Thank you. Audible was my lifesaver when I was working on the road but I’m definitely on the prepare part.

I’ll preface with I’ll agree that for the most part, it’s men being whiny about “woke” and other nonsense. They’re assholes. I really don’t have anything to add to that front.

So I’ll add a perspective of the small other crowd in situations friends of mine and I have found ourselves in, that having criticisms of women led stories gets us lumped in with the above group when the same criticism of a male led roles/stories are fine and dandy. And we’re not exactly a group that hates women led stories despite our love of scifi action. Sarah Conner, Ripley, Jesse Faden if anyone has played the game Control.

Some of it I get as a female led cast movie/show will get hate before the first previews even launch so legitimate discussions can happen. However, I can go on absolute rants about how terrible movies can be: Tom Cruise remaking The Mummy was, attempting to do Hellboy without Ron Perlman and Guillermo Del Toro, whatever the Conan the Barbarian attempt Jason Mamoa had, and no one bats an eye. (Lets be honest, those were all terrible movies) However I’ve been called a misogynist when I talk about in the list with those above ones how absolutely terrible the all women cast remake of Ghostbusters was. Again, I knew there was a lot of undue hate, but if I ever discuss it, I’ve had to outright asterisk it every time that none of my complaints were to the actresses themselves but the movie from worldbuilding to some of the concept of it being made itself (As in: It’s Ghostbusters, an IP that’s been around for decades, did we need to dedicate screentime to remaking it from scratch? A complaint I’ll have at every reboot of a popular IP.)

And there’s legitimacy to the why. As you point out, there’s very few women led movies/stories which (I assume) means that with some representation there’s the want to nicer to it, especially as there are people who are outright assholes about it. Vs Another White Guy Does Things is easy to deride a movie because… speaking as a white guy, I’m going to be there mocking that movie too. But that’s why I put the “(I assume)” earlier, because it’s not like I’m lacking in some form of representation, so it’s easy to mock it.

I will wrap up this though with again, it’s a small extra outside perspective for a different viewpoint. If people just complain “There are too many women in x”, no, they’ve stopped having legitimate complaints and are just being jackasses.

Okay, I had trouble getting off of sodas, and everyone suggested fizzy water instead, and they all tasted nasty, like maybe the water sat in the room with the fruit maybe.

But this is the only time I’ll ever say good about Walmart, their walmart branded carbonated waters are 99 cents a liter and taste amazing. The Fuji Apple one is the one I usually get and it tastes like a fizzy apple soda but doesn’t have sugar.

Since I avoid walmart like the plague, I’ve learned to just drink water now. Tap water is my go to. But these things are like my guilty pleasure, which is a far cry better than the sugar drinks imo.

That’s fair. I’m less interested in the swasticar and more I find it’s the only thing out right now that I can’t find an appreciable workaround.

It’s why I like hybrids. I have a tendency to sometimes end up at least an hour away from an electric plug for a few days or so.

Nah, I don’t need diesel. Lets be honest at hybrid it’ll do the job just fine as is.

Basically I want the kind of pickup truck that I can toss a few 2x4s in the back and go, doesn’t have to be big, doesn’t need a lot of hauling power. Which is the opposite of the way trucks are going nowadays, which are big as fuck and made to tow the fucking world with the shortest damn truck bed that I’ve watched people struggle to get a tv into because the bed is too short.

Is a truck tech? Fuck it I’m calling a pickup truck tech.

I just want a pickup the size of a 90s ford ranger that’s a hybrid. Since I’m making it a unicorn, lets go 4wd

Don’t worry, the aliens will come, and they’ll be oligarchs in their society too.

I’ll admit, my disbelief in afterlife really doesn’t make me fear death because while it’s boring, it’s only boring for everyone else. For the person dead it’s nothing. Boring is a sensation, and death has none of that either. It’s neither good nor bad, just nothing.

Descent. Gabba Gabba Hey

Work in medical too, but work in the lower sections with the blue collar workers while living in the bible belt. They’re all Trump fans and think this is all great.

The best advice I have is find your people, the ones you know who’ve been against this (not the non-voters, they folded to apathy, and will fold when the going gets tough) and start working on survival plans. Gardens, mutual aid, mutual defense, how to hide those in danger ESPECIALLY if you’re the cishet white guy. Build the community as best you can.

This is not some big overall “Fight the bastions to overthrow” but right now as a regular schmuck in the middle of nowhere, right now this is what we have.

Screw it. If I had limitless wealth time to see if ending homelessness is possible with every bit of it I can.

What I want for me is a stable living situation, fun times on a motorcycle, and time to do hobbies without killing myself at work and to travel. My secondaries are those things for the people I care about. Other than the killing myself at work, that sort of thing is obtainable without being a millionaire.

So after that, throwing billions into building affordable housing seems like the plan, combat these scalpers that overdo rent and see if I could beat the countries, then the worlds goal of “stable living situation”. After that… figure out what’s next.

Look, I’m kind of an outsider on this conversation because until we get a DaVinci for mechanical work, I’m never going to be WFH, but there’s something interesting I’ve noted with all my programmer friends.

The industrial world, that’s where unions are, they’re getting pulled out but that’s the places unions live. The people working in stores are starting to push hard on unions. My industry, biomed, hasn’t really gotten unions off the ground, but it’s rumbling. We’re a small industry that’s so short on people it’s just easier to move jobs than start a union, but we’re a mix of tech and industrial backgrounds. But the programming tech backgrounds, at least here in the midwest, is apparently so anti-union I don’t know how it’d get off the ground from what I’m hearing from my friends. Their coworkers who are mad about RTO will immediately turn around and say the corporate lines about unions. I’m honestly kinda baffled and hope your industry gets it figured out.

I can’t think of a smaller city in the US that fits “so many have heard of it”

You included London but didn’t include London? Shameful.

Good lord this makes me happy I’ve not worked in corporate and stayed in blue collar work.

Someone steals food in a shop, that someone’s gonna have a bad day and the boss yells at anyone “whining”, including the guy who got his ass kicked.

Hah, my dad was the same way about the internet, and… not wrong, it looked so hopeful, yet now so dark. But then again, I’m a guy who hasn’t had the proper combination of time/money/ability to get out of my country as the closest border is an 8 hour straight drive so about as close to the center of big country talking to someone on the other side of the world about the politics of our lands, so, who knows, maybe a little light there.

The thing I find is that… so much of what’s going on is a pattern. Been joking when talking with my dad about the book World War Z I understand why people follow Nostradamus more, as a book written in 2006 is talking about the very problems that are happening today and coming up with some honestly concerning predictions. But then, a student of history and paying attention to current events can make someone look like a seer. As you say, the shipping to China, it’s madness, except China has been pushing to take over just about everyones markets by being the cheapest even over keeping it own countries, but now they’re becoming a dominant superpower again. I know in the US situation, it was because the Pre-Trump Republicans had become so business “friendly” (bowed the knee to the businesses above all else) that their attitude of “Free market” was fine to ship everything overseas to be made even at the cost of the workers here.

The banking crisis as you talk about, here again, but it was the Democrats that bailed them out… why? Aren’t they opposition to the Republicans? The thing is the Democrats in the 90s freaked out when Ronald Reagan got in power, then H.W. Bush followed him, and so Clinton came in as the business friendly Democrat, and that’s been the doctrine since. There hasn’t actually been a workers party in the US as long as I’ve been alive.

I wish we could’ve been like Iceland, but when Democrats had control of the house, senate, and presidency they couldn’t even get a healthcare plan that involved a government option, just the government giving insurance companies money, going after the banks is a non-starter in this country probably until the next depression.

Trump… honestly was one of the logical conclusions (I threw up in my mouth a little typing that), on one hand he’s been the anti-establishment. In my state, where the capitol is over 1000 miles away, and I’m one of the closer half of the country, people have been sick of “DC elites”, not all there’s entire discussions on the Republican strategies otherwise, and the person that hurts the elites must be good. Trump is part of the establishment now, but he doesn’t act like it, and the news doesn’t act like it, still treats him like an outsider. That got a lot of people up when they don’t pay attention to any news.

I think a lot of the problems caused and had by the US is by age, the country punches way above its weight class, lot of power very very fast. That wouldn’t be a problem except we’re still dealing with the fallout of our civil war that was 160 years ago, but the way the country views it is as if it were ancient times. Hell there are people who were alive when Civil Rights happened and yet it’s taught in schools like it is so far back no one could remember it. If you’re at all curious on that I do have a bit of an unhinged TED talk here in where our school history fails to discuss the context that’s happened through history. On if that’s on purpose, that’s yet another completely different unhinged TED talk lol.

I really appreciate the dive into the politics there! As I talked with a coworker, to start understanding politics understanding historical context is important and I can keep some understanding with other countries, it’s hard enough to know the nuance of all of our states, figuring out how to get started with other countries is difficult so the primer really helps. Some of this sounds familiar over here on the antiquated thoughts driving politics that should have fallen by the wayside years ago, though I think a few of yours might be older than ours is. Friend visited the UK recently and traveled throughout, like I told him, I intellectually knew how old that area is but realizing that there were places that were historic before our country even existed is still kinda baffling. But I digress.

Having to do a dive into the Tories as I just knew them as your conservatives, it’s interesting that both the UK Conservative party and Scottish Conservatives definitely have a lot that I look at and go “That really does look like (Pre-Trump) Republicans” then every once in a while I see them supporting something that I realize if a Democrat would try to bring forward they’d be shouted down as being a communist. But what’s most fascinating dichotomy between our countries is your conservatives are staunchly fighting to keep the UK together, as you say wouldn’t allow you to hold a referendum after making you all leave the EU. Over in the States our Conservatives have gotten in bed with the US South which constantly yells about and threatens to secede again, and the Republican party is the one where you’re going to find the confederate (not the confederate, flag, Virigina Battle Flag but that’d involve them knowing their own ‘heritage’) flag all over the place so you could argue our conservatives are more seperationists. Growing up with this creates a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to be opposed to splitting, though like with the pulling out of the EU and as you described there’s actually a lot of ability to be successful to sustain yourselves that’s makes sense… vs our guys have the likes of most of our southern states who cry how much they hate the federal government, yet percentage-wise are some of our most reliant on federal funds.

I’m from the future. He does.

Trump administration really didn’t pull off much in his first 4 years because absolutely bloody chaotic administration ran more like a reality show with Republicans not knowing the game he was playing. But can talk at least one of his big talking points he tried then and is likely to push again.

“School choice”

A push has been going to get instead of money going to private schools, that tax dollars go to vouchers that can go to charter and private schools along with the public schools. Naturally it’s sold as “your kids can go to whatever school you like.” But what this means is now the people who can afford private schools won’t be putting in to public schools where the poorer are still going to go because

A) These schools you still have to get accepted into. Public schools at least, you’re in the district, you go to school. Looking up a private school in where I grew up involves sending test scores, letters of recommendation, writing samples, family meetings, etc. If you’re a have not, you’re not going there.

B) Tuition for this school is $29,300 for a student. One of those vouchers is not going to pay for that. Now used to the way to afford was to apply through the local business families group (Walton Family Foundation… Yup, Walmart) but now it’s talking about Indexed Tuition with a lovely bit of “We also recognize that your family may need more clarity regarding your expected family contribution before proceeding with the application process: if so, please do not hesitate to contact the tuition committee”

This along with the attacks on teachers unions continue to degrade the public schools, likely leading to many of the ones both rural and urban shutting down due to lack of funds that are getting hoovered up by these private organizations. That’s one of the attacks on education in the country right now.