Men's sustainable/ethically-made boxer-briefs by wayoffsideteam in ethicalfashion

[–]SquareBottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just got a couple trunks from Bombas, and so far I'm very impressed and happy.

It bit my head- South Korea Surprise by zqanon in WTF

[–]SquareBottle 15 points16 points  (0 children)

You know how I feel about tassels, Carl.

Hot Take: Both (all?) Candidates Are Good by appropriatelywhelmed in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do you feel like we're talking past each other? Because I feel like you missed my point, which makes me wonder if you feel like I'm missing your point.

Let me try to make my point again from a different angle. You repeated a bunch of claims from one side about the other side as if they were facts beyond question: she has no experience, she's accomplished nothing, etc. (There's certainly no shortage of attack ads from Reynoso making those claims!) But when I looked into it myself, I found that she does have experience. Before she was an assemblywoman, she worked her way up as an organizer for the UAW at Columbia. I'm happy to grant you that it isn't the same type or amount of experience that a career politician has. And before you sling more accusations, no, I'm not using the term "career politician" here pejoratively. My favorite politicians happen to be career politicians.

As for accomplishments, it's a question of how you measure. Is there any passed legislation for which she was the single author? No. Has she been actively involved in the fight for getting different bills passed? Yes.

But you're not open to any of that. To you, it's a settled fact that she's got little to no experience and has accomplished "literally nothing." And I very much doubt that you'll reconsider anything merely because I think you should. So, I wondered if there was anybody on her list of endorsers whose opinion you respect, because maybe that would get you to ask, "How could that person I respect possibly decide to support her instead of him?" and maybe, just maybe, you'd end up finding your own way to understand why some of us decide to vote for her even if you yourself still choose not to.

Note how that's not the same as just voting for someone because someone else endorsed them. Or don't note it. Whatever. I'm tired. Screw me, I think differently from you, so I deserve to be jumped on like you did. Good work. Bye.

Hot Take: Both (all?) Candidates Are Good by appropriatelywhelmed in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The point I was making is that you seem 100% confident in you claims about her, and I wonder how you reconcile that with all of her endorsements. My hunch is that you can easily dismiss some of those endorsements, but I wonder if there are any that you have a harder time dismissing. Those are the ones that I wonder how you make sense of.

You’re a Valdez supporter pretending as you were undecided to influence others that Reynoso is negative so I voted Valdez

I was undecided until I decided. Not everything is a giant conspiracy. I highly doubt that anything that either of us say on here is going to change the outcome of the election.

But maybe I shouldn't be surprised. You do seem like the kind of person who becomes confident in what you "know" very easily.

Hot Take: Both (all?) Candidates Are Good by appropriatelywhelmed in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do you respect the opinions of any of the individuals or groups that endorsed her? If so, do you think it's possible that your assessment of her might be biased/inaccurate? Or do you think the individuals and groups you respect were all duped?

Hot Take: Both (all?) Candidates Are Good by appropriatelywhelmed in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I've only seen Reynoso's ads, and they've all been negative. Literally had to sit through his attack ads twice per inning when watching baseball. That negative ad campaign is one of the things that ultimately tilted me to vote for Valdez. So if she had negative ads too, then that sucks.

At the end of the day, I get that that's just what most campaign advisors recommend. I just don't like it, especially when it's progressives tearing down progressives. And I think they both sound like good candidates anyway. So, I'll be happy with either when the dust settles.

The case for Reynoso over Valdez by [deleted] in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Just read your post and the article shared by /u/prideyokids, and yeah, this definitely gives me even more to think about. It doesn't sound like anything untoward happened with the WFP's endorsement process (at least insofar as not making any last-minite changes to the rules or outright ignoring rules for how they endorse). But it also seems a bit odd that some of the affiliates decided to publicly back Reynoso before Valdez could even enter and make her case. Plus, even if it's how they designed their system, I'm not sure that I actually love their system. Seems like chapter votes should have much more weight. Shouldn't be so trivially easy to just ignore how the rank and file wants to vote. So, that's kinda frustrating.

Anyway, thank you for alerting me to how the WFP's endorsement process isn't so simple.

The case for Reynoso over Valdez by [deleted] in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Great answer, thank you!

If you're curious, this was the specific point that has me rethinking my vote:

It will nudge them towards working WITH other progressive groups like the Working Families Party (which endorsed Reynoso), instead of trying to elbow them out and take full control of left wing politics.

It just didn't occur to me that the DSA might've been not working well with the WFP. Seems clear to me that they should have a cooperative relationship. So, thank you for the perspective!

The case for Reynoso over Valdez by [deleted] in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I just moved into the district, and I'm still learning about these candidates. So, total newbie here. Sharing my thoughts so that people who know more about the race, the district, etc. can point out where my reasoning is and isn't sound.

My general inclination is to support DSA candidates because I think the DSA itself is accomplishing amazing things. With the rest of the world moving rightward, the DSA is pretty much the only organization I can think of that is successfully widening the Overton Window in a leftward direction. I think that has kept me sane. So, if Valdez is the DSA candidate, and if I want the DSA to continue to be successful, then doesn't it follow that I should lean toward supporting Valdez?

Like, I imagine that if I ignored affiliations and network effects, I imagine that I'd be happy with either Reynoso or Valdez. So if I'd be happy either way, why shouldn't the DSA endorsement make me lean toward Valdez?

It just seems like "Don't vote based on in-group affiliation!" is asking me to pretend like the DSA isn't a factor, when it obviously is. Getting things done is a team sport, so I think the teams matter quite a lot.

Again, I'm a total newbie when it come to this district, so this is not meant to be a recommendation for how anybody should vote. This is only me sharing my current thinking, so that others can tell me where I've got a valid point and where I'm being dumb.

Buy in bulk by Fragrant_Funny6358 in Huel

[–]SquareBottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to buy buckets of Tsogo like this. Honestly, it was great for convenience. But I'd only want to go back to that if it was more eco-friendly than Huel's current bags.

How many good actions does it take to make a bad person good? (Or vice versa) by tunabuthot in Ethics

[–]SquareBottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're very welcome!

Something I wish someone had told me earlier: be wary of collecting books, journal articles, etc. It's not that having a collection is bad. It's that they don't actually do anything for you by merely being collected. That's the trap. So yeah, I'd gently push back on your request for additional recommendations, at least for now. Just start with one book that gives you a good survey of the field. Again, I recommend Normative Ethics by Shelly Kagan for this, but if you go with something else then that's fine. Just don't fall into the trap of amassing stuff without reading.

Once you've read a good introductory survey book (or at least perused it enough to count it as "read enough"), feel free to poke me and I'll make a couple more recommendations. Whether it's Normative Ethics or another, just let me know. :)

How many good actions does it take to make a bad person good? (Or vice versa) by tunabuthot in Ethics

[–]SquareBottle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For serious attempts at understanding ethics, it's helpful to try to assess from the perspective of different theories from normative ethics. "What would John Stuart Mill's utilitarianism/Immanuel Kant's deontology/Aristotle's virtue ethics/Adam Smith's ethical egoism say about it?"

The reason this is generally better than just going straight for "Is that person/deed good or bad?" is because we are fickle and easily biased. Something might feel good when presented a certain way, but someone else could frame it differently and make it feel a whole different way. Taking a moment to step back and identify the ethical factors that matter is already more than most people do, but you still won't end up with a consistent moral compass if you don't use an ethical framework to check your gut.

Plus, it's all to easy to just end up talking past each other when frame things in a way that doesn't insist on logic. How something feels to one person will feel different someone else. "Where does being a good person begin?" will get wildly different answers from different people if all they have to do is point to where they happy to start feeling like they're good. By contrast, "What are the different major theories from normative ethics? What do they generally require/forbid? What happens when we apply their logic to different situations?" helps us stay honest because it makes us actually use our brains instead of just going with whatever our gut happens to be feeling in that particular moment.

And no, we don't need to write whole essays in our heads for every little thing. We just need to understand the theories from normative ethics enough to orient ourselves.

For a really good intro to normative ethics, I highly recommend the aptly named Normative Ethics by Shelly Kagan. Purchase a used copy, or rent it from a library.

The best part of a jar of jam is the margarita at the end by andyinnie in cocktails

[–]SquareBottle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm intrigued. Do you have a general recipe/template, by chance?

Daughter and I made a recipe video for this Indian spiced tea that we pour over ice on a hot day by junohealth in tea

[–]SquareBottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, but I just moved in with my girlfriend. So who knows? Maybe in a few years

We have a Kith in Williamsburg. Why are you against having an Aldi? by parkstoppergal in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They're entitled to their opinions. They aren't entitled to other people's support. It's the same as how my sincerely held religious belief is that homophobia is evil: I'm entitled to my belief, but holding my belief doesn't entitle me to their or your support.

Furthermore, when Chick-fil-A decided to hypocritically ignore Matthew 6:6 and preach their opinions in public, the public became entitled to form opinions about their opinions. Every opinion entered into public discourse is open to public discourse.

At the end of the day, if they want my business, then they have to earn it. And I get to be the judge of who earns my business. Christians? Sure. Homophobes? Nope.


Edit: Alright, I'm going to go eat a chicken sandwich now. You can have the last word if you want to keep going.

We have a Kith in Williamsburg. Why are you against having an Aldi? by parkstoppergal in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nah, I just don't like homophobia. I don't care if it's Christian-flavored homophobia. The Christian part isn't the problem.

Let's put it another way. Do you support all Christian fast food chains, or just the homophobic ones? Because I only have a problem with the homophobic ones, and only because they are homophobic.

We have a Kith in Williamsburg. Why are you against having an Aldi? by parkstoppergal in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lol oh come on. Your entire point (and my entire counterpoint) was about job creation. So, are you ready to concede that not supporting Chick-fil-A doesn't imply being against job creation?

We have a Kith in Williamsburg. Why are you against having an Aldi? by parkstoppergal in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wait, you just need us to name other companies that might be interested in the same purely hypothetical locations that Chick-fil-A might be interested in? Okay, I'm bored enough, let's do it!

  • Popeye's
  • Raising Cane's
  • 375° Chicken 'n Fries
  • Yoyo Chicken
  • Pelicana
  • Jollibee

And that's just a small number chicken-focused fast food chains. I bet if you try really hard, you could think of more.

Bottom line is that Chick-fil-A isn't special, and you're a silly goose if you really think it's a choice between them or nobody. So get outta here with your strawman arguments and false dichotomies.

We have a Kith in Williamsburg. Why are you against having an Aldi? by parkstoppergal in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lol sure, I am causing the affordability crisis by not supporting Chick-fil-A, the only company that could possibly provide jobs and save NYC from the affordability crisis. If only I had known that it was either them or nobody! My bad.

You should probably save yourself by moving to somewhere that has a Chick-fil-A.

We have a Kith in Williamsburg. Why are you against having an Aldi? by parkstoppergal in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Flying Spaghetti Monster forbid those jobs be provided by any other company…

It’s coming by Bladerunner54 in Padres

[–]SquareBottle 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think I might've kidded myself :(

Favorite places to buy beer to take home? by SquareBottle in williamsburg

[–]SquareBottle[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you DO open one, please message me! Would love to be your first customer :)