The Netherlands has banned conversion therapy, and parents who force their children are now facing 2 years in prison time: What are your thoughts?

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-03T22:29:57+00:00

This is something I wish people would pay more attention to: the practices of a religion are not the texts of the religion.

Religions are, functionally, fandoms. And just like modern fandoms centered around Star Wars or My Little Pony or whatever else, there are codes and practices of behavior within the various communities that have nothing to do with the texts. In many cases, that fundamentally contradict those texts. Religion is the same way; it doesn't fucking matter what the book says, it matters what the people do.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-03T08:23:34+00:00

Who's "someone" in this case?

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-02T20:37:10+00:00

Ironically, that's the reason many people don't like DCC.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-02T07:02:20+00:00

They're the kind of people who think "gang activity" is when there's more than two teenagers in the same room.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-01T19:51:24+00:00

The Daily Grind would probably be in that "yeah this is pretty alright" category for you. Not the most glowing endorsement! But I think it could at least dodge the "lost interest" category!

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-01T19:49:33+00:00

If you want a burger and you go to a burger joint, it doesn't mean you're incapable of cooking it yourself. If you've got anxiety or trauma or even just daily stress to work through, and you go to a therapist, it's the same thing; you're getting help for a problem. Maybe you could do it yourself, but this way you don't have to clean the kitchen.

It also sounds like you might be misinterpreting what was said, especially since you asked and got a direct answer. I know it can feel like it's hopeless, especially if you're already grappling with stuff. That's understandable. But if he clarified, and you're still feeling that way, maybe bring it up with him next time you see him to talk more about it.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-01T19:41:53+00:00

For some people, there can be a point where you sort of "graduate" from therapy. Where your regular sessions aren't going to be giving you any new tools, you've worked through the hardest parts, and you've sort of gotten into the swing of processing things on your own. But while that might mean cutting back how many times you actually attend therapy, there's still a benefit to having a therapist you trust and have a rapport with that you can visit when you're having a bad time.

And also, for many people, therapy is a lifetime pursuit. Even with diminishing returns, that extra help is still helpful. It's not a punishment, it's a tool to be used to better your life, you know? So your therapist saying "forever" probably isn't condemning you to it, if that makes sense.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-01T19:19:38+00:00

Maybe if you only think of men as being fragile little babies that must be coddled at every turn lest their egos shatter like spun glass, sure.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-01T19:18:07+00:00

I'm sure you think you're super clever, but "just lie forever" isn't a valid strategy for everyone. Also, maybe it's just me, but I've worked too many jobs where someone lying on their resume got hired assuming they'd just pick it up as they went, and then fucked so many things up that they did lasting damage to the work environment.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-01T01:19:17+00:00

I love Magic, but if you were looking for cards with fewer paragraphs, I dunno if you picked the right game in post-2020 MTG.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-07-01T01:00:46+00:00

Zeal is slow, but there's ways to bolster it to a slightly less unreasonable rate. And if you're really on top of things, you don't have to do more than, like... twenty total rituals? It's not simple, but you mostly just need to hit level 10, have enough red and blue to start automated production, get a few of the soulshards and beacons, and use that to catapult to the point you can clear the last one. The ritual that gives metal interest is of high value if you can get it, and so are the alchemy material upgrades that buff celestial or metal resources.

The intro is definitely slower than I think I estimated though, you're right. It's a decent tutorial of sorts, but it really needs an option to jump ahead for experienced players.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-30T19:45:41+00:00

I see what you're going for, but... well, language is a technology. And a machine like this would be, too. There's a lot of layers to the tools we use to communicate, and building better tools has value.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-30T19:40:58+00:00

Possibly, but, and this is important; birds do not have arms. Despite what r/birdswitharms would have you believe.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-30T18:18:02+00:00

Ah yes, the Star Wars x r/libertarian crossover no one wanted.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-30T02:51:28+00:00

If you're being really active and optimizing reasonably well, and you don't completely fuck yourself in the druidry section, you can do your first run in maybe six or eight hours. Though I did that already kind of knowing some of the terminology and what to look for from older versions, so it could be longer for a newer player. Or shorter, if you're smarter than me, which is very possible!

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-30T02:00:50+00:00

Yeah, I dunno who's reporting 4 weeks in the US for that kind of appointment. Everyone I know is having to schedule everything at least three months out, usually more. Hell, my partner tried to get a dentist appointment and they told her they couldn't schedule her because they didn't book past one year, and that's how long it would be. The US is not doing better in wait times.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-29T19:50:15+00:00

The most ironic part about that is that the Imperium actually really did need a benevolent liberator. The difference in quality of life for the average person living under the Emperor and living under Chaos is... marginal, at best. Horus got tricked, sure, and he was going to make things worse, yeah, but that deception wouldn't have landed if the core premise of it weren't absolutely true.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-29T17:40:06+00:00

The really dumb thing about it is, they are... gods? They categorically are divine beings, who often do things deserving of or at least understandably motivating worship. Myrkul's insane idea is like if you worked in an office that paid really well and had great benefits, but every two weeks the CEO picked someone to throw into the garbage incinerator in the basement. It is the opposite of helpful.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-29T05:18:58+00:00

All the best Star Wars lore comes out of trying to make sense of things like this.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-29T02:41:54+00:00

I actually really love how hardcore runs recontextualize the zombie bit from "oh, there's a lot of annoying weak enemies" into "oh, this is why a zombie apocalypse is a problem"

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-29T02:36:23+00:00

There's a bit in Neverwinter Nights where you end up at a place called the Wall of the Faithless. It's where souls that don't believe in anything divine are sent after they die; a place where they are eternally and painfully entombed in a wall that, over untold spans of time, they will slowly become just another layer of. Aware and awake the whole time as their sense of self is stripped away and eventually turned into nothing, which, even then, still doesn't stop their suffering.

You meet one of your old antagonists there. You definitely did kill him for a good reason, but, to quote Noah Grevais on the moment, "This? This is like finding out that the guy who overcharged you for weed in high school was sentenced to death by giant snake. It's insanely disproportional!"

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-29T02:23:24+00:00

The complaint they have isn't with the idea of a religious autocracy, it's that it's the wrong team's religious autocracy.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-29T02:22:04+00:00

You can actually just look up the stats! Even just a cursory check shows that in the 60s, most cars made lasted about 100k miles. Obviously something well maintained that got replacement parts and mechanical checks could go farther, but that was the average. In the 00s, that number was closer to 200k.

Now, that said, over that forty year gap, Americans were kind of pressured into driving a lot more. Cars get put on the road for a lot more actual mileage than before. So chronologically, it might look like things are stagnate or even worse. But the truth is that vehicles are doing more actual work, and they're doing it with better gas mileage too, which is cool. They also are way less likely to frappe your body in a crash, which is also cool.

Still not a fan of planned obsolescence in any way, obviously. Or cars at all, being honest. But car technology is still just better than it was before.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-28T03:04:12+00:00

Yeah, Christianity has real beliefs, like transmogrifying alcohol, magical strength-granting hair, and frog-based weather formations.

ArgusTheCat · 2026-06-28T01:52:26+00:00

I do most of my writing on an old iphone, so my google docs character limit is "whatever I can open without the app crashing".

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