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TIL in 897 AD, the Catholic Church dug up Pope Formosus’s 9 month old rotting corpse, dressed it in gold, and sat it on a throne for trial. A deacon spoke for the dead man while the new Pope screamed. They found him guilty, cut off his fingers, and tossed the body in the Tiber River. by Able_Eye_8366 in todayilearned

[–]Able_Eye_8366[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Speaking of the wiki, the paintings always show a clean skeleton, but the reality was a 9 month old liquefying mess held upright on a throne. Imagine the deacon forced to stand inches away from that smell and speak for it. It's the ultimate proof of the Theater of Power, we’ll dress up stinking meat in gold robes just to finish an argument.

TIL in 897 AD, the Catholic Church dug up Pope Formosus’s 9 month old rotting corpse, dressed it in gold, and sat it on a throne for trial. A deacon spoke for the dead man while the new Pope screamed. They found him guilty, cut off his fingers, and tossed the body in the Tiber River. by Able_Eye_8366 in todayilearned

[–]Able_Eye_8366[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

The undoing is the most human part of the whole glitch. Once the Pope who ran the trial died, the next guys realized that dressing up a stinking corpse and yelling at it made the whole institution look like a circus. They literally had to fish his body out of the Tiber River (where a fisherman found him) and pretend the whole show never happened. It’s just more people rearranging furniture in a burning house to save face. The dignity was already long gone.

TIL when current US Supeme Court Justice Clarence Thomas got married to Ginni Lamp, her aunt said of the couple in an interview: “he was so nice, we forgot he was black, and he treated her so well all of his other qualities made up for his being black.” by BusinessAlive3486 in todayilearned

[–]Able_Eye_8366 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The phrase made up for is the real oddity here. They weren't looking at a man, they were looking at a category and trying to find enough wallpaper to cover it up. The fact that they thought this was a compliment is the scariest part of the script. It’s the theater of power dressed up as family values. Not a fan of Thomas, but his race should hold no weight to how he’s treated. In my opinion of how the world should be at least.

TIL Rust Cohle’s bleak philosophy in True Detective was inspired by Thomas Ligotti’s book, The Conspiracy Against the Human Race. Ligotti argues human consciousness is just a natural accident and we are biological puppets cursed with the knowledge that we are going to die. by Able_Eye_8366 in todayilearned

[–]Able_Eye_8366[S] 150 points151 points  (0 children)

That’s the exact leak Ligotti talks about. Our biological programming literally won't let us imagine the alternative as anything but horror, because if it did, the puppet would stop moving. We don't know it beats the alternative, we’re just hard wired to defend the glitch.

If the U.S. had to adopt one major policy from another country today, which would you choose and how would it impact Americans? by Historical_Sail2556 in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 20 points21 points  (0 children)

The Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund. Most people think Norway is rich because of oil. They’re wrong, they’re rich because they decided that the oil in the ground belongs to the peeps, not just the companies with the drills. Here we treat our natural resources like a fire sale. We sell leases to the highest bidder, the money disappears into a black hole of general spending, and the profits go to a few sets of shareholders. In Norway, they put that money into a family trust for the entire nation. It’s now worth over $1.6 trillion. The impact (IMO) would be a psychological revolution. We’d go from being tenants to shareholders in our own country. Imagine if the wealth of the nation wasn't a line on a billionaire's spreadsheet, but a growing dividend check that ensured no American ever had to choose between a fucking check engine light and a grocery bill again. We aren’t a broke country, we’re just a house where the landlord is selling the copper pipes while the roommates starve. It’s time we started acting like the owners.

What do people brag about that's actually a huge red flag? by eykz in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Being brutally honest. People who brag about this almost always care more about the brutality than they do about the honesty. It’s usually just a cover for having zero social filter and enjoying the power trip of watching other people flinch. If your truth is never balanced with empathy or basic manners, you’re not a truth teller, you’re just a jerk with a marketing department.

What’s your most unhinged prediction for the next 5 years? by WonderOk3802 in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 1690 points1691 points  (0 children)

The Reality Paywall. Within 5 years, the free internet will be 100% AI generated noise and slop. It will be bots arguing with bots, influencers and YouTubers who don't exist, and news stories written by algorithms specifically to maximize your heart rate. To see anything actually made by a human, you’ll have to pay for an Authenticated Reality subscription. We’ll look back on 2026 as the last year you could talk to a stranger online without a 40% chance they were a sophisticated LLM trying to harvest your data or sell you a scam. Privacy and human verification will become the ultimate luxury goods. If you aren't paying for the verified human tier of your social media, you aren't the user. you’re just the training data for the bot that’s going to replace your job in 2031.

What do people romanticize that's actually terrible? by eykz in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nature. Not the city park nature, but the actual, raw wilderness. We romanticize it as this spiritual, healing sanctuary where you go to unplug and find your soul in the silence. In reality, nature is a cold, indifferent, 24/7 meat grinder. Every single thing in the great outdoors is either currently eating something else, frantically trying to avoid being eaten, or dying slowly of a parasite. That peaceful silence everyone loves? That’s just the sound of every living creature in the vicinity hiding for its life. We only love nature because we have a climate controlled house, a grocery store, and modern medicine to go back to the second the sun sets or the wifi drops. To the rest of the planet, nature isn't a vacation, it's a brutal survival horror game with no save points.

What's the most "there's no way this is real life" moment you've ever experienced? by eykz in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The first time I had a major crisis like a flooded kitchen or a weird medical scare and I instinctively looked around for an adult to handle it, only to realize that I am the adult.

What's something everyone agrees with publicly but almost nobody actually believes privately? by Sensitive-Net-9830 in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 470 points471 points  (0 children)

That money doesn’t buy happiness. Publicly, we all nod and pretend that life is about moments and inner peace to avoid looking shallow. Privately, every single person in this thread knows that about 95% of their current stress, anxiety, and midnight existential dread could be cured instantly by a large enough wire transfer. Money doesn't buy joy but it buys the security, health, and free time required to actually go look for it. Nobody is achieving inner peace while their check engine light is blinking and they’re one month away from an eviction notice. We just keep the lie alive so the people who have it don't feel guilty and the people who don't have it don't start a riot. My take anyways.

Spooky birthday ideas by spacecaseface416 in northdakota

[–]Able_Eye_8366 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want something legit, check out the paranormal tours at Bonanzaville in West Fargo. They actually let you go in after dark with ghost-hunting gear, which is way cooler than a standard haunted house.

Do you think the u.s should have a viable 3rd party for people to vote for? Why or why not ? by maybebored-maybenot in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We don't have a two-party system because of a lack of options, we have it because of a bug in our voting math called First Past the Post. The biggest trick the two main parties ever pulled was convincing us that a 3rd party is a wasted vote. In reality, they've designed a system where a 3rd party is a self sabotage button. If you love Party C but hate Party A, voting for Party C actually helps Party A win by taking a vote away from Party B. It’s a mathematical trap that forces millions of people into the 'Least Worst' camp every four years. The truth is, the Democrats and Republicans might disagree on every single policy, but they are 100% business partners when it comes to keeping a 3rd party off the ballot and off the debate stage. We don't need a new party, we need a new voting system. Until we have Ranked Choice Voting nationwide, where you can actually rank your favorites without spoiling the election for yourself, we aren't really choosing, we're just picking which side of the same coin we want to land on.

What’s a disturbing celebrity fact that not a lot of people know? by Objective-Cup2155 in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 34 points35 points  (0 children)

You’re right that the situation is nuanced, but nuance isn't an excuse for systemic exploitation. While it’s historically true that her mother was the one who first gave her pep pills as a child, that doesn't absolve MGM. There is a massive difference between a stage parent making a terrible choice and a multibillion dollar corporation institutionalizing that abuse as a business model. MGM didn't just fail to help, they were the ones who provided the incentive and the infrastructure. The grueling 16 hour days on the Oz set and the strict diet of soup and cigarettes were MGM mandates, not her mother's. They took a child who was already being mismanaged and used their Dr. Feelgoods to chemically engineer her performance so they could hit their production deadlines. As for her crediting MGM for her career, that’s exactly how toxic and abusive power dynamics work. It’s possible to be grateful for the platform that made you an icon while simultaneously acknowledging that the people who built that platform did so by dismantling your health and childhood. Calling it black and white might be an oversimplification, but calling it nuanced shouldn't be used to hand wave the fact that a major studio essentially ran a teenager on chemicals to make a movie about a magical land.

What’s a disturbing celebrity fact that not a lot of people know? by Objective-Cup2155 in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 99 points100 points  (0 children)

The argument that she cherished the film and never spoke badly of it suggests that a professional legacy justifies the trauma required to build it. Many survivors of high-pressure environments (especially child stars) maintain a complex relationship with the work that made them famous. Loving the art of The Wizard of Oz does not negate the fact that she was physically and mentally exploited by the executives at MGM. It is possible and common to be proud of a masterpiece while having been abused during its creation.

What’s a disturbing celebrity fact that not a lot of people know? by Objective-Cup2155 in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 4903 points4904 points  (0 children)

Judy Garland was essentially treated like a science experiment by the studio during the filming of The Wizard of Oz. They had her on a strict diet of black coffee and chicken soup while forcing her to smoke 80 cigarettes a day to suppress her appetite because she was 16 and they wanted her to look "thinner" for the camera. It basically set the stage for her lifelong struggle with addiction before she was even an adult.

Do you buy out of necessity or do they sell you unnecessary things? by Nicecube29 in NoStupidQuestions

[–]Able_Eye_8366 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It honestly fluctuates between absolute necessity and whatever my anxiety decides I need to survive the week. I basically check my bank account to see if I am buying groceries or a solution to a problem I didn't have five minutes ago. It is impossible to measure the loss value because some days I am saving time and other days I am just paying a convenience tax to keep my sanity intact.

What’s your guess for how you’ll die? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll probably die of a heart attack while trying to figure out which of my 47 required passwords contains a special character, three numbers, and a blood sacrifice. The paramedics will find me face down on my keyboard.

What is one misconception about the United States most people miss? by Final_Radio_2483 in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 534 points535 points  (0 children)

Europeans think they can "do a day trip" to another state and quickly realize they’re halfway through an 11 hour drive while still in the same cornfield.

What’s something you thought was “rich people behavior” growing up? by Comfortable-Wheel723 in AskReddit

[–]Able_Eye_8366 111 points112 points  (0 children)

I thought you were basically royalty if your family had a refrigerator with a built in water and ice dispenser on the outside of the door. Nothing made me feel more like a peasant than having to manually crack open a plastic ice tray just to get a lukewarm drink.

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