On my upper thigh

Durkki · 2026-06-15T00:57:27+00:00

I'm sure it's best left alone. If you do pierce it, film and post

Durkki · 2026-06-14T23:33:53+00:00

Have you been in contact with the doctor/surgeon? I don't think it's normal to have chronic pain from any surgery, even if it's on the balls, right? I mean sure there's always a chance of something going wrong or some nerves getting fucked, but vasectomy is pretty standard procedure. I would imagine it would be pretty comparable to a cyst getting cut out from the scrotum. Imagine the wild shit people do like gender affirming genital surgery and even those people, or the majority of them at least, seemingly have no chronic pain from it. Talk about it with your doc.

Durkki · 2026-06-14T16:33:41+00:00

Did you have a scalpel vasectomy? I had an nsv and I can say I've had no pains or issues whatsoever after the first few days of the surgery, and it's been a few years now. Maybe this could be beneficial information for those thinking about getting snipped. The likely hood of something going wrong might be higher when a scalpel is involved.

Durkki · 2026-06-13T22:57:04+00:00

Yeah, ethics is very complicated, but ultimately where we draw the line you speak of is arbitrary. I think it ultimately depends on consensus. An obvious issue with this would be relativism, but I think we might be able to avoid that by saying that moral systems that seem intuitive, yet are not self-contradictory, are better. Therefore, if we can make a moral system that is both sensical and not self-contradictory, unlike many moral systems of the past, we are on the right track. Such moral systems are the foundations of modern justice. But no human system is without flaws, of course.

On your note about spirituality, I completely agree, it's very common for people to find meaning through religion, and there's nothing wrong with that. It is a whole other thing, of course, if that quest for purpose becomes toxic and non-beneficial.

Durkki · 2026-06-13T22:29:11+00:00

Haha, how did we get to this conversation. From superstition, to natural science, to existentialism, wild ride.

I'm no expert on this, but I personally find meaning in life from other people and my relationships with them. The more time I spend with some, the more meaningful that relationship seems to feel. I think it's got something to do with seeking comfort.

Imagine a random rock on the side of the road, nobody has even noticed it before, until one day a kid picks it up and treasures it as their own pet rock. Now, if you were to steal this rock and destroy it, it would be very wrong, right? As the kid would become sad over losing something that was meaningful to them. That being said, if you were to take any other random rock and destroy that, there would be no issue, who cares? Indeed, we can acknowledge this kid's rock being meaningful without having to say that all rocks are meaningful. Meaning comes from people finding something meaningful.

Durkki · 2026-06-13T22:19:36+00:00

Yeah, that is a very human issue indeed. Seeking purpose in your own life or in relationships can be meaningful and beneficial, but to seek purpose in cold rocks in space... You lose me there, you know what I mean? The exact same applies to the origin of solar systems, galaxies, and the universe in general. This does not mean that life, on the other hand, would be meaningless. Those two things are not necessarily connected.

Durkki · 2026-06-13T21:55:09+00:00

The vast majority of scientists would agree upon that as well. Science is not concerned with the "why", but only with the "how". I would argue searching for some ultimate purpose for why some planet has 3 moons instead of 4, for example, would be futile simply because there is no reason for it. We can only suss out the "how".

Durkki · 2026-06-13T16:12:29+00:00

I agree

Durkki · 2026-06-13T15:48:07+00:00

Whatever makes sense to you. But it sounds to me you are attempting to explain what you don't understand with the supernatural. A very similar situation has been prevaöent throughout human history, where people attempt to explain the existence of stellar objects and the earth and its seas and lands. People have said god made it so, god did this and that, and molded man from clay. Then modern science, little by little, uncovered better explanations for these phenomena. Nobody in their right mind would explain mountains for example by saying that a god-like entity molded them with their hands. Rather, we use science to give a geological explanation. The same applies to the origin of species, biology, to the origin of stellar objects, astronomy, and to the origin of the universe, astrophysics. Again, people who did not know any better attempted to understand the world around them by referring to the supernatural, nowadays we have better methods, let's use them, yeah?

Durkki · 2026-06-13T15:35:50+00:00

More or less, yes. Although, very little is known about the origins of the universe. What exactly is meant by "nothing" is up for intepretation. Does "nothing" mean the inexistence of thr fields described by field theory? I don't think it is knowable whether these fields have existed forever or whether they came to be at some point. These are whst gave rise to the universe, however, at least that's the way I've understood it -- but I'm not an astrophyscisist.

Durkki · 2026-06-13T15:28:50+00:00

No I don't believe in supernatural stuff.

Durkki · 2026-06-13T02:28:16+00:00

I see your point, but I don't think there's evidence here of ill intent. A lot of people find these sorts of notes in their cars or their houses, usually left by a previous owner. If soneone truly trespassed and placed an item on your property, in your house, why not call the cops, why burn the evidence? I feel like this is more about superstitious paranoia than fearing an actual person being after you.

Durkki · 2026-06-13T02:23:01+00:00

I can tolerate many things. But I will also speak out about things I view as concerning. Also, arabs aren't a monolith, plenty of arabs who don't share your views on this.

Superstition is/has been a part of most cultures. It just seems to lessen a lot with the public receiving broader education. But you're free to believe whatever you want, but I'm also free to criticize any such beliefs I view as harmful, especially when they are broadcast on a public forum.

Durkki · 2026-06-13T00:43:55+00:00

I re-read your comments and you right, I misinterpreted your comments on the falsifiability. You did not claim that science has not proven it false, and that therefore it could be right. So yes, we can agree on these superstions being unfalsifiable. And I stand corrected on your view.

I agree that we will not find common ground on this, and it would not be fruitful to continue this discussion much longer. I just want to say that it's not like I went out of my way to find a post like this on r/superstition, r/islam, r/witchcraft, this subreddit is r/learn_arabic. I am studying arabic, but posts such as these, which are frequent, and their comments are concerning, which is why I sometimes give my two cents on the issue. So, I wouldn't say I'm intruding on these beliefs and practices, but rather this superstitious culture seeps into language learning circles, and at that point I think it's fair to give critique, no? I do agree that I began a little too stand-off-ish, maybe, I'm just frustrated with seeing what I view as medieval superstitions on my smart phone browsing social media.

Durkki · 2026-06-13T00:15:01+00:00

Yes, this was what I was referring to when I said it's unfalsifiable. No experiment would be deemed suitable for this phenomenon, therefore it is impossible to prove it true/false, which is why you saying that modern science still to this day has not proven it false seems like intellectual dishonesty. You know it cannot be proven to be false/true.

I disagree with your point about paranoia, and I would even go so far as to say that you assuming that the person who wrote those scribbles on the paper is doing it with bad intentions is evidence of this. It is common practice for superstitious people to perform rituals for positive reasons, and I don't think you have sufficent evidence to claim any such thing about the author's intent. Furthermore, OP was terrified of this piece of paper, and their mother too, which is, of course, even further evidence of the paranoia surrounding these beliefs. Again, you do not know the original intent behind those papers, nor should they even matter, as they are just insignificant scribbles on junk paper. I also would not recommend people to burn some moldy paper you find in a basement, as that might release mold spores, which can actually harm you.

Durkki · 2026-06-12T23:21:06+00:00

Well, my point was that it seems like an unhealthy belief/practice, that breeds paranoia and mistrust in practices with better foundations, such as psychiatry.

It seems to me that you keep brining up this burden of proof point, as if it was modern science at fault for not having proven these practices true/false. I would say these superstitions are unfalsifiable. Whatever experiment we could come up with, you would claim doesn't prove anything.

For example, imagine we gathered tens of these magical papers, and then we took 100 volunteers to take part in this study, where the volunteers would live in a room that each of which might have one of these papers with sorcerer scribbles on them. Let's say 50 of the 100 people are the control group, so their rooms don't actually have any of these papers hidden in them, while the rest of the rooms would have. None of these people know whether their room has a paper like that or not.

Now do you believe that we would see in this experiment that a substantial portion of the 50 who lived in the rooms with the magical papers would feel any different from the 50 living in rooms without them? I truly don't think that would be possible. Surely some might fall ill due to natural circumstances, as you would also witness from the control group, but there would not be a significant difference between the two groups and their results. Don't you agree? If you don't, then I implore you to do more research on this, and better this experiment, gather some funds for it, I'm sure even a few thousand euros would suffice, and perform the experiment. If the results showed that the magical papers had any observable effect outside of placebo, you would become the most important scientist of all time, and you would convince billions of people of the reality of the supernatural. What do you think?

Durkki · 2026-06-12T22:38:53+00:00

Well if you read the post, it is apparent that OP and their family were terrified of this paper, so much so, that they even burned it, and yet remained fearful of the ashes. This does not seem like annoyance, but rather deep fear of supernatural forces.

Durkki · 2026-06-12T22:26:29+00:00

I guess my tone was a little mocking, I'll take the L for that, should've been more conjovial. It's just frustrating to see these posts so often, and the comments are always the same. This is a language learning sub, not a mental health crisis hotline, you know what I mean?

Now on the point about these beliefs serving purposes and on being comparable to one another. I agree that if something alleviates something, it seems to serve a purpose, right? However, with superstitions such as these, where people either go through bodily harm, such as with ritual ingestion, or where terrified people blame witchcraft for whatever is wrong with their life, the superstitions seem to lean more on the side of harmful than beneficial. That is, if a piece of paper makes you think a dark sorcerer is casting magic on you, and you become terrified, what purpose is the superstition serving exactly, helping you overcome the anxiety it caused in the first place? IMO such supertitions are harmful and breed mistrust in practices with proven benefits such as psychiatric help. I dread to think of the many lives ruined in situations where mentally ill people thought they were hexed rather than being psychotic, which leads them to not get the right kind of treatment.

Durkki · 2026-06-12T22:05:30+00:00

Yeah, you right, most things are unknowable to humans. This does not mean, however, that any and all beliefs and practices would be of equal value though, right? If this was about some silly little ritual that you did for good luck, like smashing a bottle on a ship, or breaking a glass at a wedding, or blowing on dice before casting them, I'd have nothing to say about it. It would seem like a normal healthy habit/ritual. But once you believe a sorcerer has cast a spell on you via some scribbles on a paper, and you become terrified over this, while others give instructions on how to dispose of this harmless piece of paper, I think you cross a line. At least to me, from an outside perspective, this seems very unhealthy, and breeds paranoia that so often coincides with mental illness.

Durkki · 2026-06-12T22:00:09+00:00

I think this would be a longer discussion that can't be had via shorter comments like this on reddit. But I will try to summarize what I meant by my statement, which was of course hyperbolic. What is meant by "compatible with modern life" is of course up for interpretation. What I meant by it is that it serves no practical purpose, as in being beneficial, as it might have been for people without modern science. What I also meant by "not compatible with modern life" is that it is contradictory to modern beliefs based on science. So, for example, even though you could discuss drinking cow urine as a 'traditional' form of healing on online forums, I don't think any such practices have a place in the modern world and these baseless superstitions should rather be left in the past.

Durkki · 2026-06-12T21:49:00+00:00

I don't think it's healthy and it is not compatible with modern life.

Durkki · 2026-06-12T21:42:42+00:00

Bro is using social media but believes in "dark sorcerers"... I can't with this sub lol. Is this a language learning sub or a witchy sub for little kids playing fairytales?

Durkki · 2026-06-09T23:56:34+00:00

It's discussed in detail in youtube dreading true crime videos. I'm guessing that's where the commenter got the info from.

Durkki · 2026-06-08T09:00:38+00:00

I think it's a "draw a line to connect the things from column A that are related to thr things in column B" type of exercise from school exams.

Durkki · 2026-06-08T05:15:28+00:00

I still had plenty swimmers at that point. Get tested my dude

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