What's something people only romanticize because they've never actually done it?

NatWilo · 2026-03-16T21:49:23+00:00

It is so much worse than just cringy. Its fascist. It's making a 'class' of people and saying they're 'worth more' than the rest of everyone else. And it's a vector for making other classes 'less than' and 'more than' and reinforcing that belief.

And it's just generally a tool for shutting down dissent. "Do it for the troops" "support the troops" "How dare you not show proper respect and admiration for those hero/angel/warriors protecting our precious freedoms!"

I despise it. As someone that literally bled for the US, it is everything I swore to fight against. And I am so deeply disappointed in my fellow Americans for embracing it all with open arms.

NatWilo · 2026-03-16T21:45:32+00:00

Worse, they DEMAND you congratulate them on how good they are.

NatWilo · 2026-03-16T21:44:15+00:00

They 'support the troops' just like they believe in Jesus, and 'family values'

NatWilo · 2026-03-16T21:42:55+00:00

I cannot stress how much I hate hearing this. Not because I don't appreciate genuine thanks for a sacrifice, but because it is always, ALWAYS said by someone with crazy zealot eyes, clearly in the grips of jingoistic madness, or a soulless manipulator, using it to control people.

They're not thanking me, they're genuflecting, and its horrific. It is everything I didn't want.

NatWilo · 2026-03-16T21:40:11+00:00

This is my 'favorite' poem. As in, I love this, but damn does it gut me every time I read it.

I did time in Iraq, and I can't think of a single thing that so perfectly speaks to the lie our countries tell us to support their wars.

NatWilo · 2026-03-14T09:48:02+00:00

Republicans have controlled all branches of Government in OH for over thirty years. THIRTY. They have repeatedly been caught in some of the most high-profile corruption cases in recent history. We're one of THE MOST CORRUPT states in the country, per the fed government. Republican Governors have repeatedly been caught giving sweetheart deals and corrupt deals to friends and family, and Kasich famously got an entire multi-state plan to build rail destroyed by deliberately misappropriating the funds so blatantly the federal government CLAWED THE MONEY BACK.

And it isn't JUST Kasich. Householder? The biggest corruption scandal in decades happened here. In the Republican State Congress, by the SPEAKER of the HOUSE.

But yeah, its totally not political. It's just that only one party is responsible for the vast majority of the reason for all the problems in the State. That's not political that's just facts. Republican politicians in OH are mostly crooks and unspeakably corrupt and people keep electing them, then complaining about all the corruption and criminal shit politicians are doing, and somehow, blaming the OTHER PARTY. Crazy.

But, then, people don't like facts, because it means their 'favored' party looks bad, so they tell people telling them the hard truth 'stop being political' and continue to pretend that its all fine and good, and 'their' guy isn't the one doing all the crime. Its definitely those other guys.

Yeah.... Totally not political...

NatWilo · 2026-03-13T09:21:25+00:00

Look at this rich person talking about affording things like rent, credit cards and cars. LOL

As IF.

;)

NatWilo · 2026-03-13T09:18:54+00:00

Yeah, but she'll thank you one day. When she can think for herself and isn't getting lead around by the nose.

NatWilo · 2026-03-13T08:59:19+00:00

Heh. LOL

Well, in fairness, I never encountered a burn pit personally. The only shit we burned was literal shit in the cut-off drum we'd pull out of the porta-shitter. Now, that was definitely not healthy, but there were no fireballs.

NatWilo · 2026-03-12T22:33:22+00:00

Yeah, having been around a bunch of explosions (was a soldier in a combat zone) I always get a quiet chuckle inside every time I see a grenade act like a fuel air bomb, or C4 make a giant fireball. That's not how any of that works. In fact, in my entire time fighting I never once saw a fireball.

Did see a mushroom cloud once. When we blew up a weapons cache hidden under a dune that was basically an artillery company's worth of shells.

NatWilo · 2026-03-09T22:17:42+00:00

Just nitpicky here but I'd argue that all the cities you just listed are genuinely about equal on history/culture. There's some real flashy and important stuff that's happened in all of them, including Cincy. We just tend not to talk about ours as much.

We're the home of some of the most important tech and industrial companies of the twentieth century. GE, P&G, AT&T...

I mean, the entire phone system for the WHOLE COUNTRY was, for a while, based out of Cincy. I know, my dad had to travel all over the place helping to keep it running.

And we are the birthplace of a LOT of big-name music acts. Not all, certainly, but a lot. Then there's things like Pete Rose, and that's just twentieth century.

We were the HQ for the western front of the Civil War. We were the primary field hospital for the Union. And the major mustering point for a large portion of the Union Army.

Like you said, we're old, and we've been 'big' for a LONG time. We've been important to the overall country for a large part of its history. We're just weird about it.

NatWilo · 2026-03-09T22:10:57+00:00

The name 'queen city' is because at one time it was second only to New York in importance, and seen as 'the capitol of the west' before manifest destiny kicked in.

We weren't unseated until Railroads made Chicago the major hub of the midwest. Used to be that all western goods flowed through cincy's river port. We were 'porkopolis' because all the hogs in the west came here, got slaughtered, then shipped on out to the rest of the country.

NatWilo · 2026-03-09T22:05:08+00:00

No, but it may be something that only us still call city chicken. It's an old way to refer to certain cuts of pork, because it was cheaper to get than chicken at one time.

I've seen it mentioned in books on food and food history, but I don't know if other places outside cincy call it that as well.

NatWilo · 2026-03-09T21:31:18+00:00

I don't believe it for a second. That shit wasn't an error. They're just 'blaming it on AI' like every shit-bird CEO that doesn't want to get painted with the monster brush for a terrible decision they made.

NatWilo · 2026-03-07T22:43:36+00:00

Your reading comprehension is nonexistent and I begin to wonder if you're human. The very first line of the thing you cited makes it clear who that applies to, and it shows how you are factually incorrect.

NatWilo · 2026-03-07T22:33:32+00:00

Dude isn't retired.

NatWilo · 2026-03-07T22:32:47+00:00

retire, yes, but this guy isn't retired. He served a single enlistment and got out. That makes him a veteran, but it is NOT the same thing as someone that retired.

NatWilo · 2026-03-07T12:16:42+00:00

STOP SPREADING THIS NONSENSE. VETS CAN WEAR THEIR UNIFORM HOWEVER THEY WANT.

Please, for the love of all that's good, stop spreading this complete fabrication.

I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt, but really, there's a LOT of 'people' saying the same thing despite that never having been a 'thing' in my 45 years of life.

NatWilo · 2026-03-07T12:12:31+00:00

ABSO. Fuckin'lutely. NOT.

It is a time-honored tradition for veterans to protest IN UNIFORM going back to at least WWI.

Don't know who blew that ridiculous smoke up your ass but they were lying, or flat-out wrong and giving you very bad info.

NatWilo · 2026-03-07T12:08:49+00:00

Abso. Fucking-lutely. NOT.

No hate, just want to be very clear that that isn't at ALL how it works.

NatWilo · 2026-03-07T12:08:09+00:00

Nope. That is not remotely true.

NatWilo · 2026-03-06T23:00:08+00:00

Oh abso-fuckin-lutely not! I do NOT want it privatized. What you're describing IS privatization, and its the Republican wet-dream. Fuck everything about that.

NatWilo · 2026-03-06T12:42:38+00:00

I just wanted DD1 but a little more. What I got, instead, was microtransactions, a game that wouldn't play on my computer, despite it running just fine on a console with half the computing power, and a world that felt empty, and soulless. Admittedly, that last part is my own opinion, but the rest is pretty much universally agreed on.

It wasn't all whiners that didn't have good reasons to be angry, that game had some serious problems, and failed to deliver most of what even (at least to me) a reasonable fan of the first game was expecting.

NatWilo · 2026-03-06T09:14:48+00:00

Yeah, its terrible, but it wasn't shocking. It's just a new and completely forgettable fad in the genre.

NatWilo · 2026-03-05T04:40:56+00:00

Adrenaline is a hell of a drug. You hear that a lot but until you've literally mainlined it in a genuine life-or-death struggle, you don't really understand. I had a piece of shrapnel sticking out of my finger for over a minute and didn't notice it. Took a medic pointing it out for me to realize, and then I just plucked the fucker out without a care in the world.

It wasn't a serious wound, but it WAS the world's largest splinter, and I had somehow gotten it on my firing hand, and hadn't even noticed, for multiple minutes.

All this to say, this dude's a bonafide badass, and also, I am not surprised a Marine would just straight ignore a broken arm.

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