“Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind reception it meets with in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.” Jonathon Swift documented the idea that people aren’t offended by satire because they don’t see…

Spain uses an opt out program instead of an opt in program like the US. They lead the world in organ donations. My dad was a transplant patient so I’m all for anything that prevents people from languishing on the transplant list. If they can even get on it, a friend was denied because she has a well managed mental…

Thanks for pointing that out. I grew up with an actual narcissist and this everyone I don’t like who said something self affirming is a narcissist BS is getting tiresome. I can only assume that people throwing the term around have never experienced the endless manipulation and gas lighting from an actual narcissist.…

I didn’t interpret your statement as one that a supportive husband would make. Independent, smart, accomplished women can have a difficult time finding someone who respects them without trying to diminish them. It only gets worse if they’re attractive. You stated a reality and most of your comment was in praise of…

Theres always someone who has this take when this conversation comes up, and it’s not wrong necessarily. It does conflate the fat acceptance movement with the body positivity movement. The body positivity movement is different than the activism that is also happening. Body Positivity was created by fat women,…

I had a family member who had huge medical bills and some consumer debt. They had a similar attitude as #2 plus a shortened life expectancy that made everything feel more urgent. Their wife talked to a lawyer and he eventually filed for bankruptcy. The lawyer encouraged him to replace his ailing vehicle with a newer…

I don’t understand this argument. There’s tons of things I don’t buy or watch because they don’t appeal to me or because the company supports hateful rhetoric. I don’t owe Netflix or Chappelle my money, support, or silence. If I told transphobic jokes and proclaimed myself to be a TERF, I wouldn't have a job. Even if…

You might want to get screened for ADHD if you haven’t. It can cause social issues. I have ADHD, and I had a tough time with social cues. After therapy and medication, I got better. In my case, basic social niceties seemed boring and pointless. It wasn’t that I didn’t care it was just that my brain was on to the next…

This article went a lot deeper than the criticism of one actress. No one downplayed her skill or said she was undeserving. In fact, it didn’t criticize her at all. The author used a casting choice to point out a much larger problem.

I have some friends who are in the BDSM community and apparently these dudes do mean it in a BDSM way but they’re not part of that community. There’s dudes using BDSM as a cover for abusive behavior and it’s something people who practice safe and consensual BDSM are concerned about. There’s also an expectation that…

It’s such a complicated problem, and every solution comes with its own problems that we don’t know how to solve. Your right about capitalism, but it also takes over $2B to get a drug to market. This includes the failures along the way. Where a drug doesn’t even make to human trials. Most drugs don’t make it out of…

I have no idea whether Disney was in the wrong here. I haven’t seen the contract and I’m not a lawyer. A lot of contracts have a force majeure clause and I’ve seen them include pandemics even before covid. I’m not saying Disney is a pure and wonderful company or defending them.

You’re given them way too much credit for consistency. They believe that they’re pushing the vaccine over other treatments to make money. The vaccine costs approximately $20 a dose and monocular antibodies cost $2,100. But yeah, the government is in bed with big pharma to help them promote the cheaper treatment. It's…

It’s really tough, because, as people mentioned, funding for public television has been gutted. I can’t be mad at Sesame Street for trying to do what they can in a bad system. I work in insurance and risk management (not health insurance) and while these fields exist in countries with a good social safety net, in the…

I wish I could find it again, but I read an article about that. There was a popular picture book and some people got very upset by it. It was going to taint their perfect children somehow. 

Most of what you’ve said is incorrect. Pitbulls were bred for dog fighting. When bull baiting was outlawed in the 1800s people moved onto to ratting. Terriers are agile and high energy so they’re ideal for this purpose. Bulldogs weren’t great for this sport so they were bred with terriers. People moved onto dog…

I’ve talked about this before. I had a fear reactive dog. He was genetically fearful. He was dumped at a shelter with his litter mates. That’s a high stress environment especially for a puppy and a fearful puppy at that. Then he was attacked by an off leash dog during a fear period. It was very minor and probably…

Thank you for saying this. There is this idea that the US is highly litigious and that we’re all taken advantage of the legal system. It’s predominantly a narrative propped up by corporations in order to discourage lawsuits. I understand why other countries repeat it. They really don’t understand that a suit might be…

I think I paid under $9k when my kid was in afterschool care and summer camp. That’s for about 3 hours during the year and then Summers with a week or two off. It was way more than that when they were in fulltime care.

Calorie counting is one of the essential tenants of diet culture. It’s not sustainable for most people. It doesn’t tend to lead to longterm weight loss. There is a 20% margin for error in food labels and most people under estimate calories consumed even when they’re recording calories. Studies suggest that it could be…