Fuck you, dude. Ever worked a night shift? There is nothing in human evolutionary history to prepare one’s brain for that. I got put on this shift, and it’s not a bad shift otherwise, but I get depression, I get paranoia, I get a lot of things from not seeing the sun for weeks at a shot. That’s fucking bog standard…

Still team Demi

The frustrating thing is that a lot of outstate used to be pretty liberal. It’s the Democratic Farmer Labor party here for a reason. I don’t know where all the rednecks came from, aside from St. Cloud where they’ve been festering for a while, but they need to go.

Truth. Tried the Canada thing and washed out after about 2.5 years, and they’re a lot tougher about it now than they were then (thanks Harper!)

If they were smarter they’d have claimed they thought it was a timing mechanism, not a complete explosive device. Then their behavior would have added up better.

I don’t get it either. Care to explain rather than gif at us?

Agreed. There’s a false intimacy to it.

Well said.

I think that’s exactly what bothers me about it; it seems like pretending we’re all equals when we’re functionally not. If you’re at work, you’re taking orders from somebody. If you get pulled over, there’s a power dynamic there. If your kid acts out, you’re going to set them straight, with no pretense of who’s in…

I agree; that’s exactly what I like about it. It clarifies and delineates social structure with very little extra effort added to the conversation.

I’m pro honorific, but that’s weird to me as a Northerner. I read it as a mismatch of formality level, which I’m pretty sure is not the intended reading. For me the honorific has to go with a family name.

I grew up in the same kind of school as you, Joanna, and I was actually pretty uncomfortable with it. I think I would have been better off with the hierarchical nomenclature, because at least then the power structure’s clear rather than amorphous. The adults call the shots and you don’t either way, so why go to the…

Well said. It’s not any less dispiriting for us.

Oh man, I was thinking that exact thing. I grew up next to a liquor store and thanks to those experiences pretty much assume there’s going to be broken glass under my feet.

I feel like there’s a Malaysian Airlines joke here.

That is definitely a thing; it’s just not readily noticeable by people who aren’t looking for it. Like, unless they make out in front of you or something, how would you know?

Dude, I feel you. Story of my life. I think we’re misreading the disinterest in men as confidence, or at least I am.

You don’t need citizenship or anything to do it like that, as long as you don’t intend to work on the Canadian side of the border. I’d recommend a Nexus pass or something of the sort to speed the crossing, though. I was in Calgary, so for me there was fuck all on the American side of the border for a very long ways,…

People talk about Masada like it’s the Alamo, but to me it sounds a little like Jonestown.

I think the onus is on you to show that it is an issue. It’s not a “baseless claim,” it’s the null hypothesis.