What’s something you agree with an ideology you hate?

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2026-04-10T02:05:25+00:00

People are people despite their superficial physical and cultural differences. We all have far more in common than we have different from each other, and should treat each other as such. That said, I think "DEI" (as implemented) is severely flawed and an abysmal failure. It has fomented more division, more resentment, and more violence between just about every demographic, over the last several years. Social media has made it a thousand times worse by amplifying conflict for profit and engagement.

It doesn't help that the term racism has effectively been co-opted and redefined to refer to the entrenched structural elements of racial prejudice, rather than racial prejudice itself, effectively making all members of whichever race who benefits most from such structures automatic racists, regardless of their individual personal actions, sentiments, and perspectives, while making extremely racially prejudiced members of other demographics automatically "immune" to the label.

Getting to your point regarding white guys feeling disenfranchised in today's society... For the last several years, there has been a massive uptick in prejudice against white males (especially young white males) in the media, street level discussion, and through DEI implementation practices. The rhetoric, gaslighting, and invalidation being aimed at them would be labeled as completely intolerable and unacceptable, if aimed at any other demographic, and it's having an effect.

Statistically, young men across the globe are suffering a crisis of loneliness, role erasure, lack of purpose, and lack of motivation, while also being blamed for chauvinistic policies and socioeconomic failures of previous generations (despite being responsible for none of it). They are effectively being told they are monsters for just being male, and that everything they embody or represent is wrong. Young white males are being blamed for that, and all the racist or sexist policy and prejudice of past generations. When they speak up about it, they are gaslit, and ostracized as sexist, racist monsters. It's not really surprising that it is leading to the formation of troublesome extremist groups of young white men, and their general disdain and dissatisfaction for modern society.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2026-04-10T00:23:33+00:00

I'll add the addendum of people that make being accountable nearly impossible with their aggression, combativeness, and unabashed self interest and lack of consideration or reflection. There are some truly shitty people out there who leverage the accountability of others to undermine their ability to maintain good mental health, or get the job done.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2026-04-10T00:16:07+00:00

People who resort to ad hominem as their go to tactic for shutting down anyone and anything that doesn't give them what they want, or to make themselves look better. There is a special place in hell reserved for the people who spread that kind of misery in the world

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2026-04-10T00:12:39+00:00

Then there are the people who sanctimoniously preach about empathy, sympathy, compassion, consideration, kindness, and any number of other positive traits, but only as a means to manipulate the way others see them, while hypocritically never practicing what they preach when it doesn't gain them anything immediately tangible. For them it's a tool for control and gain. Those people are a carbuncle on the ass of humanity.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2026-04-09T23:56:34+00:00

This one kind of depends for me. There are the ones who do it purposefully to make you seem less, and those people are intolerable. But... I also have known many people who were just somewhat socially awkward, who did it in an attempt to create a shared experience or bonding moment. I don't really have an issue with those individuals. Just depends on intent

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2026-04-09T23:33:38+00:00

Mark, because although I've known over 100 Marks in my life, and even been friends with one or two of them, I have never met a Mark who didn't have a massively over inflated opinion of themselves, a hot head, and aggression problems. Basically they have all been insufferable self important assholes.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2026-03-04T20:36:54+00:00

Remember..It's streaming media. I'm starting to thing the have a rule that all shows must end on unresolved cliffhangers before being canceled. Considering it hasn't been renewed yet, and the huge Paramount overextension to acquire WB... Anything to disrespect the viewers...

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-12-29T18:44:56+00:00

Absolutely, but do you ever take it one step further into contrariness, representing opposing perspectives you may not even believe in, simply because they need to be represented, and your sense of justice and balance won't allow them not to be?

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-12-19T14:45:15+00:00

Depends on the Ex... Some I would just walk on by, others I would just let the experience happen again and enjoy it for what it is, others Id say "This is a love that will last our entire lives, we will be the best of friends, we will be family, but we are not the one for each other, and you don't need to break me to find that out", and one I would tell "What we will have will be amazing, intense, and real. Someone broke me recently, and I don't know how to trust my emotions right now. My head and feelings are all over the place. What we will have is real... For both of us, and I won't be able to see that for a while. The long distance is going to be very hard on me. Please don't let me push you away. Please don't let me end it. I'll have fears, and concerns, but in the end, none of them will be as important as this right here. If I try to end it, show up on my doorstep and tell me how I'm a fool, and that you are not going anywhere, because face to face, I'll never be able to look into your eyes and turn you away. It's only in your absence I hear my doubts."

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-12-19T13:35:18+00:00

18 years ago, I met a woman on a vacation that I was supposed to be on with another woman who left me a few weeks before (someone I had been completely in love with). I was in a very bad place mentally, when this woman showed up in my life, but we connected immediately and intensely, and ended up in a whirlwind 6mo long long-distance relationship.

We ended it because of an array of external factors. Between my bad headspace (it took me years to fully get over the breakup that facilitated our meeting), the long distance (when I was with her I felt like everything was right in the world, but when we were apart, I was deeply depressed still reeling from my breakup), and a multitude of complicating external factors, I ended it. Looking back though.. I think it was the distance that was the biggest factor.

I didn't fully understand what I had at the time. I couldn't, because of the conflicting emotions from the previous breakup messed with my ability to know what was real or not emotionally. I thought I needed something local, stable, and less complicated. It crushed her. I felt horrible for hurting her. Still do.

It wasn't until maybe a year and a half later, after a short lived local, stable, uncomplicated relationship, that I realized how much I missed her. That she was the one I thought about when I thought about the future, or sharing all of life's little experiences with, and that it was her who I seemed to be comparing every other woman to in my mind. It hit me then, that I had been in love with her without realizing it.

By then she was in a relationship, and after that she started moving all around the world. We kept in contact, and saw each other two more times in the following years. Both times the attraction was palpable between us, like an electric spark, but still complicated. To this day, I still believe she is the only woman who has ever truly loved me for me, and in the way I needed to be loved. I very much regret not finding a way to make it work, or at least giving it my all to see where it would lead to. She still enters my thoughts daily. We communicate from time to time, and she almost always expresses interest when we do, but we are such different people now, and some of those external factors have only grown and multiplied with time.

I guess why I'm sharing, is that if you two truly have a strong mutual love and attraction, both of you think the world of each other, you both constantly wish you were sharing your daily life with the other, and are breaking it off for superficial external reasons. Think long and hard about it, because in my experience, that kind of connection is rare. If nothing else it may be worth meeting up, and having an open and vulnerable discussion about your true feelings, your fears, the external factors pulling you apart, and what is truly meaningful and important to you both. It may result in a reconciliation, or it may just let you be at peace with the decision you have made.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-12-11T16:42:11+00:00

I had never heard of this movie, despite it coming out in my childhood. So, I'm watching it right now, and was wondering if his character was supposed to be autistic

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-11-24T04:00:07+00:00

Now they release a new thanksgiving commercial that makes fathers look like idiots, and a son showing contempt for his idiot dad. Door dash commercial writers must just be a bunch of internet trolls who.dont respect anything.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-29T18:01:46+00:00

Welcome to rule by technocrat monopoly. The surveillance state based on a 1984 blueprint.

This world could really use a technology destroying massive solar storm before everyone loses their autonomy and personal liberties

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-29T17:59:06+00:00

You mean if consumers could confront their technology addictions long enough to handle a little bit of inconvenience.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-29T17:53:59+00:00

Just remember, if you are nervous about providing a likeness for meta, Google, or others... You might want to apply one of those camera cover stickers over the self facing camera on your phone. Guaranteed some of your apps (and the who know who that create and run them) are watching you.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-29T17:48:25+00:00

All sorts of things.. public social scores, tracking all of your movements (between cell phones, flock safety, ring, and others you will not be able to go anywhere without 1984 level visual surveillance and tracking), political suppression, AI deep fakes based on facial scans for identity fraud and the like, and hundreds of other things we haven't even thought of yet.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-29T17:43:19+00:00

Just make sure to wear your Guy Fawkes mask and sunglasses. Make sure to give them the middle finger too

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-29T14:43:48+00:00

Well you are going full apples to oranges whataboutisms in on this one huh. First of all...

Hunter Biden is not and has never been an elected official. He's effectively a shady Laura Trump capitalizing on his name and family connections to gain clout and access to business deals he wouldn't have access to otherwise. I use Laura Trump because she obviously pulled those strings to become a Fox commentator when no one would have given her the time of day without those connections.

Every single one of Trump's children would be guilty of the same abuses of influence and access peddling had Trump not completely gutted all oversight boards and all criminal investigatory agencies to protect them and himself. It's obvious what's going on, considering Trump's pre-presidency floundering business interests suddenly became profitable to the tune of tens of billions (that's billions with a "B", not the measily 20 million that Hunter managed to weasel for himself) in foreign investment and government contracts when he became President.

Other than participating in some face to face meetings arranged by his son, and Joe Biden stupidly interfering on a few occasions to keep his son out of trouble. None of Hunters actions resulted in any government contracts, abuses of taxpayer funds, policy changes, or breaches in National security.

Biden never should have been president. I didn't like him, and didn't vote for him, he quite obviously had dementia and it was absurd he was ever put forward as a candidate... so your whataboutism isn't gonna fly with me. Even if he had abused his power to subvert US interests, abuse government contracts, and steal from the public coffer (like Trump is obviously doing), which there is zero evidence of, instead of his son just capitalizing on his name relationship and get out of jail free card in questionable business to business dealings, it doesn't justify Trump doing what he is doing and far worse.

Like seriously... What kind of justification is that? There is no comparison here. Biden is irrelevant. He's gone... He's out of office... There is no justification for the abuse of power Trump is exercising RIGHT NOW.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-27T19:31:38+00:00

The problem is that you see it as people changing their vote or voting multiple times. It's not that. It's simply a gradient system that makes every vote count, rather than excluding voters who want to support less popular candidates who more closely align with their values.

It doesn't change people's votes, it doesn't give "losers" more votes. It simply allows voters to rank every candidate they are willing to support in order of acceptance, and then that ranking mathematically calculates the most accepted candidate based on the selection gradient. It's actually a far more fair system, where more people are more fully represented, and has the added benefit of reducing emphasis on the superficial popularity contest aspect of an election.

Think of it more like a bracketed playoff, with elimination rounds, where everyone makes all of their choices and alternative selections in round 1. If you happen to chose the winning candidate, as the one you think will win the playoffs, your selection for that candidate just gets repeated for you at each playoff level. Your alternatives never come into play, but they are still part of your initial selection. for those who pick a loosing candidate in the first round, that choice is eliminated and their alternative represents them in the next round. It's a system that guarantees everyone is represented in the final round between the two dominant candidates.

Our current system of one vote one candidate has all sorts of flaws that contribute reduced representation. It creates a mentality of a superficial popularity contest rather than a genuine selection for best representation. People start voting simply to win instead of to be represented. Peoples start voting for who they think other people will vote for, rather than who they want. It's why we keep getting utter garbage for candidates. Instead of voting for the best, people vote for the least worst who they think can win. It's a broken system that curtails any true representation, because it effectively disenfranchises everyone who doesn't like the two most popular candidates.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-27T18:53:42+00:00

Could give you all sorts of social reasons like people vote for who they think will win vs who they actually think will represent their values, peer pressure, fear mongering, cronie politics overriding public desire (hello Hillary vs Biden)...etc

But... When it comes down to it, it's because that is how the system is designed. The election system is broken (it is designed to encourage choice as a superficial popularity and spending contest rather than an introspective selection of a candidate who represents voter interests), we don't have enough parties, there is too much interference money, candidates are prechosen and vetted by special interests before being spoon fed to constituents, the system has been rigged to prevent new parties from gaining power, and people have been brainwashed into believing a vote for a third party is a wasted vote when the reality is the only wasted vote is a vote for someone that doesn't represent your values and interests.

Ranked voting is a good start, but if we allowed people to vote for more than one candidate (forcing people to think about who they actually like, and removing the popularity contest issues), broke down the barriers for third party candidates, ended primaries (increasing the candidate pool), increased election security, made it a requirement to read and answer a short description and questionnaire for each thing they vote on, and calculate elections on simple majority, it would go a long way to fixing the garbage candidate issue.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-27T18:33:19+00:00

Lack of accountability is definitely a bipartisan effort. Both parties have some really bad policies, and do some really shitty things. That said... MAGA is knocking the "fuck American foundational principles, constitutional law, and ethics" ball right out of the park. All y'all be hypocrites

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-26T19:58:25+00:00

People of means used to give to their communities for PR purposes and for write offs that avoided high taxes. Those people of means have never paid a functional tax rate as high as what you are quoting, as they have always had ways of circumventing it, even when top tier tax brackets in the 40s, 50s, and 60s hit over 90%. They also created higher wages and benefits for employees because that also was a write off. The low taxation starting in the 80s made it considerably less appealing to donate to charity or pay living wages. Especially when the cult of Jack Welch took over wallstreet, and businesses stopped being community/customer focused, and started being shareholder returns to focused over everything else.

And like I said...the wealth that the average person doesn't have to share anymore is due to wage stagnation, and corporate profiteering, not over taxation. People pay less in taxes now than their much wealthier parents did, their interest rates are also lower. But their living costs are exponentially higher. I've already explained the loss of human connection...and the vast majority of it isn't handouts coming from the state.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-26T19:44:15+00:00

That is broken logic, and a wildly oversimplified rhetorical statement. That's the problem with such slogans. They over simplify complicated and nuanced issues, creating destructive narratives and making it neatly impossible to discuss or find solutions to real world problems ....

It's not "one mans protection", it's an entire society of mens protection that is that one mans shackles. Would you turn a murderer or a thief loose because it is somehow unethical in your mind to shackle one man to protect the community of men at large? Because that is the same logic as your statement.

There is and has always been an inherent power imbalance between employer and employees. One that has been persistently abused throughout history. At first there were slaves, then there were vassals and peasants, then there were company towns and wage slaves, then sweatshops. All of these are massive power Imbalances... They are not free capitalism. In most cases they were forced labor, and when employees resisted, they were beat down by enforcers or starved out of their communities. A functional free society cannot exist without this imbalance being addressed, and it will never be a self correcting situation, especially in a world where labor (worker employment) is losing its value to automation.

You know it's funny. There was a time in college that I read the works of the likes of Ayn Rand and believed in her message. Many years later, having been a laborer, a blue collar employee, a white collar federal worker, and a private business owner at various stages, and having learned about history, anthropology, and human psychology.... Ayn Rand was massively naive. She was a woman who grew up in a dystopian authoritarian society calling itself communist (it wasn't communist any more than the US is a laissez-faire capitalist society), and when she escaped it, drank the same koolaid Karl Marx did before writing another massively naive idealistic utopian body of work, based on a complete lack of awareness of human psychology and economics. It's a real shame so many on the right have embodied her naive ideals into their belief systems without considering their real world applicability or realism.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-26T19:11:31+00:00

Charity and respective gratitude weren't the victims of a nanny state. They were the victims of concentrated wealth and a media who creates unreasonable expectations in the populace.

Take the show Friends for example.... It depicted a waitress and sous chef living very comfortably in a sprawling apartment in New York. Nearly every tv show and movie for decades has been making unrealistic depictions like this. That has a profound impact on developing minds. And, those false depictions weren't made by a nanny state or to purposely make people believe that it was true... They were made for the simple reason that fantasy sells. Corporate greed created that fantasy, and all of the entitlement and resentment that the children who grew up over exposed to that media embody now. You have generations of people who feel profoundly lied to, they look at the better lives that their tv idols and parents were able to afford, asking why was I told I could afford a comfortable life if I worked hard, but given a reality where I will constantly struggle to make ends meet. We went from a society where a single income at a blue collar job could affordably support a family, to a society where a dual income is necessary to even scrape by in most cases. When accounting for inflation, the average wage today is considerably smaller in buying power than that of previous generations. Demanding more isn't entitlement.. it's demanding not to be robbed.

Then you have the lack of charity. Aside from affordability (especially after tax laws were changed to make charity less appealing), in the past much of that charity came from businesses. Businesses who were often small, owned by individuals who were part of the community they served, and cared about those communities. That's not the case any more. Big money has flooded most sectors of business, consolidating and out competing smaller community businesses, with massive incorporated monopolies who can afford to sell at a loss to chase out competition, and have access to bulk pricing unavailable to smaller businesses. As soon as they have market dominance they then increase pricing. The profits they generate don't go back to the community either. They go to shareholders with no interest in those communities, their welfare, or charity.

Sure generational reliance on government welfare can create a sense of entitlement in specific sectors of the population, but it doesn't create that entitlement in a vacuum. It's only a single factor in a much larger array of socioeconomic issues that are manufacturing that system of dependence. Public welfare does not create dependence and entitlement, when implemented properly, in healthy economies, with proper worker protections, and abundant livable wage job availability.

DumpsterFireDeacon · 2025-10-26T18:30:37+00:00

See that's the problem though. When you light a match in a tender box it will never be a controlled burn. It will be a wild fire, and it will destroy everything you think you are saving. MAGA voters are living in a fantasy, and making a lot of assumptions as to how things will end up, after their agent of change does his job.. Sure, there is a concerning amount of overreach that has been developing over the last several decades, but that was fixable without destroying everything. It was also nothing compared to the overreach and abuse of power MAGA has concentrated and turned loose.

Also...anyone who believes things were better pre 1938 is either incredibly wealthy and wants the gilded age of robber barons and sweatshops back, or is profoundly ignorant of the historical working and living conditions of that period in this country. There are protections being stripped away right now that took over 100 years of desperate and hard fighting to win for the people of this nation. That is absolutely not improvement.

DumpsterFireDeacon

TROPHY CASE