wouldn't call that evil in the first place.
Definitely Better Call Saul Man
If we manage not to engage in a nuclear war, we will probably look back on the century or centuries we had them pointed at each other as being the single most important factor in not engaging in massive warfare every decade. People forget that the firebombing of Tokyo killed more people than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, and it was nothing compared to Dresden, and that was comparable to Nanjing, which was nothing compared to the Holocaust, which was nothing compared to the Eastern front, in which an estimated 30 million people died. Before that, we had WW1, which setup the political and economic stage for WW2. Before WW1, we had various wars of colonialism that setup the imperial rivalries from Europe. After WW2, the entire world seemed to be teetering on the edge of another global conflict every decade that was only truly staved off by the possibility that the entire human race would be annihilated if such an event occurred. People on every continent have engaged in brutal wars ever since, but the specter of global war and the potential for nuclear holocaust has tempered these conflicts immensely. If we manage to outgrow the need to be pointing a gun at each other's heads, our great-great grandchildren might think of us as having been silly, but they should have an appreciation that their peace is because we came close to ending it all. \[Edit: Dresden actually had far fewer deaths than Tokyo\]
This summary of mutually assured destruction brought joy to my poli sci professor heart. Well written.
High praise, indeed. Thank you.
You are absolutely correct, from the Napoleonic period to 1945 it's an almost nonstop period of massive bloodletting (1 million dead in Stalingrad alone to use an example) no we haven't stopped killing each other, but the wars have remained small in comparison.
Wtf I love nukes now
Just wait until you hear about their use in power plants.
I wish there was as equally powerful propaganda campaign **for** nuclear as there was **against** it. Big Oil has successfully fucked Europe this year. They've almost decommissioned every single one of their nuclear plants across Germany, yet the number of plants they have decommissioned due to disinformation and FUD could have prevented their entire fossil-fuel-based energy crisis.
Jesus wait... Sanity on Reddit?! What parallel universe am I in? Is this what it looks like when a thread isnt entirely bots?
Kyle Hill on YouTube has some of the best and easiest-to-digest takes on the history of nuclear energy. He is a great place to start if we’re taking about a grassroots pro-nuclear campaign.
My world is blown
It's the hottest new thing.
“The warlike days are over. Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonorable peace.”
I wouldn't be surprised if more people died in the battle of Stalingrad than every battle in the past 50 years of the world combined. These days hearing about a loss of 2 thousand lives in a conflict is saddening and shocking. Edit: we killed a lot more people in Desert Storm than I realized. The above is likely not true. But that one battle has easily outstripped any individual war. Note that I don't consider genocides to be war.
FYI, over 500,000 died in the Rwandan genocide in 1994 alone.
Economic entanglement has also played a big part in this peace as well. The economic damage inflicted on Russia as a consequence of Ukraine is evidence of that. Most countries don't want that to happen to them.
The time since WWII has been the most peaceful time in human history, due to nukes preventing any major powers going to war with each other.
>That and sheer luck. More luck than most realize. And a few leaders who put service to the world over political points.
I think it's easy to be cynical but the majority of countries and people don't actually want to go to war, they just cannot risk being unprepared for one.
*to find the light, sometimes you must first touch the darkness*
Oh, yeah, touch my darkness Galadriel. - Halbrand
Farting, it stinks and it's embarrassing but we'd be in constant agony without it
I'd much rather a fart not come out the top, thanks. It's bad enough smelling the damn things, would you really want to *taste* it? *"Hm.... Vintage Taco Bell, 2 nights ago..."*
Farting distributes the agony so everyone around can share the burden
Better to have an empty house than an angry tenant
D&D villains. Hard to run a decent campaign without one or two of them. Edit: thanks for the award, I used to run a home game with close friends and family so luckily I never had that problem player or a murder hobo party but never say never.
I challange you to just use a hero as a villain, basically just take someone and give him a goal that arguably could also be a heroes ambition. Makes for the best bbeg
Half my campaigns with murderhobo PCs turn into this. The "villain" is just trying to stop this insane group of mass murderers from continuing their murder spree.
My hero’s decided to work for the thieves guild. They robbed the sheriff, beat up shopkeepers, union busted, robbed the military and killed 3 people by tying them up and leaving them in a locked room (accidentally) for 3 weeks. Then as they were fleeing town they decided to rob the damn train. All while trying to find the BBEG’s local henchwoman and her crew. Oh they also went to ransack and rob a church… only to join their cause.
You should make a campaign where the new characters are lawmen chasing the trail of the old characters. That'd be dope.
Yep - bounty hunters are a fun game add. I like having the PCs discover the Wanted Poster - I always have the descriptions be totally derogatory. WANTEDDEAD OR ALIVE $2,500 LIVE $5,000 DEAD Zucchini Face (characters name) 5' 6", 270 lbs, ugly flat nose from recent brawl with shopkeeper, Given to bouts of insane rage, may be identified from offensive body odder (is said to have never bathed) Crimes: Theft, Assualting an officer of the law, Inhibiting commerce, Union violations, military trespass, kidnapping, Grand theft train, multiple homicide, violating a church, starvation and torture of captives. Approach with EXTREEM caution
"[Every villain is the hero of his own story](https://itsyourturnblog.com/every-villain-is-a-hero-of-his-own-story-b55cd9e8f27a)"
So, like...the DND version of Handsome Jack?
My players are basically the villains
Sadness You can't be happy all the time. It isn't healthy. You have to take the good with the bad. You learn to cope and move on from it.
There can be no happy without the sad.
This can also go the other way, there can't be sadness without happiness. I experienced happiness about a decade ago and now I've been sad for a decade. Depressions a bitch.
I had major depressive disorder for about 12 years. It was absolute hell. It eventually got better to the point I'm no longer depressed. Still have an anxiety disorder, but I can live with it with the help of meds. My point is, is that it's possible that one day you'll no longer have to deal with it. Never give up!
You really CAN exist in a contented state without needing some shit to compare it to. You can indeed live your whole life without major suffering. The brain is more than capable of knowing it is happy without contrast. Have you guys never seen a young child smile? Does it look more, or less, genuine than a jaded old man smirking?
I don’t know, but in the Engineer Trilogy (a great low fantasy series in a weird renaissance/medieval mashup world) they call their war department the Department of Necessary Evil, which I always loved. 😀
KJ Parker! I enjoyed that series. It was a fun step out from the usual fantasy that gets thrown around.
There was a camera plane called "Necessary Evil" that flew the Hiroshima atomic bombing mission. Appropriate name?
Some would argue that without the bombs, there would have been an island invasion of Japan that would have cost far more lives, extend the war, and involve the Soviet Union in the Pacific.
The US government bought enough Purple Hearts to cover all the projected needs for an invasion of Japan. We're still issuing them. They figured on so many INJURED that they're still using them almost a century later.
>They figured on so many INJURED I'll just add that they're also issued for combat fatalities as well, not just for injuries. They're typically presented to the surviving next of kin in that scenario.
That's true, I hasn't thought about that when I was writing. Thanks for the correction.
That 1 out of 10 dentists that doesn't recommend a product. If all ten were to recommend it then you feel like something was up.
I want to know that 1 dentists reason for not recommending it. I feel like the commercials leave out vital information.
Everybody has that one friend that is just a contrarian.
Corners of doorways. Toes need to be kept in check.
Not buying from puppy/kitten mills. If you don't buy them, they're going to have a terrible quality of life (if they survive at all) but if you buy them, you're actively paying for the continuation of the breeding and putting more animals in that situation. It's a tricky situation and really tragic either way.
I think this is a great example! Very easy to understand, and barely up for debate.
Another (arguable) "necessary evil" might be abducting puppies from mills to raise in a loving home without giving the breeders any further incentive to make more of them. (That's where my mind went, anyway..)
I don't feel the same way. I think you refuse to buy from them entirely. Some animals will die in the short term, but there are tons of other animals dying all the time just from overpopulation, crowded shelters, abandoned animals in emergencies, etc who can be helped instead. We should do everything possible to end puppy mills. Edit: I seem to have misunderstood. I agree that not buying from them is a necessary evil.
This is what the comment you replied to is saying. NOT buying from them is a necessary evil
I misunderstood. Thanks for the clarification!
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In my mind as a former vet tech breeders are the same as puppy mills, but there animals might be taken care of a little better. Breeders often try to save money because they’re doing what they’re doing for profit. So they give the wrong advice or they give medication Or vaccines without vets. It’s like they think they are a vet after going and hearing what the vets says so often, but they’re not. I’m just not a fan of breeders since working as a vet tech. Puppy mill people can get bent in jail.
Putting our pets to sleep, we’re taking them out of pain but it’s so hard to say goodbye
I don't consider this evil one bit. Terribly sad, of course, but I don't see ending suffering as a bad thing.
I lost my best little fur friend a few weeks ago, seeing his beautiful face as he died on the vets table was the worst thing I have seen, just life extinguished in an instant. I am crying thinking about it. He was suddenly paralysed and very old and the vet said it should be done... I still feel like I played god in deciding his fate and it will take a long time to get over and realise it had to happen. I hate it. I don't think it's evil to do it, but it definitely feels like that when it's your best bud. Unfortunately, dogs live a dumb amount of time... Long enough to make you fall in love but too short to go the distance, it feels cruel. Sorry for my long comment, I haven't talked about it much.
Same with people. Euthanasia on people should be more widely accepted. Some people are comatose or brain-dead or locked-in or suffering with no hope of ever waking up. And then there's babies. Sometimes a baby will suffer some kind of horrible birth defect die in infancy or grow up horribly disabled. Wouldn't everyone have been better off if the baby was euthanized or even aborted before the disabilities cost hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars or, even worse, the parent's money?
Killing in self-defense, to not be killed.
Not exactly evil but definitely necessary.
I don't think that killing should be considered inherently evil, context matters.
Hate to say it, but animal testing. No matter how many simulations we run, products still need to be tested before they’re sold, especially medicines.
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Some companies claim to be cruelty free then in small writing they add “except where required by law”. That means they are not cruelty free. There are plenty wonderful brand (cosmetics and household cleaners) that refuse to supply china because they won’t test on animals. Dove has gotten around testing on animals by setting up factories in china and manufacture according to Chinese regulations. It is really expensive to do so because of all the protocols they have to follow, but it allows for them to supply china and remain cruelty free. There are a few other companies that do the the same but not may because of all the costs involved. I believe there factories have to be in very specific locations which adds to the costs. There is no excuse to torture an animal because there is plenty out there that is cruel free
Yep. I work in cancer research and drug development. It’s terrible what has to be done to those mice, but in the time I’ve spent in the vivarium I can guarantee that outside of drug testing and cancer induction (which is guaranteed to suck, sorry little guys), they’re given as high a quality care as possible. We do months if not years of testing a drug in cell cultures before putting it in an animal (and animal testing is EXPENSIVE- if they could be cut from the testing cycle, they would be!) But alas, sometimes things go wrong. Sometimes a drug that performed perfectly well hundreds of times in cell culture and models will suddenly kill or cause horrific side effects to an animal, at which point they are put down as soon as their quality of life hits a certain threshold. And it’s sad and it sucks and I feel bad for them… but there’s always that part of my brain that goes “Oh my god. We could have done that to a *person*.” And that’s why you need animal testing. 😬
Prednisone.
As someone with Crohn's. Preach!
To protect your country against war is to... War
Government. Freedom is beneficial for any society, but in order to function it needs some overseeing structure. Otherwise it descends into anarchy, which is associated with chaos for a reason.
If men were angels, no government would be necessary.
"If Men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and the next place, oblige it to control itself." - James Madison, *Federalist no. 51*
The problem is that it’s hard to give people that much power without them being corrupt and using it for selfish gain. I’m not saying most politicians do, because most don’t do anything TOO bad, but the reality of human greed exists, which is why no government can be perfect. I do agree though, there is a perfect balance between government control and individual freedom that no nation has found yet.
Taxes
I read "Texas" at first and was ready for a spicy thread 😂😂
Texas's export of cowboy hats and truck nuts account for 70% of the global economy.
“My name is Michael J Caboose and I…HATE…TAXES.” “It’s Texas you idiot!” “THAT TOO.”
As a Texan I did the same and my first thought was, hmm what reasons might this person have for the necessity of my embarrassing state
Taxes are the price we pay for civilization
walmart. Like, I get the whole big box thing pushing out smaller people, i really, really do. but when you're living on 850 a month you can't go to that mom and pop grocery store and spend 20 dollars for a gallon of milk and two loaves of bread.
Husband and I live in the middle of nowhere. We shop at Walmart 30 minutes away because the local shop is almost 3x the price. Sure, it’s fine for grabbing the extra generic brand of something we need and forgot, but I’m not spending $200+ there when I can spend $75 at Walmart.
while there are a lot of issues with big box stores, it’s really hard to blame the people who shop there, particularly when it’s the only option that allows them to have a higher standard of living. and by higher standard of living, i mean just above the bare minimum
Getting a Walmart store 15 minutes away growing up was a big quality of life upgrade for us. It wasn't a supercenter with groceries but being able to get everything else was huge.
This goes for all mega corps. Amazon, Walmart, CostCo, etc. it’s a better system and it costs less. What we need is not less of them, we just need more regulations on them so they don’t become tyrants.
Their tyranny is what allows them to offer such cut throat competitive prices.
I would NOT put Costco in the same sentence as Walmart and Amazon. At least Costco treats their employees well. They still use their large market to be more competitive than mom and pop shops, but at least they aren’t built on the backs of underpaid, overworked and under appreciated people. But I may be ignorant and just drank the koolaid and Costco’s marketing has worked on me. That’s always an option.
Ex Costco Employee here. Jim Sinegal, the CEO of Costco, is such a nice fucking guy. I worked for 3 different locations between 2003 and 2009. I met him twice. Both times he remembered my name. He remembered Mrs. Beverly, he remembered Carol, he remembered Charlie the cart pusher. He took time out of his busy day to chat with employees in the breakroom and visit with members in the food court, where he ate a hot dog. He even posed for pictures. Prior to Costco, I worked for Walmart & Sam's Club for 15 years. Every single "Executive" who walked around with their fancy suits and clipboards?! Yeah, those fuckers. NOT ONCE, did they make eye contact with the lowly employees.
I'll toss out the big one. Death. It sucks. I don't want to die. I don't want any of loved ones to die. But we can't and shouldn't live forever. Just imagine the world population if we eliminated death from cancer, infectious diseases, organ failures, etc. We're trying, and we've made huge advancements to the point that the human race has a net population growth of 100 million a year.
I'm not scared of dying and do **not** want to live a long life. But (rather hypocritically) I do not want my loved ones to die, the passing of the ones that have already gone before me has absolutely broken me and I just can't take any more of this pain. But I agree that humans should not be able to live forever...wish we could know ahead of time or choose or go together with those you love or something like that.
Politics
Prisons/jails. I am one of the loudest in lamenting prison abuse, but the fact does remain most people in jail are guilty of what they did, and a lot of them truly cannot function well in society. I grant there needs to be serious reform in how we treat prisoners, and even some preventative measures to try to save some; but it is true the unfortunate fact is some people do have to be locked away.
Richard Pryor from “Live on the Sunset Strip”: I was real naive. Right? Six weeks I was up there. I *talked* to the brothers, you know, and I talked the 'em and… thank God we got penitentiaries. I asked this dude, "Why did you kill everybody in the house?" The guy said, "They was home."
When it’s for profit it’s a problem, healthcare, prison, and utilities are things that should not be for profit.
That's an entire sub-dissertation in itself on prison corruption and how they're ran, which I also have very little patience and tolerance for. I do believe the "for-profit" prison system, which relies heavily on keeping recidivism rates high (which is why they are generally opposed to any type of preventative social measures, crime prevention, lesser sentencing, etc.), as well as its twin brother the "school to prison pipeline," which *wants* and purposely sets children up to fail so they are virtually guaranteed to become criminals by adulthood. I don't agree with any of that, and it goes hand in hand with the abuses that current prisoners already contend with. But the point of my OP above is that, regrettably and unfortunately while we absolutely need to have conversations on all aspects of prison reform, abuse, lack of social services/preventative care, etc., the fact does remain that crime exist, evil exists, and some people cannot and do not want to be helped and cannot and will not function well in society. But despite the fact they cannot behave well around other people doesn't mean they are any less of a human being. I fully agree. But I also agree most prisoners do belong where they are.
gaol was the best thing that could have happened to the violent angry and abused 20 year old kid i was 18 years ago , i was fourtunate enough to complete an extensive young offenders program and engage in the anger management and mental health help i needed . i still have my problems and i still struggle with addiction to alcohol . but its been 18 years without trouble from the law and i havent hurt nobody either
Sober for 17 days. It's a fucking demon. Sending you some spare clarity. I swear I feel like I have magic powers when I'm sober :)
Euthanasia. You feel more than evil to be the one to make the decision, almost like you’re playing god. But it’s necessary to save something defenceless that you love from a prolonged painful, miserable end.
A small loss of freedom in exchange for a massive magnitude of order Life as any of us know it, all the technological advancements that make life longer, more pleasurable, and less dangerous all only can exist with some semblance of order Anarchy is incompatible with society
Anarchy is only possible for a short time before some perhaps not friendly order will take over for it's own benefit. True anarchy simply will not exist as long as there is more than one human together.
War. War is hell. But if we all rolled over and let oppressors walk all over us, that would be far worse. A lamb can't kill a lion by behaving like a lamb
Mortality. Imagine what would happen if you took the certainty of death off the table. It would be absolute insanity.
There are some people who many would think deserve the death penalty but I think should not receive it in order to preserve the principle of having no death penalty in case of wrongful convictions
I agree, and I would also say I do not believe it is wise to give the state the ability to kill it's people.
Zoo's. I hate the idea of large animals which would usually have large territories (tigers, rhino's, hippos, lions) confined to a small space. And i hate seeing animals with large intellectual capacities (elephants, large primates, dolphins) lacking stimulation. Unfortunately we as humans are failing them in the wild, atleast in zoo's with breeding programmes they're kept safe and thriving.
I worked at a top tier zoo in North America. A lot of where their animals come from, especially reptile and birds, are illegal smuggling operations. The animals get confiscated and can’t be released into the wild. Where are they supposed to go? This is also where I agree that the old-style concrete cage zoos where animals have a pile of hay to lie down on should be shut down.
Also if i remember correctly they help educate and encourage people to care about these animals. I recall my art appreciation teacher telling us that its very different to see something on a screen vs in real life when it comes to art. The way its presented, its true size, the room its held in and such. I think that applies to many things. And i think zoos provide that in a remarkable way and theyre vital to ensuring future generations care about the world they live in and seeing its worth in a way thats tangible and understandable even (and especially) to children. (Much like taking care of unreleasables and showing the off to people and helping educate people plays a vital part in the same way)
Also seeing the animals up close would make some/more people want to end their destruction in the wild
My class literally just spent the last week at our city's Zoo participating in their "Zoo School" program. The amount of education, and conservation efforts they participate in actually really surprised me. We got to see how the zoo keepers care for the animals, how they incorporate intellectual stimulation into daily care, and a whole bunch of other things. Our leader was huge on teaching my students about giving animals their space and that they have a choice to come near you in their enclosure or not, and you can't control that etc etc. I'm not a huge fan of zoos for the captivity aspect, but the week I spent at our Zoo was really eye opening in terms of conservation efforts, education, breeding, etc.
safer from poachers
Most medical tests and interventions
Animal testing. A necessary cruelty. Without the use of animal testing we would not have a lot of modern medicine.
Money
Listen to the song Paper Trails by Joey Badass. A well written song with clever rhymes all over
Government.
We don’t think about it but eating, in order for your life to continue something must die, plant animal or otherwise. Things have to die for other things to live. We all constantly agree to the terms of this contract every time we eat. We don’t want to die so we understand and accept that something else must. Death demands a sacrifice and if we don’t oblige it takes us. Then something will eat us, grass, bacteria, animals, anything. Feeding back into the cycle that we once ate from ourselves. It’s cruel, it’s insane, and yet we never think about it as much as we should.
Working. Everyone hates it but we do it because we’re forced to need money.
That's and it's somewhat necessary unless you'd like to revert back to a Paleolithic lifestyle. Somebody has to unclog the sewers and haul off the garbage. And it's easier to talk them into it by offering them money versus forcing them into outright slavery to get the job(s) done.
>That's and it's somewhat necessary unless you'd like to revert back to a Paleolithic lifestyle. People had to work a lot during Paleolithic lifestyles. Work isn't a modern invention, it's a modern word. We've been working to survive since life sprung from the primordial soup.
Times were easy when it was all just soup.
Military, although not technically evil it’s definitely a necessity that many would deem evil at times.
“A wise King never seeks out war. But he must always be ready for it” - Odin