Thanks for the credit!

Anxiety / stress. Usually it relates to finances either directly or indirectly. I have enough savings to survive few years with zero income but having recently transitioned from employee to being self-employed, there’s quite a bit uncertainty about future. I’m not losing any significant amounts of money currently but I’m barely able to save anything either which makes me quite uncomfortable as someone who for the past 10 years has lived well below their means.

the other guy isn’t really trying to learn anything or even to change your mind. He’s acting for an audience of people who already agree with him.

This is why I argue that votes should be hidden from everyone. Audience capture is one of the biggest issues on platforms like Lemmy. Many users feel like they’ve “won” an argument simply because their broad, nuance-free generalizations get upvoted by the masses.

To add to your point about avoiding engagement with certain types of users, one thing I’ve noticed that really sets some people off is when they take something I’ve said, draw their own extreme conclusions from it, and then start accusing me of something completely untrue. Instead of defending myself against these ridiculous accusations, I now either ignore them or stick firmly to the original point.

What’s fascinating is how often they double down, repeatedly trying to get me to explain why I’m not, for example, a Nazi. When I refuse to entertain their absurd line of reasoning, they seem to lose their minds.

Mullvad seems to be consistently good. I’ve been on it for +5 years. Before I used PIA but they got sold to a sketchy company.

Even if the penalty (death) can be morally justified it still shouldn’t be celebrated. Also, I oppose death penalty - the people celebrating this have no moral standing to oppose it too. They’re on the wrong side of history in my view.

Literally celebrating the murder of a person is what I mean.

So many here showing their true colors and demonstrating that they’re actually no better than the people they oppose.

Where I live, there’s a strict screening process to become a cop. It requires a three-year education, and you need a college degree just to apply. There are far more applicants than available spots, so even many good candidates don’t make it in. Trust in the police is generally quite high among the population, they’re respected, and every time a firearm is used for example, it’s investigated thoroughly. Officers do face legal consequences when malpractice is discovered.

So, yeah, I’d hang out with a cop and talk to them about the same stuff I’d discuss with anyone else.

There are tens of millions of cops around the world. The idea that not a single one of them is a good person is so statistically improbable that I’d bet my life on it being false.

Can you name another broad generalization that applies to every single member of that group without exception?

That all cops are bastards.

I genuinely believe ACAB, and this news has me conflicted because my new friend seems really cool and super nice.

What you’re experiencing is cognitive dissonance. New information is clashing with your prior beliefs, leaving you with a choice: either update your beliefs or double down and lie to yourself even harder.

Elon’s argument for why we need to spread to other planets holds true even if everything on Earth were going perfectly.

It’s not about getting everyone off Earth - it’s about creating a backup for humanity on other planets. This ensures that the only known flame of consciousness in the universe isn’t extinguished by a nuclear war, pandemic, supervolcano, or asteroid impact. It’s about not having all your eggs in one basket.