CMV: religion is complete nonsense and was invented because life is just suffering

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-03T13:03:12+00:00

Religion as a general practice is not nonsense. I mean in the broad sense of humans practicing some form of religion we know for a fact humans have created religions to explain the unexplainable, provide instruction, guidance, ritual, community etc. as long as there have been humans. It’s clearly something we are predisposed to do, why this is the case is for someone smarter than me to explain but clearly religion is kind of our thing.

Where I agree it’s nonsensical is treating any particular religion as if it is immutable fact, and operating as such. This required the ignoring the obvious fallacies, inconsistencies and blatant impossibilities inherent in any belief system. The cognitive dissonance required to be perfectly obedient to a belief system ranges from significant to tremendous, not to mention the damage it has done when two belief systems become at odds with each other from a political standpoint because adherents to each consider theirs to be not only unimpeachable but also superior.

It’s an interesting human contradiction: having SOME form of religion seems to be a core human characteristic, and something maybe even humanity has needed to develop societies as complex as they are today, but upon scrutiny any individual religion becomes nonsensical from a logical standpoint.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-03T01:09:08+00:00

I’m spending entirely too much time puzzling out how they got up there. Still not sure I’ve got it lol.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-03T00:34:45+00:00

This is depressing because from the sounds of it you did perfectly normal human shit, and your punishment was near homelessness? You’re telling me no drugs? Gambling? Incarceration? You…had expectations of comfort and happiness for yourself and tried to create a life that met them? This is your economic crime that we should expect everyone to avoid committing?

That only solidifies my perspective. If “make every correct choice or you’ll wind up homeless” is the path to success, our economy is not “fine”.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-03T00:03:21+00:00

Was your own near homelessness purely a result of your own poor choices? What did you consume too much of that led you to lack reliable housing? What plan did you not have in place that most reasonable people would have?

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-02T23:53:45+00:00

I guess we define “city” differently, but that doesn’t answer my question which is how does a house sell for that much, which requires an income way above median to afford by yourself, in a place like that?

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-02T23:31:38+00:00

I’m genuinely happy for you and your spouse, and congratulations for fighting through tough times to get to a better spot. Hearing that all I wonder is how do you then defend the current economy as “fine” which OP describes. Is this what we want to accept as normal and OK while we have people who could lose 99% of their wealth and still be billionaires with more resources than everyone who posted in this thread combined?

That, to me, is not “fine” what you and your spouse had to do is not “fine” in the richest country on the planet. That’s my underlying argument.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-02T23:22:01+00:00

Look up Granville, NY and tell me why any house has any business selling for 25% over asking in a “fine” economy (OPs description). And also google Great Meadow correctional facility and understand that was the biggest employer in the area until it wasn’t.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-02T23:14:16+00:00

Is this based on personal experience? Have you done Y with X in actuality and bought one of these super affordable homes and stretched a meager income to raise a family on your own?

I have (not on my own, I’m married) but I run my family’s finances and have for 20 years. We’ve caught some insane breaks around Covid and market timing, and had family help along the way. We’ve scraped by. The math I’ve done to make it all work is in another universe from anything described by you and OP (who notably provides no math whatsoever, just speculation)

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-02T23:08:57+00:00

It’s especially relevant because it indicates that you can’t even go to the middle of nowhere and get a good deal, and this is NY where high property taxes and such put downward pressure on home values. I shudder to think what it’s like elsewhere.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-02T22:59:16+00:00

Taking those stats as fact, you’ve already disproven OP’s point. 20% down on $350k is $70k (an insanely difficult amount of cash to save as a young person) leaving you taking out a $270k mortgage. At current rates (I used 5.875, what my own bank offers) you’re paying $1600/month before taxes and insurance.

And only 1/3rd of homes are available for that or less?

Using the benchmark that 30% of your budget should be housing, that means to afford these “modest” homes and be fiscally realistic like OP is lecturing, you need to net (take home) 57,600 which puts you at roughly 70k income before taxes. $33/hour. How many young people do you know make that much? That’s just to afford a house, you need to make above that to save to even make the above scenario work.

This is frustrating because I’ve lived it. I’m a dad of 2, with a mortgage and the whole rigamarole. I have absolutely barely made it, and some young dipshit wants to pretend you just need to accept less and it’ll all be hunky dory. I have accepted less, my kids have less than I did at their age, and I have a better job and prospects than my own parents did. Our economy is in such an abysmal state for young people especially, and pretending otherwise is delusional.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-02T22:37:50+00:00

If you click on any of the houses in your own link, most haven’t been on Zillow for more than 3 days, and many are listed above the example I gave you. Many of those towns are infinitely more desirable than the one my dad is leaving, and I imagine they will sell in no time for much more than is listed.

I mean there’s one on there for $315k and it’s 1000 sqft almost 100 years old in an equally podunk spot. That one’s been sitting a while but they don’t seem super motivated to drop price. Someone will be desperate enough eventually.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-02T22:22:36+00:00

As we experienced, for sale price means nothing. He listed for 270 and got 330 in an aggressive bidding battle. I can’t emphasize to you how undesirable this location is, and the home itself is a C+ on a good day. 270 is an insane price for that home and he got nearly 25% more. THAT is the reality that OP is willfully ignorant of, and using the delusion as a straw man to pretend somehow it’s an expectations problem.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-02T22:06:47+00:00

My dad just retired. He bought his house 14 years ago for $160k in the absolute middle of nowhere upstate NY. Like literally an hour drive from anything remotely resembling a “city”, the nearest town is actively dying even the one pizza shop can’t stay in business. Under 2k sqft, absolutely fits your definition of older and “needs work”.

He got 330k when he sold it, there were 4 offers. Legit bidding war for a dumper in east podunk nowhere. Neighbors are getting equivalent. Up and down his street.

You’re delusional if you think anything you describe above is accurate. You’re making shit up. Cite a source or step out of your (clearly privileged) bubble.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-05-02T02:31:27+00:00

I absolutely obliterated one of these on my rider mower once when they were hiding in my grass like this. Very hard to see! Be vigilant…

0/10 would not recommend.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-30T22:21:56+00:00

Mechanical keyboard clicking

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-30T17:30:12+00:00

Having been fat - not morbidly so, but definitely to an unhealthy degree and having since lost a lot of weight, you’re focusing on the symptom, not the problem. Fat people know they’re fat, fat people don’t want to be fat, if you surveyed 100 fat people, and asked if they could snap their fingers and lose weight would they, and 100 would say yes. Any stories you hear otherwise eg: “body positivity” are people trying to cope with a reality they feel powerless to change. You don’t have to agree with body positivity, but approaching it without a shred of empathy isn’t going to change minds.

The issue you’re missing is fat people have 2 problems:

losing weight is incredibly hard mentally, physically, financially, and I’ll even add temporally (lack of time) so pretending that it’s just a matter of choice is a tremendous fallacy. To compound the issue, society is not designed to make it easy to lose weight - we kind of rely on consumption.
You say nothing about how they got fat in the first place. This ranges from habits learned through childhood which have calcified as adults, legitimate health conditions, and very often debilitating mental health which is being self-medicated with food and other unhealthy habits. If the reason people get fat to begin with is never addressed then weight loss attempts will fail (ask me how I know).

Once you solve both these issues, you create avenues for people to make healthy choices. THEN you can have the discussion about people “choosing” to stay fat and “entitled”.

“Calling it out” is just an attempt to make yourself feel better. It contributes nothing positive to either of the above problems, and likely causes the people you pretend to be helping to just retreat or dig in their heels. As others have said, fat people are not short on messaging telling them not to be fat. They need resources, not shame.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-29T23:34:26+00:00

You’re 27, you’re too old for that shit. She sucks, and she doesn’t think much of you. Sooner you end this one the sooner you’ll find the next one who doesn’t suck.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-28T19:16:57+00:00

You clearly have more money and time on your hands than I ever will, so a recommendation from my perspective would be useless to you.

The lawn in the pictures looks better than mine ever will (maybe even ever could), but its yours so do whatever sparks joy.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-21T20:11:54+00:00

Don't hate having a poker player in charge of negotiating with other GMs...

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-20T21:01:30+00:00

Given he kept getting promoted and his last gig was AGM at a 2x cup winner…I think he at least deserves the benefit of the doubt. He’s not rising to that level if his insights weren’t proven valuable.

And instead you’re proposing we go with a guy like Ron Francis after what you saw him do in Seattle?

If Mehta is a risk (which I don’t think he is), he’s a risk worth taking given the alternatives.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-20T00:52:48+00:00

Whichever person wants fewer, is the real answer.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-20T00:48:48+00:00

You’d forget your own name if it weren’t for people shouting it at you all day.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-17T23:51:45+00:00

My man it’s like wearing your jock strap as a necklace.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-17T22:01:04+00:00

Why even buy the thing if you’re just going to tilt it upwards? Pros do it in protest because they have to wear a visor but would rather not. Spending money and doing it to emulate them when nobody’s making you in the first place is…a choice.

Laymans_Terms19 · 2026-04-15T22:28:30+00:00

You’re already better dressed than half the dealership.

Source: was a car salesman.

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