Update for Everyone VIII: He who laughs have the last laugh

[Sol]

In what constitutes a fairly unsurprising development, today I was diagnosed with ASD, specifically Asperger syndrome. This was oddly relieving I must say. Funnily I felt quite the opposite in the not-so-distant past, perhaps because of fear of stigma.

I'm glad this is clarifying for you--as someone who has been here as well, my DMs are open.

[Hope For A New Era]

In what constitutes a fairly unsurprising development, today I was diagnosed with ASD, specifically Asperger syndrome. This was oddly relieving I must say. Funnily I felt quite the opposite in the not-so-distant past, perhaps because of fear of stigma.

Welcome to the late-diagnosed club

[kcguy]

I went to a used bookstore yesterday, and I found a first edition (1969) of The Emerging Republican Majority.


So far, I've only read the Introduction, but I did find one interesting quote:

Back in 1960, Richard Nixon had run for President as the candidate of a Repulbican Party still at least partly controlled, as Henry Cabot Lodge’s vice-presidential nomination bore witness, by its traditional Yankee bastion.  By 1968, however, things had changed.  Not only had the civil rights revolution cut the South adrift from its Democratic moorings and drawn the Northeast towards the Democrats, but it had increased the Southern and Western bias of the GOP to a point—the 1964 Goldwater nomination—where the party had decided to break with its formative antecedents and make an ideological bid for the anti-civil rights South.  Goldwater’s extraordinary Deep South success, together with the unprecedented party defeat in Yankee and silk-stocking areas, speeded re-alignment already on its way.  By dint of the 1964 election, the Republican Party shed the dominion of its Yankee and Northeastern Establishment creators, while the Democrats, having linked themselves to the Negro socioeconomic revolution and to an increaslingly liberal Northeastern Establishment shaped by the success of the New Deal, sank the foundations of their future into the Northeast.

There was a question on the Forum a while ago about when the "myth of the Southern Strategy" began.  Since Kevin Phillips published this book directly after working on the Nixon campaign, I'm going to guess the answer is the 1960's.

[Santander]

[PSOL]

Enjoy some Deep Dish with caramel and cheddar popcorn.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Purchased my Dune ticket and an unrelated flight to Denver yesterday.

[Santander]

Purchased my Dune ticket and an unrelated flight to Denver yesterday.

Colorado is one of my bases. Come and say hi if you want.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Purchased my Dune ticket and an unrelated flight to Denver yesterday.

Colorado is one of my bases. Come and say hi if you want.

Sounds lit.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

I really need to learn to stop feeling sorry for myself.

[Santander]

I found a $250 unused ticket in my Delta account that I completely forgot about. It's like finding cash under the cushion, but better.

[Pessimistic Antineutrino]

Signed a full time job offer today!!!!! :DDDD

Tested positive for covid today DDDD:

[Santander]

It's official - I've been called an anti-vaxxer after being vaccinated! I knew it would happen, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon.

Apparently, not planning on getting a booster, choosing the Janssen vaccine, or only getting a vaccine because you "have to" make you an anti-vaxxer.

[Hope For A New Era]

Said some of this on Discord a bit ago after this election night. I guess this is the better place to put it.

I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this. Following politics this closely, I mean. I enjoy it a lot, of course, otherwise I wouldn't do it, but I don't know if I can handle the stress. It starts to occupy my thoughts constantly any time election days are near. I just spent the past week literally avoiding any mention of Virginia to avoid spiking my anxiety, only to obsessively refresh this site and many others all day the day of, riding an emotional rollercoaster the entire time. I feel like I'm slowly losing my mind.

I'm sure some of this will wear off as the dust settles from this election - it always does - but I have a lot to think about. I think I might try to do some restructuring and reevaluating in my life.

I'm tempted to try to just check out of politics completely, but I know I never could. Knowing me I'd probably end up fully resubmerging myself within a week. I'd rationalize myself into it, saying I'd just check Atlas once for a few minutes, before going on an hours-long binge trying to read every single thing posted since I left.

So I guess what's left is to attempt politics-in-moderation, which I don't exactly have a good track record with. I think I might just care too much. Sometimes I feel like I can singlehandedly save this country from itself (even though I know that that idea is beyond absurd), and I feel guilty if I'm not thinking about it and focusing on it. I'm not sure what to do now. Maybe I'll just try to leave the country in a few years. I haven't thought about that in a long time, but it might be what I need. Just go for a while and hopefully let things here work themselves out, or something.

I guess I'll stop now, I've already dumped a lot of my thoughts here. I guess I just have a lot of thinking to do. I'll probably be pretty quiet here for the next little while, but I'll still be around if anyone wants something from me or something.

[Conservatopia]

This is an unpopular opinion but:

Politics doesn't actually matter all that much.

Elections, parties, candidates none of it.  It's quite rare that politics actually have a real effect on people's lives.  Individual parties and politicians and laws and such have far less power than we think.

So whilst politics are important and it is important to be in the know it isn't worth letting elections and results actually affect your life.  I learnt this in 2017 when I was gutted at the UK election result and felt awful for a week.  And sure, that election result mattered, but it didn't need to actually affect my life or my mental health because generally the actual real effects are felt over a much longer time period than one election cycle.

[_.]

This is an unpopular opinion but:

Politics doesn't actually matter all that much.

Elections, parties, candidates none of it.  It's quite rare that politics actually have a real effect on people's lives.  Individual parties and politicians and laws and such have far less power than we think.

So whilst politics are important and it is important to be in the know it isn't worth letting elections and results actually affect your life.  I learnt this in 2017 when I was gutted at the UK election result and felt awful for a week.  And sure, that election result mattered, but it didn't need to actually affect my life or my mental health because generally the actual real effects are felt over a much longer time period than one election cycle.

This is not an unpopular opinion (except maybe on this forum)
It's just the facts

[certified hummus supporter 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦]

Based upon how many compliments I've gotten today, apparently women really love Cheez-It shirts.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Denver, bay-bee

[Never Made it to Graceland]

Based upon how many compliments I've gotten today, apparently women really love Cheez-It shirts.

Thank you for that life advice. Ordering one now.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

This weekend I will be leaving the Get Stabbed Inn at Norfolk and temporarily housing with someone in Newport News. Then hopefully permanent housing + college comes shortly after.

[If my soul was made of stone]

Today is my twenty-second birthday, and the first anniversary of the incident immortalized in my signature that I consider my initiation into the broader Secular Blog ecosystem. The last year's been quite a cluster, but it's worth it for all the lovely folks I've come to know and all the fun I've had on this delightful hellsite. [praying emoji]

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Political economy of Detroit. Why is no one doing it?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

The online proctoring programs universities/professors are making students use for exams are creepy as hell.   AI analysis on you through the camera & recording your screen, requiring ID and a room scan, etc.   Seems like students of an earlier generation would have made a much bigger fuss about it.

[Santander]

The online proctoring programs universities/professors are making students use for exams are creepy as hell.   AI analysis on you through the camera & recording your screen, requiring ID and a room scan, etc.   Seems like students of an earlier generation would have made a much bigger fuss about it.

The alternative is to let you cheat or force you to walk into an exam center. At CFA exams, they had people stationed outside toilet stalls.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Back from Denver. Really makes you think.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

The online proctoring programs universities/professors are making students use for exams are creepy as hell.   AI analysis on you through the camera & recording your screen, requiring ID and a room scan, etc.   Seems like students of an earlier generation would have made a much bigger fuss about it.

The alternative is to let you cheat or force you to walk into an exam center. At CFA exams, they had people stationed outside toilet stalls.

that too is creepy as hell.