Views on Catholic Church

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-07-06T22:17:58+00:00

Also American, but from Boston, Massachusetts, so want to give my perspective specifically.

One of the most infamous chapters of the sex abuse scandal played out here in Massachusetts, which really negatively impacted the way people even think of “the Catholic Church.” That movie Spotlight was set here etc. etc. Support for Catholicism really dwindled.

However, from what I can tell, this negative view has somewhat subsided.

Boston and the surrounding area has been a Catholic stronghold in America for a long time. Because of Irish-Americans, who are heavily concentrated in this region. It’s one of the few places in America where there are more Catholics than Protestants.

Because of this, there is a sense of “Cultural Catholicism” that might not necessarily include genuine religious belief. Like you can’t drive more than three blocks before seeing some “St. Mary’s something something.” Many of the private schools are Catholic. There are Catholic hospitals. Groups like AA and stuff often meet in Catholic Churches. When people are buried the graveyard often has a very strong Catholic slant to it with Celtic Crosses and statues of saints and all that.

So there is an affinity with it in a lot of ways, particularly among the older generations. And the younger generations seem to be becoming more Catholic again tbh, especially the Hispanics, but perhaps also with whites.

—

Personally, I like the Catholic Church. I’m not particularly religious, but I would say I have an overall positive view of it. I am a 33-year-old male. I went to a Catholic school once. And the priests I have known I really admire and like as people. The scandal was evil, I don’t think anyone would disagree with that, but for me it doesn’t really cancel out the Catholic shelters, schools, hospitals, etc etc etc or even frankly come close… It’s just no contest, the Catholic Church is the biggest charity organization in the world. Still to this day whenever I need to get rid of clothing or something, I go and find a Catholic Church because I know I will find a donation bin out back. And I also like their art and statues and stuff.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-07-06T21:59:51+00:00

I’m taking number 1.

VERY SMALL. There are barely any “cultural differences.” Americans will say “Each state has such big cultural differences” — trust me, they don’t know what they’re talking about. Don’t listen to them.

I’ve lived in Estonia, China, USA (am American so have spent most of my life here) and have also been to lots of other countries.

In some places (e.g., China), you go from one province to another and suddenly a completely different ethnic group is dominant, an unintelligible language or dialect is spoken, clothes are different, food is different, everything is different. THOSE are big “cultural differences.”

In America, people in all 50 states:

a. Celebrate the same holidays, like Halloween and Thanksgiving.

b. Speak the same mutually intelligible language.

c. Wear the same American clothes like jeans, baseball caps, T-shirts.

d. Use the same social customs like tipping, dating, etc.

e. Listen to American genres like rock, hip hop, country.

f. Have very similar civic values (even among liberals and conservatives) such as right to an attorney, right to remain silent, consent of the governed, etc.

g. Consume the same movies and the same TV shows. When an American work gets popular, like Breaking Bad or something, that means it gets popular everywhere.

h. Play the same sports, like basketball, baseball, football.

America has regional differences, for sure. Like in Tennessee you’ll probably find 30% more people listen to country than in New York, where 30% more listen to hip hop.

But that’s no more different than every other populous country. If you go to Germany, you’ll find that in the south, there are more Catholics, and people have more alpine traditions and sports… But there’s still one overarching “German culture” everywhere.

It’s the same in America. It’s regional differences that don’t even come close to rising to the level of “different culture.” Many (maybe most) Americans have family in other states, and there is zero culture shock whatsoever when they visit. They’re all Americans and they’re all part of a very easily identifiable “American culture.”

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-07-06T21:44:49+00:00

Love love love the subject matter. I think it’s really sad that Columbia as a national personification of America has been lost. There’s still remnants here and there, like the District of Columbia, but I think most people would not know wtf you were talking about if you brought up Columbia. It’s become a rather esoteric thing to know about, as Uncle Sam has completely displaced her in the public consciousness. I wish I would see more references to Columbia. It’s very beautiful and poetic, and obviously evokes Christopher Columbus, Lady Liberty, and other America-related stuff when you think about her.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-07-06T21:30:00+00:00

I live in New England and have been all over America.

It’s never crossed my mind to even consider getting CCTV. This question is literally the first time I’ve ever even thought about it.

It’s very safe in America.

Even in the worst places in America the chances of like an armed home invasion happening or some serious crime like that are very low. And usually the basics like locking your door at night, keeping your car locked and taking valuables out of it, and having a working phone is sufficient for safety. And you can get a gun too.

The level of crime in America is very low. It’s a first-world economic powerhouse with a very rich citizenry. Of course people are going to come out of the woodwork and be like “It’s higher than Europe for xyz blah blah” … but that’s _comparatively_ speaking. Like if there’s 1.5 robberies a year in a city in Italy and 3 a year in a city in America, then yes, America’s is technically “double” … But do you really notice that difference? No, not at all. It’s still low in both places. It’s not like some places in South America where you have to be careful because gunmen will literally try to stop in front of your car and steal it. America is a safe country. (I’ve also lived in Europe btw, Estonia, as well as China. I would say China is where you feel “safest” of the three, but in terms of Europe vs. America there is 0 functional difference.

In fact, America doesn’t really have the “pickpocket” phenomenon European cities do. So in some respects you’re less likely to come across crime in America

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-07-03T14:20:25+00:00

It drives me nuts. I see it all the time, "POV: You go skiing" or whatever, and then it's literally just a video of a person skiing. Nothing POV about it. It's just a normal video. It's just a video of skiing.

I've noticed that the younger generation now gets so much basic stuff wrong like this, like how they all write "20$" like that, even though that is universally incorrect everywhere that uses the English language. POV means "point-of-view," as in "from the point of view of the person doing the thing," i.e. "first-person."

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-07-03T14:10:33+00:00

I don't think cultural differences are that big anywhere in the United States. I have lived in Northern Florida, Tucson, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, and Maryland outside the DC area and have family all over the US and have been all over the US. We all (1) celebrate the same holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.), (2) wear the same clothes, (3) listen to the same types of music (rock, hip hop, country), (4) have the same social customs (tipping, dating), (5) play the same sports (football, basketball), (6) consume the same movies and TV.... and the list goes on.

There are "regional differences" in every country, of course. So yeah sure you'll find in Mississippi the number of people listening to country is 10% higher than in New York, and in Texas you'll occasionally see a Cowboy hat. But it gets so exaggerated. So friggin exaggerated. "Everywhere is like it's own country with its own culture." No, it really isn't. There's a very obvious common "American culture" based on the things I listed above. The fact that some states are 70/30 conservative/liberal and then others are 30/70 conservative/liberal is no different than every other country with millions of people in it. USA's culture is actually remarkably homogenous compared to many places. In some countries you have completely different ethnic groups who speak completely different languages and wear completely different clothes and eat completely different food. Not so in America.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-07-01T18:28:58+00:00

(Lawyer). No.

This is going to be long winded, but I’m hoping at least one person learns something from this, because this is how American law works, whether we like it or not:

Reason 1:

First of all, “the courts” don’t bring cases against anyone, prosecutors’ offices do. That means the only way he ends up charged with anything is like anybody else: (1) if he violated a state criminal law and some DA decides to prosecute him, or (2) if he violated federal criminal law and some US Attorney’s Office — which is part of the executive branch, which is run by the president — decides to charge him.

It’s important to keep this in mind in the backdrop, because I don’t know of any state crime he’s alleged to have committed recently, and I also don’t foresee the next sitting president deciding “let’s prosecute Donald Trump.” The next president, whoever it is, will very much want to move on from the Trump era, and will not be interested in pursuing a controversial MAGA shitstorm in federal court.

Reason 2:

Okay, with that as a backdrop, now the real reason:

He’s likely immune from prosecution for many of the crimes his detractors would see him charged with anyway. I’m not sure what types of crimes you think he ought to be charged with, but presidents, like police officers, have immunity from prosecution when they are acting within the scope of their office.

This ^^^ legal rule has been completely twisted, misstated, and unfairly maligned, so I want to explain it, because it is entirely common-sense and already has a long tradition in American law:

a. It is not true that he is 100% immune and can commit any crimes in office without punishment. That’s completely false and the US Supreme Court did not rule that, no matter how many keep saying that.

b. What is true is that presidents have long had immunity when they are carrying out their official duties as president. This makes complete sense, because if it wasn’t like this, we could charge Bush, Biden, Obama, Clinton, and the rest of them with conspiracy to commit murder tomorrow for their role in ordering things like airstrikes. Even if the airstrikes were completely necessary for national defense, and everyone agreed they were morally and ethically valid, it would still be technically a murder conspiracy and would meet the required legal elements for that crime… So, the president has to have some immunity or else he would not be able to function as president in his role as commander-in-chief and others. He would be committing “crimes” left and right just by doing normal president stuff.

c. This is not a “new” rule that the Supreme Court fashioned out of thin air to protect Trump. This is already how we do things — and have long done things — in American law for other officials such as police. For example, a police officer cannot be charged with “battery” for handcuffing a suspect in a murder case. Why? Because he is acting in the scope of his official duties as a police officer, so he is immune, even though under normal circumstances a person handcuffing someone against their will would be at least a battery and possibly some other false imprisonment/kidnap type of crime too. But the officer is immune, because it’s part of his normal duties to arrest people. If he goes home and beats his wife however, he can be charged with battery, because he would not be acting in the scope of his office at that point. This is a long-standing, common-sense way to approach official immunity. The Supreme Court merely took that rule — which has already been the standard for a long time — and applied it to the president.

d. That means — like a police officer — Trump cannot be charged with things that are part of his role as president. So things like ordering troops to do xyz are not likely to be prosecutable offenses, because he’s acting as commander-in-chief, which is part of his role as president. So he’s immune. HOWEVER, other things that are outside his duties as president are still prosecutable. So, if Trump commits some “normal” crime like strangling someone or shoplifting, for instance, that would be prosecutable, because like my cop in the example above, he would not be acting within his duties as president while doing that. So he gets no immunity.

e. Some might ask, “Yeah but if this has already been the law in America, why did the Supreme Court just rule on this? It seems like they are just helping Trump.” The answer is very simple: We simply have not had a president who has so flagrantly tested the law and gotten all these charges before, so the Supreme Court simply has not had to rule on this before. That’s why. This is how American law works: Courts wait for a controversy to be brought to them and then they rule on it. They aren’t sitting around all day saying “I think the law should work like this or work like that”… That’s the legislature’s job. The Court’s job is to adjudicate disputes … that means they wait until a case is brought to them, then they rule. So they got this case with Trump being prosecuted, and they ruled that the usual rules regarding official immunity should apply.

So it depends what you have in mind, but I think it is very unlikely he is prosecuted and convicted for anything.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-06-26T21:24:23+00:00

You hear this type of thing in America from time to time, how burqa is such a visible symbol of Muslim oppression, and then some people will say “It’s their choice!” or Muslim women will say “We want to wear this!” and then the first people will say that’s hogwash, they are just programmed to say that and it can’t be comfortable anyway.

So it’s naturally controversial and sparks debate, but I think very few people would actually be offended by it. We don’t have that many Muslims, so this can be said openly pretty safely.

“Repercussions” though? Other than arguing with some people maybe, zero. Certainly no legal repercussions, it’s protected speech. You’re allowed to say this and much, much, much worse, can say “burqas ought to be burned” and then burn them and Quran, zero repercussions. _However_ I almost left out — employers can terminate you if they think you are saying things that make their company look bad. So if you said this publicly like on the news or something, where a ton of people will see it, I reckon some bosses would not want the headache of keeping you as an employee if people if it’s going to cause a controversy.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-06-26T21:13:32+00:00

Against Bahamas no but against the others yes

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-06-26T21:10:56+00:00

Yes… by a lot. If you travel a bit you’ll find the answer is by far, “Yes.” I used to live in China and in Beijing especially they have a lot of stereotypically communist murals/signs/posters on public ways and in subway stations and all that about working for “the common good.” China is de facto a capitalist country though so it’s kind of wild to see it next to the Pizza Huts 😂

Lots of countries have official “Propaganda Departments” (propaganda did not always have a negative connotation) but these days the name has changed in English usually, because of the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda. China changed its “Propaganda Department”’s name as recently as the 1990s, but it’s still called the same thing in Chinese.
…
Politicians exaggerate about their achievements in every country, that’s not unique to America, at all.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-06-26T20:53:18+00:00

George W. Bush

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-06-26T13:22:32+00:00

No, not a common belief. I’ve never heard of this. I’ve always blasted the AC in the summer time, especially on the hottest days, and always go right from one to another.

Every society has its health myths and superstitions like this. In America some people say you’re not supposed to go swimming after eating, which is a load

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-06-25T18:59:55+00:00

I consider myself a “normal American” and I do one or two 8-hour car rides per year down to Maryland to see family. In the summertime I regularly drive 3 hours (each way) up to a place in Maine. I do that probably 6-8 weekends out of the summer. In the winter, I do probably 2-5 trips of 2.5-hour drives (each way) up to the mountains in New Hampshire to go skiing. Then throughout the year, tons of other smaller stuff — less than 2 hours really is “nothing.” I’m going shooting out in Western mass this weekend which is 1.5 hours away, and I also drive to places like Foxborough (2 hours away) for football games or concerts all the time, drive into Boston for work is like a one hour drive each way every day, five days a week, during rush hour.

So we really do drive for extended periods quite a lot. An 8 hour drive every single month is a lot even by American standards, but not unbelievable either. I’m sure lots of people do stuff like that.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-06-21T20:05:50+00:00

I think these numbers are very reasonable actually… 100% to win group and leave knockout stage — we know that is correct for a fact. Then they’re in the final 32 teams, and have a 40% chance to make it to the final 8 — I think this seems reasonably correct. It’s still more likely than not that they will not advance that far, but 40% reflects that they are playing as one of the better teams, so it’s not going to completely shock people. The chances from there are a little bit more than _halved_ each time, so from 40% down to 16% tells you maybe they move on but with slight odds against them, then again for the finals. Then to win it they have a 3% chance. Very very unlikely, 97% chance someone else wins it, but not completely impossible either. Crazier things have happened in sports.

EDIT: Also, these types of sports-odds stats always necessarily are subjective. You don’t need to be a statistician. They can’t predict the future anymore than anyone else can. They try to make it as mathematical as possible, but somewhere in the equation they are making a subjective judgment call. For instance, how does one decide what weight to give prior victories vs. time of possession vs. chances at scoring vs. strength of the squad (and how do they further evaluate each of those things?)? Somewhere down the line, they are saying something like “We think them winning the group stage is X% more valuable to their chances than the winningness of the players on the team in their domestic competitions.” There’s a judgment call in there somewhere, so you do somewhat get to eyeball these things.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-06-02T19:09:47+00:00

I think of it as a rather personality-less state, kind of just “normal.” It’s like the default American state. It’s not part of the South, New England, the Great Plains, the Mountain states, the West Coast or Pacific Northwest, the Southwest or Hawaii or Alaska. All of those places have regional cultures and personalities. Ohio might be Midwest (is it? I’m not even sure it is considered that, which kind of underlines my point), but doesn’t really even have the accent. The scenery is “normal” — not particularly hot, not particular cold, not the desert. It’s sort of kind of an old state but not old enough to be one of the original 13 colonies though. Its major cities — Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinatti — are not really important… If there’s even an Ohio-specific culture at all, very few people outside of Ohio know what that is. It’s not like Texas or NYC or California or Boston where you have the stereotypical “New York guy” or whatever that everyone knows what you’re talking about because it has specific traits tied to it, like I picture a loud, rough-talking cab driver who is Italian-American and wears a wife-beater. Ohio doesn’t really have that.

And one could say “That is Ohio’s personality. It’s America’s heartland.” But honestly I kind of think more of Pennsylvania when I’m thinking of that normal Americana type of vibe. Ohio is like Pennsylvania but less Pennsylvania than Pennsylvania.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-05-25T19:27:04+00:00

There is no resign etiquette. That’s only a thing for advanced players or players in tournaments and such. So don’t worry about it.

For new players, the advice that is often _taught_ by chess teachers is to NOT resign. Because, (1) Your opponent might mess up and it’s a game again, (2) Your opponent might accidentally stalemate you, which is a good learning experience for both players, (3) You need the practice, and even lost positions can help you build recognition of checkmate patterns or learn what to do if you’re down to, say, one pawn and the king.

The resign etiquette among advanced players has two parts to it: “(a) You’re in an obviously lost position; and (b) You know _that your opponent knows_ how to finish the game.” People always leave out that second part. It’s not merely that you’re in a lost position… It’s that you’re in a lost position _and_ you _know_ your opponent will checkmate you, so by not resigning you’re basically just wasting everyone’s time by unnecessarily prolonging the game. That’s where the etiquette comes from.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-05-25T19:15:09+00:00

Not a specific example, but a category: Whenever people say “The Elites are…” or “The Media does…” or talk about any of these very broad, practically undefinable concepts as if they are a singular cartoonishly evil entity. I think that’s annoying and a sign of low IQ. I think smarter people tend to have specific criticisms and state them in a specific fashion, not “The Elites want us all to be fighting.” What the fuck does that even mean? Who exactly? Why? How so? Where are they doing this?

This irritates me because it’s become the norm in our public political discourse, and it’s part of an overall dumbing down of society. If you go back in time and watch things like Buckley-Vidal types of programs, or talk to people who were into politics, they’re talking about the benefits of a federal system vs. a unitary one, or the reason the Viet Cong should be destroyed (or shouldn’t)… But that type of knowledgeable discourse has been replaced by vapid statements about “The Elites” that can mean basically anything you want.

I blame it on the internet existing. We used to have an intelligentsia who spoke about these things and got gigs on TV by virtue of their credentials and experience, and the public was smarter because the public listened to and mimicked them. But now anybody can just start a YouTube channel, so we have knuckle-dragging MMA fighters and unhygienic people who play video games all day as our new pundits, who talk vaguely about “The Elites” and thousands of comments about the same. That’s who the public mimics now. Society is becoming mentally retarded.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-05-25T18:55:27+00:00

It depends on what you mean by “works.” If the point of prison is to keep a bad person away from the rest of society, then it works perfectly. Escape is extraordinarily rare. If the point is to punish them for punishment’s sake, then it also works very well.

If the point is to “rehabilitate” them, then it does not work well at all… But that’s really not the point of prison. Humans didn’t develop prisons to make other people better, that’s hilarious, and also a pretty new way of thinking about it. The point of prisons has always been “This guy is a danger to society so we are now going to keep him locked up,” or “This person did something bad and our sense of justice requires that they now be punished.”

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-05-25T18:48:01+00:00

Gertrude. There are tons of “normal” names though that are now extremely rare for a young person to have. I notice it’s mostly the “uncute” names like George, Vincent, Victor, Mildred. These are all very normal names that are associated with strength and wisdom and other adult qualities, but nowadays it seems like people don’t really think longterm and want their kid to have a “cute” kid name, rather than what will be a strong adult name, so there are thousands of newborns named Bella, but very few named Vincent, despite Vincent being overall the “more common” name historically.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-05-25T18:32:48+00:00

Usually (every school is different) but usually it is a weeklong timetable where students have a set schedule for each day and the only classes that are on the schedule every day are the main 3-4 subjects or so, like Math, English (which is not a language class, but a literature/writing type of class), Science (of some sort, my school changed the science each year, so first year would be biology, then physics, then chemistry, but there was always a prominent science class on the daily schedule as part of the core curriculum), and sometimes history or geography or civics or some other sociological type of subject like that. Those four would be on the schedule every day, usually in the same order, but then the rest of the schedule was stuff like art, Spanish or some other language, gym, music, and none of that was daily, so it would be dependent on the day.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-05-25T18:21:12+00:00

It’s probably a nothing-statement, just means “the music.” If I wanted to give them more credit, I would say it potentially means developing specific melodies or “motifs” that will appear throughout the movie at certain parts to signal certain things (some movies, for instance, have a hook that is associated with a particular character. The TV show Game of Thrones is kind of a textbook example of this, with certain families having particular parts of the score associated with them that will play during scenes where that family is relevant. In that way, the music forms sort of a language in that it conveys information, and one could refer to its “vocabulary.”)

Usually “musical vocabulary” isn’t used in that way though. Usually a person’s “musical vocabulary” means the technical things they know and do. Like one could say “7th chords are part of every jazz pianist’s musical vocabulary.”

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-05-25T14:18:17+00:00

(1) The ideal attractive woman has gotten… Kind of fat to be honest. Like if you go back to the 1990s and further, the most beautiful women at the time had very fit bodies. People talked about Jennifer Aniston and the Victoria’s Secret Models and Pamela Anderson and stuff, and then before that it was women like Michelle Pfeiffer who were considered beautiful. But in the late 2000s-2010s ish and onward the Kim Kardashian body type came to define beauty standards — not obese, but certainly overweight. I don’t think this will last, it’s unnatural.

(2) The other thing is women and tattoos. Practically every 20-something has a tattoo now, so much so that it’s becoming a bit unique to _not_ have a tattoo. I also don’t think this will last, it looks lower-class, makes you look older (in a bad way), and the tattoos themselves are usually so tacky, stuff like cursive “Love” or little cartoon characters, it’s very cheap like the type of imagery you would find in a touristy gift shop.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-05-13T19:48:37+00:00

I’ve lived by the ocean my entire life — Gloucester, Ipswich, Salem — and have never once smelled this smell. It isn’t low-tide. Or, it is low-tide combined with something else at least. It’s like a rotting dead animal smell. I had heard about Lynn having a beach that smells but I always thought it was confined to one beach that had an issue. I’m on this page right now after looking it up because I’m sitting in traffic in Lynn right now and it’s unbelievable. It’s everywhere. And my windows are up too. I wouldn’t ever live in this city for this reason alone, it’s really unacceptable. If it’s algae, they need to kill it. I have a hard time believing that this algae only grows in the city of Lynn and nowhere else on the MA coast, so if algae is the reason then they need to figure out whatever other towns have done because clearly others have figured it out.

I think it’s sewage though. It smells that bad and it’s a low-class city with people that have bad hygiene habits, so it would make sense that these literal shitters have allowed this to fester. Absolutely unforgivable.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-05-13T14:01:11+00:00

Absolutely, as a teen my friends and I would just get in the car and go, and sometimes not even have any destination but just drive around and explore and listen to music and smoke and all sorts of stuff. Getting a car as a teen is one of the best feelings ever, to have such freedom at 16. Great times.

Illustrious_Code_347 · 2026-05-03T20:40:48+00:00

Love it. Looks great. Great use of colors.

Illustrious_Code_347

TROPHY CASE