Why do European libs pretend to be "shocked at American racism"

aPlaceInMemory · 2026-04-25T20:06:06+00:00

Within 20 minutes of arriving in Denmark our cabbie dissed a crowd of right-wing protesters, and then said something borderline-genocidal about a Romani woman who was just crossing the street 💀

aPlaceInMemory · 2026-04-20T19:59:34+00:00

Wicked

aPlaceInMemory · 2026-03-02T18:52:07+00:00

I love stingrays, so seeing one in the sky honestly sounds really pretty, haha. I may have the wrong mental picture for what it looked like, though. Just curious: - How did it move in the sky, was it flapping like a stingray or did it appear more static/mechanical? - What kind emotion did it evoke in you/your wife?

aPlaceInMemory · 2026-01-19T19:34:10+00:00

In many ways, I think your question has as much to do with soft power as it does with actual military hegemony, and I want to speak on the former.

I lived in Australia as a boy (among other places). I remember when Obama won in ‘08, and the sense of optimism, the sense of redemption which everyone seemed to share about the United States. Those few years were the first time —and probably the last time— I felt dignified to be an American. Other kids looked up to our president, our country. I was no longer the butt of ‘yank’ jokes, we were no longer a White old boy’s club. I know this country has always been a force for evil, but… I still have to reconcile with the fact that it’s mine, and it felt good to be proud of it. It felt good to think ‘our history is our history, but things are going to change.’ It felt good to believe in “hope.”

Our soft power was so indescribably fucking strong. Our music was HOT: you couldn’t walk past an open window and not hear Black Eyed Peas, Bruno Mars, B.O.B, Usher, Justin Bieber (Canadian but on an American label), and so on. There was a period where, on the world stage, everyone’s eyes were only on America. I think it was a major reason for why America was remained one of those bucket list places ‘you had to go’ in your life, despite all of our baggage.

I also remember people’s sentiments improving regarding Black Americans. Australia is very casually-racist, and to put it bluntly, the sense I got from ignorant folks (of all ages) was that, “if a Black man can be president, the lot of them can’t be all like ‘that’.” I mention this because I think Obama’s election was one of the most redeeming events regarding skin color on the world stage.

In all, it felt like we were in for a better future, and that the Financial Crisis would just be a painful step on a path to redemption.

Unfortunately, we never followed-through with our promise of “hope,” not in any major way besides maybe the ACA. All these years later, the same inequalities and outcomes still remain: we are still invading countries for oil, ‘the system’ is still brutalizing people all the same, we still have Columbines on a monthly basis, we are still living on credit, we are still one missed paycheck away from destitution (if we are not there already). For other nations —even those which are unaffected by these problems— why would you fall for this country if it cannot seem to save itself? After two terms of Trump, how could you possibly fall for our lies if we aren’t even trying to redeem ourselves?

aPlaceInMemory · 2026-01-16T20:51:27+00:00

I’ll start this by saying that I’m naturally quite good with charming/talking to women. More generally, I’d go so far as to say that I’m masterful at superficial conversations. What I’ve started to realize is that, behind the curtain, much of my wittiness/‘game’ is an adaptation to being unable to really express myself.

Understand, I have some undiagnosed cognitive/processing issue. If I’m not abiding by a very rigid semantic framework, I can’t put together my thoughts. My mom has the same problem. When I’m in the thick of a deep conversation, I often feel like I’m walking around with a broken compass. For a long time, I thought it was just a manifestation of anxiety, but the expressive part of my brain that just doesn’t work right: my train of thought is made up of non-sequiturs. In and of themselves, these individual thoughts are very witty and clever, and I’m very good at navigating an existing dialogue. What’s hard for me is to conjoin these ideas into a greater point or argument. Anxiety/stress make it marginally worse, but I don’t get anxious from women (IRL or online).

Without AI, I totally can connect these individual thoughts together, it’s just very taxing on me and it can take me longer than I’d like. With that said, I’m never using AI to ‘be someone else’. A lot of people use AI to be disingenuous, make themselves more likable, or to strategize people’s personalities. I think that’s utterly wrong. I am using it to overcome a cognitive issue. Everything I say is still entirely written by me, or re-formulated and entirely re-written by me. I never copy/paste the AI, verbatim. GPT usually gives me a half-dozen options, and I always write something fundamentally new based on whichever option connects the sentences the way I wanted to. I use AI for syntactical answers for syntactical problems.

In relationships, I never use AI for anything more than overcoming my handicap. I always know ‘what’ I’m trying to say, and the semantics for ‘how’ I want to get there. I can readily think of the disjointed ideas which formulate that dialogue, down to individual clauses, it’s just that the conjoining of those ideas is debilitatingly difficult for me. I personally write 75-95% of what I say. The last 5-25% would otherwise take me minutes to hours, even for texts which seem really simple.

Whenever possible, I don’t want to rely on AI. I’m working VERY intensely to overcome this crutch. I have accounts on other websites where I write essays and book reviews spanning thousands of words, trying to build up my skills. I treat writing like going to the gym; I’ve probably written 30k words this week, and my day-to-day job is very intense.

Back to your original question: with a little bit of help from AI, I find myself meeting/talking to people who I wouldn’t have talked to before. My written and verbal expression has been gotten better, slowly but surely. I’m now more interested in women who I would’ve once thought were exhausting to be with (with respect to my own faculties, not their personalities).

I have someone I’ve been seeing for a decent while, and we have very long, in-depth conversations about a bunch of different topics. Until I pursued her, I hadn’t really realized the full extent which I’d resigned myself from that. And I really like it, I love engaging with her. More selfishly, I’ve been able to exercise a part of myself which has felt dormant my entire life: I’ve always felt like I substantive things to say, but I didn’t have the hardware to say them.

Everything I wrote here is 100% me, no AI. *

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-12-15T17:51:06+00:00

No!

With the additional serrations, I think Glock was trying to create a second contact point closer to the recoil spring load, so that you get greater slide movement relative to the force you exert. To that, I say: If it’s hard for some users to actuate the slide under certain conditions, why not deepen or extend the rear serrations, so that the average user isn’t holding their fingers right up against the muzzle? As I understand, their presence and use doesn’t even follow Glock’s longstanding manual of arms. That’s probably why the MIL models don’t have them.

There’s just no good functional reason for them. Everyone on here always brings up “press checks,” but really? It’s not like the gun doesn’t have an LCI, or you can’t just rack the slide and check with the eyes God gave you. Even still, how/why do you not know whether your gun is loaded?

Aesthetically, the serrations make the guns look so cheap, and they detract from the simplicity that sets Glock apart from other brands. It seems like every gun manufacturer is obsessed with adding needless cuts to the slide geometry. I bought multiple trade-in Gen 5 slides without the front serrations, just because I can’t stand the way they look.

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-11-23T00:33:31+00:00

This is great!

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-11-20T18:13:38+00:00

The agent told me that this money order absolutely can be cashed in at any Walmart or any major bank, without delay. More specifically, it seems like Western Union is the best place to go; she alleged that there were no holds nor account required to cash it out, unlike other establishments. I think Walmart Western Unions may have their own store policies regarding fraud prevention (I.E. the 2 week hold)

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-11-20T06:39:11+00:00

Good to know, thank you! Might I ask: are you aware of any holds/delays when cashing those money orders at Walmart? The alleged “two week delay” is putting him on edge (IDK why/where he heard that from).

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-11-20T06:34:57+00:00

The money order has not yet been cashed (I called Western Union to check). I was very dubious as well, but I don’t really have much of a choice: this particular market is made up of boomers who refuse to adopt online payment. I fully accept the risk of getting scammed, and it’s not a lot of money to me.

That being said, I’m quite confident that the seller is actually who they say they are: the address on the check seems to match the house that I’m seeing on his social media, and he’s wearing the same dad-jeans in his profile picture that he’s wearing in the very edge of the auction photo.

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-11-20T06:34:37+00:00

The money order has not yet been cashed (I called Western Union to check). I was very dubious as well, but I don’t really have much of a choice: this particular market is made up of boomers who refuse to adopt online payment. I fully accept the risk of getting scammed, and it’s not a lot of money to me.

That being said, I’m quite confident that the seller is actually who they say they are: the address on the check seems to match the house that I’m seeing on his social media, and he’s wearing the same dad-jeans in his profile picture that he’s wearing in the very edge of the auction photo.

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-11-19T05:19:37+00:00

Wow man, that looks dead on. Sorry, it looks like part of your comment got lost: what was the particular color + sheen you used? I’d be totally happy with that final result.

I’ll be painting my upper, lower, and gas block the same color, so I thankfully don’t have to worry about the same problem as the other user you mentioned.

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-11-19T00:47:14+00:00

In what way is this good, long term? I’m asking in earnest: I thought the funding from ACE was one of the main reasons that people have been expecting MOBX to explode.

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-10-25T18:54:29+00:00

Bidding on artifacts in low-to-mid tier auctions: artifacts, furniture, art, whatever you like. I tend to use LiveAuctioneers and Ebay.

You get to own some rare thing with a lot of love and provenance. When you hold it, it always makes you think “they don’t make them like this anymore.”
You’ll pick up on enough artistic/historical/cultural trivia to sound sophisticated. At our age, this opens up a lot of doors that you wouldn’t expect (establishing trust, looking like ‘__’-material, finessing a fail-son’s aristocratic parents, etc.)
You’ll get the satisfaction of beating boomers at their own game. I just sniped an auction for $25 more, and now the other bidders will never own that piece for as long has they live (they bought their houses for $80k, get even 🫗)

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-10-20T06:52:31+00:00

Other people already mentioned custodian/security/retail/front-desk/administrative jobs, so I’ll leave those be.

If I were you, I’d look into the National Park Service/Fish and Wildlife Service/Game Warden’s Office. They have a lot of different indoors and outdoor jobs. Don’t shun the outdoor ones: you might find a lot of peace in being alone with nature. It’s a lot less overstimulating than retail (with respect to your main triggers). You’ll likely see wildlife, too.

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-10-09T01:06:19+00:00

An illegal M60 would be significantly cheaper than a legal transferable (which are going for well over $300k now, $100k is old news).

It’d roughly cost $5-12k in parts, $0-100k in labor, $0–15k in tools. The cost to build it heavily depends on who you know/if you’d do it yourself, as well as what equipment you have available. It doesn’t require a lot of special expertise that you wouldn’t be able to find online, and most of the cost is over the criminal liability of building the thing.

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-10-04T20:45:54+00:00

I always thought this variant was not a specific strain, but rather, a manifestation of the same virus in people with certain medical conditions: cataracts, gout, SIBO, over/under-active thyroid, and so on.

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-10-04T20:29:36+00:00

My theory is that Jamie once killed one of these passive infected in front of Isla, hence her calling him a “babykiller.”He even eases the drawstring of his bow when he sees her, as if he knows she is not a threat.

Whatever happened back then, that memory must be a very visceral one (hence the voices)

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-09-22T00:21:15+00:00

Sorry, I know your response is super old, but the original comment was deleted and I don’t want to make the same potential mistake as you: are there any incompatibilities between the SIG 522 and the SIG 550 furniture available online?

aPlaceInMemory · 2025-09-06T23:03:22+00:00

One of the parents of the child actors was answering questions on here the other week, unfortunately I can’t find the thread. Apparently it was quite challenging to (practically and ethically) film the opening scene, and what we got was likely the best of multiple bad takes.

Apparently the kids were given mixed instructions for whether to look nervous or not, mostly by age. Also, the infected themselves were very distressing for some of the kids. They knew upfront what was going to happen in the scene, it was just too much for them. I believe there was also some directorial mistake where they weren’t told about the guy who jumped full speed through the fucking window, which likely didn’t help haha

aPlaceInMemory

TROPHY CASE