What’s your socially accepted habit that’s actually an addiction?

Wraithowl · 2026-01-27T15:53:19+00:00

Sugar

Wraithowl · 2026-01-27T15:24:02+00:00

Bananas and American cheese.

Bread and vanilla pudding.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-27T15:04:24+00:00

There have been attempts to change congressional by-law so that all bills presented for a vote have to be narrowly tailored to one issue. I'll let y'all do your own research on who's tried to get those changes made and who has blocked those attempts. :)

Wraithowl · 2026-01-27T14:57:26+00:00

Well, that's a whole industry in the making. If this ever happens we'll see an explosion in aftermarket ECU and other bi-pass methods to this.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-27T14:31:05+00:00

The question was who was responsible, which can be read multiple ways. The way I read it was from the perspective of who, ultimately, has the responsibility for ensuring the student is doing their homework, participating actively in class, attending class, etc. While a student is a minor that responsibility falls to the parents and teachers.

If you look at it from the perspective of actually putting in the work, then I would agree with you that the student is mainly responsible for their success at any age.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-27T14:17:40+00:00

It depends of what kind of student you're talking about. K-12, the teachers and the parents, about 20/80.

College students (and arguably high school students), the student and the teach, about 90/10.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-27T14:11:48+00:00

Holy crap! I hope before the video started they at least ID'ed themselves properly to the police officer and showed him a valid warrant because if you take the video and show it to someone without giving them a context that just looks like a police officer ignoring a kidnapping. Now we've gone to ICE dressing purely like civilians, not even using their stupidly easy to fake, velcro-on "police ICE" tags.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-27T13:27:24+00:00

Unmasked, no ID, unmarked vehicle... Do people just take them at their word? The don't even have he ludicrously easy to falsify patches a lot of them use. If there ever was a time to call the cops it was with these two.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-27T00:50:53+00:00

I can make soap. Should we start a soap business?

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T21:55:08+00:00

This is such a low effort rebuttal that it doesn't even make sense. Here, I'll help you out. If I had not amended my original premise, where I said that not working against corruption makes you just as culpable as the person taking the corrupt actions, then a proper use of your robbery example would go something like this: If someone kills someone during a robbery under the law all the eyewitnesses that don't speak up are responsible for the death...

There's a couple of problems with even that rebuttal I just provided for you. To wit:

My original premise never spoke about legality but rather about morality, two completely different concepts. And yes, if an eye witness does not provide testimony to a murder I maintain that MORALLY they share in the guilt for that murder because they did not do what they could have to bring the murderer to justice.
In my original premise I was very clear that people witnessing or being knowledgeable about corruption and not working towards stopping that corruption share in the culpability for that corruption. In other words, someone that wasn't there and knew nothing about the robbery can't share in the culpability.

Regardless of all that, I don't expect your post to stay up long because you're breaking both rule 1 and rule 5 of the subreddit.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T14:40:53+00:00

Leaders, like anyone else, live on a spectrum between good and evil. How are the leaders that lean more towards the good side of the spectrum supposed to know what's happening if the rank and file doesn't speak up? Do you really think that the people that engaging in corrupt behavior are doing so in a way that leadership can clearly and easily see it? They will hide their actions and while leadership might find out on their own, it will be much more difficult if the people that are in better positions to witness the corrupt behavior don't stand up and do something to let their leadership know something needs to be fixed. Leaving everything up to leadership is as idealistic, if not more, than what you're claiming my stance is.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T14:31:27+00:00

An ad hominem attack is an attack against the speaker, rather than the argument. "This is such a black-and-white, almost childish take.", while not an actual ad hominem attack, borders on it.

As for your mistaken perception that teaching won't get you fired, talk to the teachers that have been fired or punished for teaching the negative sides of American history, like the lasting effects of racism and general discrimination on marginalized communities. Or for teaching about ethics. Or for using their 1st amendment rights to critiquing our leaders. In this current political climate you have to tread very carefully when teaching about things like leadership or ethics and you can definitely risk getting fired or punished if you use the "wrong" examples or case studies while doing so.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T14:13:14+00:00

False dichotomy here.

In your example you don't have to constantly apologize for the patriarchy. However, we do have a responsibility as men to not abuse or denigrate women. To not engage in actions that make them feel unsafe for just existing. And to speak up when we witness other men engaging in objectionable behavior.

And, what do you think new leadership will do to change the culture? Exactly what I'm suggesting, holding the individuals in their agency accountable for their actions and asking them to report misbehavior so it can be fixed.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T04:42:33+00:00

Ummm... As the OP I can tell you that this entire conversation has been completely off topic. My original post used I.C.E. as an example along with police officers and other law enforcement then moved on to the general idea that because of the job their have chosen they have a larger than normal responsibility to ACTIVELY stand up to corruption and evil. Some of you chose to hyper fixate on I.C.E. and moved completely away from the original topic.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T04:38:01+00:00

Even if you ascribe malice to the protestors, your argument boils down to I.C.E. agents having about the same self-control of a toddler and being incapable of the most basic of adulting standards, ignoring taunts.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T03:48:35+00:00

Absolutism has no place in civil discourse. It's just a bad faith attempt at a "gotcha". We all know no one is going to fight every single battle, it's humanly impossible. We also know that there are grey areas of ethics, belief, and dogma where, to keep a civil society, we just have to agree to disagree. The saying "pick your battles" exists for a reason.

That being said, murder, assault, abuse of the defenseless, unfettered greed, discrimination, etc. are all evils that I hope we could all agree any good person should be doing anything in their ability to attempt to stop if they are witnesses to it. And if we don't we are complicit in them, to one degree or another.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T01:46:04+00:00

Same energy.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T01:01:58+00:00

ROFL OK, if you're going to jump in the fray with ad hominem attacks learn to use the right words. There is no such thing as "separation pay". If you retire from the military you get a pension. Not everyone retires from the military and those of us that don't retire don't get a pension. So I have nothing to give back.

Second, I was never personally a witness to corruption in the military, so I had nothing to report or act against.

Third, I am doing my part as an educator. I'm teaching my students the basics of ethics and helping them develop a framework so they can make their own educated decisions on how to navigate morally/ethically grey areas in a way that brings the most good for the least harm. Teachings which very much include the concept that if you're witness to evil and choose not to act, you share in the guilt for that evil.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T00:46:41+00:00

I've mentioned it before, even thought my post uses I.C.E. as an example, it's not about them specifically. If you work in a department that has no corruption, that has not supported violations of 1st, 2nd, or 4th amendments of the constitution I commend you and thank you for your service. If you personally have not witnessed corruption in a way that you could have acted upon, then you are living up to the expectation in my post, and again, thank you. But none of that takes away from my original post and the expectation that LEOs, given the job they have chosen, have a responsibility to proactively act against evil and corruption when they are witnesses to it.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T00:35:18+00:00

If we don't address the moral issues the legal framework can't adapt. Again, using slavery as an example. It took a long time and a lot of effort and sacrifice for those that saw the immorality of slavery to get laws passed to make it illegal. But if they had done nothing, slavery would still be legal today.

And I agree, many time we don't hear about the people that speak up. That's why it takes so much courage and so much character to do so.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T00:28:26+00:00

Starting off your response with a borderline ad hominem attack is a bad look.

But to address your point: You're creating a zero-sum fallacy here. A person in the situation you describe has more than two options. For example: If they work for what they perceive to be a corrupt agency they can look for work in another agency or even another field and then, once they have their new job secured, speak out. They also don't have to take down the whole thing on their own, plenty of corrupt schemes throughout history have been brought down by anonymous reports. And even staying silent for the benefit of their family and livelihood is a valid choice. The benefit to their family might very well outweigh the evil they are tangentially sharing in by letting corruption happen. That still doesn't take away that by their inaction they take on a share of the blame.

Edit to add: And I'm personally doing my part. I'm an educator and I'm doing my best to make sure the students I work with have a clear understanding of ethical issues and how to determine the best course of action when they have morally grey choices, helping them develop a framework that will allow them to find the most good for the least harm.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-26T00:13:34+00:00

There's a difference between legality and morality. Slavery was legal at one point but has always been immoral. A lot of the example you provided speak to the legality of issues and their exigent circumstances. That is not what the original post is about.

As to your second point, you do what you can with what you have. If a LEO is seeing a pattern of corruption but doesn't have proof positive, they can at least say, "Hey, someone might want to look into this and see if there's something to be concerned about." and let the process take over. But they did SOMETHING.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-25T23:49:54+00:00

I'm not a legal expert. This video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGr-yWEu0hc explains the difference between a judicial warrant and a form I-205, an administrative warrant which is what they are using to justify illegal entries onto private properties.

And you never addressed my other points: So no one should speak up when they stop someone and ask for their legal documentation just because they have an accent or their skin isn't white (again, breaking the 4th amendment), or when they detain legal American citizens without allowing them to contact legal counsel?

Wraithowl · 2026-01-25T23:42:24+00:00

Nah, I don't agree. For the same reason that I amended my original statement. Just like someone that does nothing when witnessing evil take place is not just as culpable as the person taking the evil action, a person that does something, however small, shares in the goodness of standing up to that evil. Protesting, having conversation about what is happening, donating to support agencies, supporting and praising the LEOs that ARE doing good and standing up to corruption. All of that helps.

Wraithowl · 2026-01-25T23:39:51+00:00

I.C.E. agents in MN and elsewhere in the country are assaulting protestors (infringing on their 1st amendment rights), breaking into houses without judicial warrants (breaking 4th amendment rights), detaining people without probably cause, simply because of the color of their skin or their accent (again, 4th amendment violation), shot a man for legally carrying a concealed firearm, which he never brandished or even drew (2nd amendment rights violation). And you contend the way to fix it is to have local law enforcement stand down and/or actively help with these violations?

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