I realize you had complex IRL situations surrounding all of this, but the fact that warlock was openly and rudely questioning your system rather than just rolling with it, would have been enough for me to question them privately about their manners and whether this was the right game for them. It is YOUR game after all and during session it’s very frustrating and disrespectful to the other players’ time to relentlessly belabor the point. I’m surprised you put up with it as long as you did despite attendance from Warlock.

Fair enough I see this conversation is centered around first impressions and dating, but in a more general context it worries me. I see polarization in general as a net harm, because it divides us as people. Creates isolated points of view, otherizing, makes more people comfortable with perpetrating violence against the other because they are ignoring the other’s humanity. I’m not equivocating, tolerance for intolerant opinions is not acceptable, but people can be ignorant for one reason or another, it doesn’t make them evil.

Maybe I’m just in an echo chamber here and that’s why my dissenting opinion is getting so much backlash, but I’ll always advocate for nuance. I’ve met many with rather differing opinions, opinions which I’m categorically opposed to, but further conversation has revealed these people to be good on the whole. And non-violent to boot. We grew and understood each other from a conversation. I see so much bandwagoning on the Internet and all I want is for people to think a little more deeply about it. I get very emotional seeing people go, “Yeah! Fuck them for having that thought!” Because it reflects back at me a fear of being misunderstood, but I choose to speak up in hopes that it will bring about a more rational conversation.

By all means if your gut tells you run, run. All I’m saying is that simply holding a single, opinion is not nearly enough information. What scares me to begin with is that ideas are so polarizing that it turns off our ability to think. Not everyone who holds an opinion is polarized though, some people may be on the fence and that may show in their attitude. A better metric for measuring someone’s moral compass would be how they treat waiters or waitresses or how they respond to animals.

And that’s jumping to conclusions, why would having an interest in a podcast automatically make one make you believe that the other thinks of you as lesser. Adults should have adult conversations with each other.

It’s an interesting study and I understand why people would feel that way, the only thing that rubs me the wrong way about these things is the human tendency to paint someone in a totally negative light once they see the “red flag.” I feel the comments are evidence to that fact. If you know someone who hold offensive opinions you should actually ask them why they hold that opinion. People are enormously complex and their personalities or even morals cannot be boiled down to a small handful of extremely polarizing opinions.

Unrelated question: is it pronounced go-DOT as in polkadot, or go-DOH, like the actress Gal Gadot?

I am not arguing in favor of pacifism. I fully recognize the need to defend against harmful ideologies that infect people’s minds with bad ideas. And if those who harbor bad ideas threaten violence then it may be necessary to react in kind. I accept that.

I’m simply saying that it matters what kind of language we use when we talk about it. Calling conservatives, or any opposing side perceived as a violent threat, subhuman creates the misconception that your own side could not ever be in the wrong. In so doing, it is possible that the we too could become infected with the bad idea that “All (insert opposing threat here) must die.” I don’t ever in my life time want to see anything like the Holocaust happen because people couldn’t stop and think that at some point the killing needs to stop, because it’s reached a point where we are no longer defending and only killing out of pure and base fear that the threat will rise up again. There is a point where self defense goes too far and gives rise to genocide. That possibility scares the hell out of me.

I would add that dehumanizing rhetoric of any kind can become a gateway drug to justifying atrocity. No matter what side you stand on. It can contribute to the radicalization of any group. Nobody is immune to becoming a monster.

Starting this day (and week) with a new diet full of fresh produce and lean proteins. Doing a trial run to see what sticks. Trying to improve relationship with food. I feel satisfied with breakfast, so it’s off to a positive start.

I’m guessing art installation, I can’t imagine why one would build the stalls like that otherwise.

At the pay rates you mentioned in the last few sentences I could see your point, but if you are making say 30 - 35k per year, a raise of almost any kind would make a difference. In my last job I quit because they were not willing to give me a raise (I was asking for around 42k) which seemed fair to me because the type of work I was doing was incredibly stressful and it was having an affect on my mental health. I was breaking out in hives from stress, which was exacerbating my eczema (I have sensitive skin). I had a long talk with management about what I was going through and how I felt this job deserved more pay. I told them what it would take to keep me and they declined. Despite my work ethic and effort and willingness to go out of my way to make sure the work got done each day, they would not budge. I told them I wasn’t surprised by their revolving door there and I kindly submitted my resignation. I would have stayed with the raise because I could have done a fair bit with that money, i.e. more doctor visits to manage my skin condition, put away money for the future to buy a house or replace my 20 year old vehicle, etc. I live in a low cost of living are so it would have made a significant difference in my quality of life. It’s been a few months since I quit and what I do now is lower stress but it only pays the bills. The money may not matter to the extent that I can pay my bills, but I live paycheck to paycheck and I’m trying not despair; that I will find a job that helps me meet my goals and helps me to achieve a happier life style.

I made a reddit account 7 years ago and used rif most of that time. It was the only thing keeping me on reddit because I was never satisfied with the official app. With rif gone, reddit will only be used as a means of finding answers to questions I search Google with. I hope that I won’t have to depend on reddit for long in that regard either.