• 10 Posts
  • 51 Comments
Joined 8 months ago
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Cake day: March 21st, 2024

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  • I can understand when the topic is comparison, but my experience is that it seems that more often than not, the comparison is made even when not part of the topic. It could be some horrible news of a tragedy that occurred in the US, and rather than discuss the matter at hand, the comments are about how Europe is better. Of course they don’t do that with other countries like Brazil, India, or Mexico. That’s the point of the comment: to point out how ridiculous it would be, especially when a lot of the issues in those countries could be traced back to European colonization. But, since the US is a powerhouse with GDP, military, media, and global political power, everyone thinks it’s okay to shit on it. I’d like to point out that the GDP stays at the top. Arguably, the quality of life of the average EU resident is better than the average American resident. Y’all tell us everyday with your medical systems and healthcare access, workers rights, time off, gun control, etc.

    If American culture constantly has a delusional state of superiority, then why are the comments on Lemmy about how the EU is superior? Let’s compare the number of comments on Lemmy in which Americans state or imply their superiority to Europe with vice versa. I bet that ratio will easily surpass 1:10. And the American one will more likely than not be downvoted to hell. Yeah, there are Americans and American media that are delusional about their superiority, but that is not the case with Lemmy users. In general, those are conservatives/Republicans and some moderates. Europe has those clowns too. American users on Lemmy tend to be quite left, desire strong leftist policies, and acknowledge the reality of the situation while being humble af, yet they are the ones that have to read all the shit talking about Americans every day on here. It’s annoying af; that’s all.

    edit: Btw, despite that everyone may disagree with me, justifiably or not, I appreciate the opportunity to have this discussion.





  • Using heavier weights for my workouts. It makes me feel great and so powerful to help my body fight stored trauma.

    Yooooo!!! Me too!! I make sure to piss myself off real good before going to the gym. I’ll be pacing like a madman before I get in the car. I know I’m ready when I don’t even want to go outside because even sunlight is offensive. One time, I pushed it too hard and had to ground myself in the car at the gym parking lot for 15 mins. Between sets, I’m pacing and stimming with my earbuds in. Prolly look like I think I’m in a rap video.

    I catch people side-eyeing me often. But, I could tell who gets it because I catch them doing similar and are friendly to me when we’re near each other.

    I don’t know if this will work for the trauma eventually or just a mandatory habit now, but it’s made adjusting my weighted blanket a lot easier.

    Keep it up!





  • I think the point of the post is merely to point out that in four decades, at least one of three families has been in each election. Statistically, if candidates were freely chosen at random from the top 0.01% of Americans, that would be insanely improbable. It’s pointing out that presidential elections aren’t the American people picking the best person in the country for the job. There are influential factors other than who-would-be-best at face value. In other words, the people aren’t given a list of American citizens with their characteristics and asked to chose the one they would prefer. The people are told to pick one from a very select few that have already been approved. Whether those candidates have climbed a ladder or been given a silver spoon is irrelevant to that point. The matter is that elections aren’t entirely free in spirit.

    It also serves as an argument against social mobility and merit in the USA. Dynasties are government systems in which the ultimate power stays within a family. We’re told that it’s because of whatever bs reason with the family being divine or superior, but the reality is that when the ultimate power rests within the same family, the people that benefit from that also stay in power. It’s a system that maintains those on top on top. Having presidential dynasties shows that social mobility in the USA isn’t as fluid as commonly thought.
















  • Assuming that demand for car insurance is artificially inflated because people are mandated to purchase it, wouldn’t an open market still drive down prices due to competition? Another market that has even more demand is food. People aren’t even legally mandated to buy food. They either buy it or die. There may be a few people that can grow enough of their own food to sustain themselves without ever purchasing it, but I would guess that there are more people that make enough money to live without insurance than people that grow all of their own food. Despite that, food seems to be relatively affordable. If one food vendor is charging too much or I don’t like their product, I can easily go to a competing food vendor and purchase there. Adam’s invisible hand then ensures that the market provides an efficient quality-to-price ratio. I’m not arguing it’s perfect, but we don’t hear about how food stores are ripping us off as much as we do about insurance companies. My argument is that despite there being inflated demand, the insurance companies still have to compete with each other for those customers, which would have a considerable impact on price. Let’s say we all buy cars that are valued at $20k. If one company is providing insurance for $100/month and the other company is charging $150/month, everything else being equal, the former would earn more customers.

    Also, since demand is high, I think it would LOWER rates. Here’s why. If insurance was not mandated, then the people that would get it would include everyone that thinks they may need it. The ones that think they will not use it will avoid wasting their money since they’re not receiving anything in return. That means that there will be less contributions and more expenditures from the pooled money, making insurance more expensive. Mandate insurance makes it so that even the people that will not use it contribute to the pool, so everyone’s costs are lower than otherwise. Of course, this would only happen in a market that allows for competition. Otherwise, if there were only one insurance provider, they would be in a position to price gouge everyone since the only other option would be to break the law.