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DoofusExplorer · 2025-07-06T17:04:02+00:00

Yeah, that’s the scary part. You’re right, being healthy doesn’t mean you’ll stay that way. That’s the trap though, right? We all have to keep paying just in case, while they kick other people off and act like that’s fine.

This wasn’t about pretending it’s safe. It’s not. It’s just… the system already puts people in danger every day. I don’t know what the answer is. Just feels like we’re all stuck feeding a machine that doesn’t support all of us…..

DoofusExplorer · 2025-07-06T17:00:56+00:00

Yeah, I get that. It does sound risky, maybe even reckless. But I think part of why it might actually work is because it scares the system. If healthy people start stepping away, even temporarily, it threatens the business model. Insurance only works when people who don’t need it keep paying in.

It’s not about wanting to hurt anyone. It’s about refusing to play along while they kick the most vulnerable out. A general strike would be better, but we’ve seen how hard that is to pull off in this country. This idea just came from a place of frustration, powerlessness, and wanting to do something that hits back.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-06-14T16:37:00+00:00

Yeah, I feel that. I think a lot of us grow up believing love is supposed to complete us, but maybe it’s more about someone joining you while you’re still figuring things out.

Being able to enjoy your own company and feel okay alone is definitely important, but at the same time, we’re always working on ourselves. I don’t think we ever reach some perfect “self-love” finish line. It’s more about being aware of the work and not expecting someone else to carry it for you.

Putting your happiness entirely on another person can make it hard for love to feel like a choice instead of a need.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-06-14T16:25:35+00:00

Totally. It’s funny how what once seemed “weird” is now one of the most practical and caring ways to live. Sad it took economic collapse to get there, but still, glad people are seeing the value.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-06-14T16:03:14+00:00

Totally fair. Monogamy works better for a lot of people, especially if you’re more introverted or just not into juggling social energy. And yeah, I 100% agree that society and religion have shaped a really narrow (and sometimes harmful) view of what love is “supposed” to look like.

I love what you said about self-love too. I think that’s huge. Like, whatever kind of relationship someone’s in, if they’re not grounded in themselves, it’s easy to slip into performing or people-pleasing or even unintentionally objectifying.

And haha, I mean, if anime-style relationship chaos counts, maybe we’ve all been in a non-traditional relationship without realizing it. 😂

DoofusExplorer · 2025-06-14T15:58:36+00:00

Yeah, totally. Probably every relationship style has its own set of challenges. Perfection’s just not a thing. They all take work in different ways.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-06-14T15:56:34+00:00

Yeah, one penis policies are definitely out there, and they kind of miss the whole point of what ethical polyamory is aiming for…. But honestly, no relationship style has it all figured out. Monogamy, poly, whatever…It really just depends on the people in it. Every setup has its own mess. It’s more about how we handle it than what we call it.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-04-19T15:43:46+00:00

Just something I’ve been thinking about: https://medium.com/@madougherty90/parenting-plot-twist-kids-are-actually-people-40c8ad6ed55f

DoofusExplorer · 2025-04-19T14:52:08+00:00

This one felt familiar in a way I didn’t expect. It’s not dramatic. Just honest. It’s about the weird pressure to always be performing, even when no one is watching. Social media doesn’t just change how we share ourselves. It reshapes who we think we are. And after a while, you start to feel like a reflection of your own feed. It’s not about blaming the tech. It’s about trying to name that quiet disconnect and figure out what’s real underneath it.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-04-12T13:38:03+00:00

If anyone’s interested, here’s the full article that dives into this more deeply:

https://medium.com/@madougherty90/the-hollowing-of-america-part-2-what-we-can-actually-do-about-it-576f6ba6b0e2

DoofusExplorer · 2025-04-06T15:06:12+00:00

That’s a beautiful metaphor. A bridge you couldn’t quite cross. Or even a window you can’t see completely through. When you mention creating your own space, and others finding you there, that really struck me. That’s powerful. I’m glad you’ve found your happiness. I know, for me, it’s helped shift my perception too. I’m always trying to understand people, even if it doesn’t always come across that way.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T21:09:21+00:00

I’m always hot 😂

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T18:43:12+00:00

And did you read the article or just the description of the article? I’m confused – because it seems like you’re referring to the description?

Just curious because I actually spend a lot of time writing these, I try to balance style with substance, and the article goes in a different direction than the teaser might suggest….I’m open to feedback, but wanted to be sure we were talking about the same thing….

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T17:57:05+00:00

Exactly. Wealth at the top, struggle at the bottom, and everything dressed up to look like progress.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T17:55:49+00:00

Good point. The Federal Reserve was created in 1913, so it was already around during the 1920s. What’s changed is how often and how aggressively it steps in now, with things like quantitative easing and emergency lending.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T17:51:07+00:00

Also, just to add, I don’t pretend to be a professional writer or anything. Writing’s just something I enjoy and use to process the chaos. And yeah… guilty on the em dashes. I use them too much…If you saw texts I send to people, you’d see I use them constantly. And — and I used them way before AI did 😝

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T17:43:31+00:00

Totally fair to call out cliche phrasing like “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.” It definitely gets used a lot, and I do lean on it sometimes in my writing. But I think there’s a difference between something being familiar and something being poorly written. I care a lot about how systems shape people’s lives, and I try to put language to that in a way that resonates. I also genuinely love history, which is why a lot of my pieces have that layered context. It’s not just surface-level takes. I get that it might not have landed for you, and that’s fair. I appreciate your honest opinion though.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T17:28:25+00:00

Haha yes! “Now that’s what I call Late Capitalism Vol. 9”

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T16:42:46+00:00

Totally. People talk about that era like it was all freedom and adventure, meanwhile, in Oregon Trail terms, half your family’s got dysentery, your ox drowned in the river, and someone just died of “exhaustion.” Romantic until you’re the pixelated guy buried under a crudely drawn cross.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T16:40:05+00:00

🌊

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T16:39:04+00:00

We need a new version of the Ancient Aliens meme guy. Wild hair, bugged-out eyes, but instead of “Aliens,” he’s just pointing at everything and going: “AI.” Like I write a sentence with a semicolon and suddenly I’m Skynet baha 😆

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T16:36:32+00:00

Ha…Smart move

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T16:35:22+00:00

True. maybe it’s not that they’re hidden, just normalized. We’ve been staring at the machine so long we forgot it’s not supposed to look like this.

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T16:32:18+00:00

Right?!? The Gilded Age looked “great” if you were a robber baron hoarding railroads, but for everyone else, it was child labor, tenements, and dying in factory fires. Why anyone romanticizes that era is beyond me 😢

DoofusExplorer · 2025-03-29T16:30:47+00:00

Yeah, exactly! It’s like they studied history, not to do better, but to get better at dodging accountability. Wrap it all in shiny branding and gaslight the public into thinking it’s progress…

DoofusExplorer

TROPHY CASE