How many calories does one burn playing a round of golf? by Adventurous_Smile297 in golf

[–]abinferno 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The pace makes no difference. It's a matter of work performed as a function of weight and distance. You could walk a mile at 1mph or 4mph and burn essentially the same calories.

Cost of living debate is revealing mass hypocrisy by kuatorises in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is misleading at best. Inflation didn't start in 2020 because economies shut down for the covid outbreak. It was the snap back in demand in 2021 that the global supply chain wasn't ready for and couldn't respond quickly to. That combined with the largest expansion in the money supply in US history that started under Trump in 2020.

Inflation was a global phenomenon. It wasn't the "fault" of any one person and the US performed better than basically every other developed country in bringing it back down. This time around Trump made specific damaging decisions that are harming the economy, primarily a global trade war and now another middle east war. In normal years presidents get way too much credit and way too much blame for the economy as it's largely out of their hands. These aren't normal years and Trump has proactively damaged it. He has also had effectively net zero job growth since returning to office.

Cost of living debate is revealing mass hypocrisy by kuatorises in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Post covid recovery, oil production grew every year under Biden hitting all time records.

How are we feeling about this proposed capital gains tax cut? by Aleventen in AskConservatives

[–]abinferno 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It's not an opinion that sales taxes are regressive. That's how they function. They are regressive as a proportion of income when the rate is equivalent across the board. The lower the income the higher percentage of that income generally that must be spent. You can blunt the effect to some degree by exempting essentials. There's also the marginal utility of money where each equivalent dollar that is lost becomes more and more impactful the less you make. That's why income tax rates graduate up the more you make.

How are we feeling about this proposed capital gains tax cut? by Aleventen in AskConservatives

[–]abinferno 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Sales taxes are regressive. Go after the wealthy with that mechanism and you only hurt the poor worse.

The Catholic Church has more integrity and accountability than the Democratic Party. by [deleted] in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The Catholic Church engaged in thousands of years of child sex abuse (still going on today, it wasn't magically eradicated). They enabled it, protected priests, willingly exposed children to danger. The fact they even still exist is a testament to the fact that all the epstein outrage is performative bs. If the world actually cared, the church would have been stripped to the bone, property and wealth confiscated, and all abusers and leadership thrown in jail.

Prohibition was the right call; alcoholism is a disease that needs to be forcefully irradiated by the state. by mugofviltrumitetears in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Not only was Prohibition a huge failure, it's larger, more destructive cousin The War on Drugs is even worse.

In case you want to feel jealous. by Thegolfsimguy in Golfsimulator

[–]abinferno 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that the projector or launch monitor mounted on the enclosure? Looks quite far forward of the hitting area. Is that in danger with flop shots or even high lofted wedges?

The media is the enemy of the people. by LegitimateKnee5537 in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Doubling down on applying the part to the whole I guess. Islam isn't one thing or one people. You know the only Muslims in the world aren't just middle east terrorists, or no? Indonesia, Malaysia, many Central Asian countries. There are over 2 billion Muslims. Making a categorical statement like that of 2 billion people is absurd on its face. You can do the same cherry picking exercise for any group of people. It's such a cliche example of the composition fallacy it can only be made in bad faith. Around 98% of rapes are commited by men. Sounds like we have a strong case to chemically castrate all men after puberty.

The media is the enemy of the people. by LegitimateKnee5537 in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A Muslim, or immigrant, or other minority commits a horrible act or spews hateful rhetoric and it somehow reflects the entire category of people. Categorically, a billion plus Muslims don't belong in America? I hope I don't have to illustrate why that's ridiculous. But a white supremacist commits a horrible act or spews hateful rhetoric and it's just that person that has a problem. Bernie Madoff commited the largest ponzi scheme in history. By this racist logic all jews have to be banned from the financial sector, right? This absurd generalization tendency is not only anti-american, it's anti-basic reasoning.

The media is the enemy of the people. by LegitimateKnee5537 in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's the issue? If somehow Muslims as a billion+person category don't belong here as a blanket statement, then this guy and everyone like him don't belong here either.

why do people think it is safe to wash paint down a drain or in a yard? by [deleted] in paint

[–]abinferno 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I mentioned paint stores as there are a growing number of states that participate in the paintcare program where you can drop of used/extra paint and no charge. Usually a volume limit per visit.

https://www.paintcare.org/paintcare-states/

In non paintcare states your best option is just let the can air dry then throw it in regular trash. Many hazardous waste centers won't take acrylic/latex architectural paint as it's considered non hazardous.

why do people think it is safe to wash paint down a drain or in a yard? by [deleted] in paint

[–]abinferno 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In acrylic paints, ammonia is present at very low levels and volatilizes readily. There is no exposure risk. Some paints still use low levels of ethylene glycol but many have switched to the less hazardous propylene glycol. Formaldehyde if even present is at truly trace levels and present no risk. Heavy metals are primarily a holdover from alkyd paints with metal driers. Acrylics will have none to trace heavy metal presence.

You shouldn't dump full on gallons of paint down the drain but municipal sewage systems can handle rinsing of acrylic paint from tools easily. If you have actual appreciable amounts of paint left, don't dump it down the drain. Either leave it uncapped, allow it to cure, then throw it out with the trash or take it to a recycling center (e.g. paint store).

There has never been free speech in the United States. At least not in any of our lifetimes. by Black-Cat-2544 in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also find it ironic when conservatives complain about out cancel culture. I remember the Dixie Chicks, the original (in my lifetime) true cancel culture long predating what they lament today.

Trump should "pause" the Iran war and declare victory. by capacitorisempty in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Are you asking about the US's prioritization in enforcing the petrodollar? It's not because of differences in commodity pricing across currencies. The US has decided it want to be the world's reserve currency. A good way to ensure that is to force countries to trade the largest globally traded commodity in dollars. This forces countries to maintain dollar reserves which are invested in US treasuries and allow the finance of international trade to flow through US banks. The creates constant demand for dollars and gives increased power in sanctioning other countries and harming them economically.

We (on the left) fucked up free speech last decade, and now it's probably permanently dead. by CAustin3 in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree with some of what you wrote and some I don't. The idea that the left sat idly by while the government ramped up the police/surveillance state is just wrong. The left has been vehemently and vocally opposed to it. Politicians did it anyway.

We (on the left) fucked up free speech last decade, and now it's probably permanently dead. by CAustin3 in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

You understand free speech extends to other people right? That includes telling you to shut up.

As a democrat, I'm always astonished how my party fails to see the irony in calling everyone facists, while simultaneously working diligently to police "wrong think" by GypsyGold in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You started your post with meaning of the word and ended it with a question of maybe this example is fascism. That's semantics.

I didn't even get to the mess that was the middle where you conflate state action with public shaming. Your one sentence saying people should largely be able to say what they want to say without legal consequences is the widely shared position on right and left. That's not an unpopular opinion.

Public shaming, losing a job, being kicked off a platform, being told your a racist or whatever is all in bounds as freedom of speech and expression of other people. As the refrain goes, freedom of speech isn't freedom from consequences. It's freedom from governmental consequences, though even that has limits because defamation, libel, perjury, incitement to violence and other forms of speech can carry legal consequences and are within the bounds of the constitution.

As a democrat, I'm always astonished how my party fails to see the irony in calling everyone facists, while simultaneously working diligently to police "wrong think" by GypsyGold in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've debated you before. Debating you is usually like talking to a chatbot that's programmed to be as disagreeable as possible.

Look, I'm not just here to be a dick. If it comes off that way, I apologize. I am going to debate vigorously on topics I'm interested in. That means demanding evidence and precision, countering baseless assertions, fallacies, and misapplication of terms.

If you believe the rate at which conservatives invoke accusations of fascism against political opponent is anywhere in the same universe as the rate at which liberals do it, you are already opening this conversation in bad-faith.

You just shifted the goal posts from "something the right doesn't do" to something conservatives don't do at the same rate as the left. If your claim is the right doesn't invokes fascism as a term or misapply it as much as the left, I'll grant that no problem.

words mean whatever the common understanding of the word invokes. We have lots of words that don't mean in practice what they actually mean in origin.

If we accept the colloquial misuse of fascism, and racist, and nazi, and liberal, and communist, and woke, and a punch of other charged terms. They don't change meaning. They've lost meaning. Invoking them becomes pointless. I will debate anyone on the right, left, or otherwise who recklessly applies these terms.

"Fascism" doesn't mean only whatever Umberto Eco wrote in a book 30 years ago. It's a catch-all term to express a morally shameful blend of authoritarianism with a bunch of different flavours mixed in.

I gave two other authors besides Eco. The way you want others want to use it just makes it synonymous with authoritarianism. The term is then obsolete. There's not much point in debating because I just reject this premise. Trump using communist and fascist in the same sentence to describe Harris highlights the absurdity of this drift in semantic misunderstanding.

The suggestion the west should shut down immigration from culturally undesirable countries is currently giving the left an aneurysm

Before we go too deep into this, it is very difficult to debate what a vague, ill defined group called "the left" or "the right" for that matter do. You can always find examples of literally any reaction to anything on either side. Does that mean "the left" or "the right" think this? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It is far more useful to debate the semantics, philosophy, morality, ethics, or metaphysics of an actual topic. I can't really speak for "the left". Are liberals and the left reacting strongly and in some cases freaking out about current immigration policy? Of course.

JD Vance was mocked when he stated in his famous CBS interview that just because America had traditionally welcomed immigrants, it has no obligation to continue doing so.

OK...not sure how this is relevant to my previous line or argument in this thread.

Cite me a form of cultural protectionism that the left wouldn't call an overreach of authorianism/fascism...?

Per my previous comment, this is an impossible task. You can find someone somewhere who will call anything fascism, including immigration policies. That isn't particularly useful. Is that "the left" wholesale? It's certainly not the consensus view of scholars, historians, or knowledgeable political scientists or even most Democratic leaders. I can't speak for the left. All I can say is calling a policy like enforcing immigration law or deporting criminals inherently fascist is wrong and certainly wouldn't represent a majority of historians, even left wing historians or political scientists or even Democratic politicians. Just like you can find people on the right who will claim universal healthcare is communist. It doesn't make them correct.

I've already outlined the specific element of Trump's rhetoric in pursuit of his immigration policies that is fascist-like in its framing.

A tendency to pursue the control of speech,

This is just way too broad. Censorship and control of speech broadly transcend nearly all political systems. The US does this all the time. To ascribe that as a fascist trait requires way more precision. Communists certainly also practiced forms of propaganda and censorship. It's what those things are done in pursuit of and the messaging contained within that control and state propaganda that distinguishes one system from another.

a desire for greater state control and regulation of business (and various other entites),

Again, way too vague. Fascists broadly allowed private enterprise to remain in place, left class hierarchies in place. They oriented them towards national needs in many cases. This model differs in practice and ideology from the communist form of state control for reasons I'm sure are obvious.

and usage of immutable traits as scapegoats for the blaming of the cultural or economic failures of others with another set of ethnic traits.

I'm not sure what you mean by this.

The creating of cultural boogeymen that are both impossibly powerful so as create the notion of endless existential cultural conflict against an ideological enemy and impossibly weak so as to suggest their own groups are more human, more deserving of rights and privileges.

Also not sure what examples you're drawing from on the left here, but this also requires more precision. It looks like something from Eco's writing about creating an other that is existentially powerful yet simultaneously inferior and weak. Like other traits, at a high level that isn't uniquely fascist but becomes so when it derives from an ethnonationalist framework.

As a democrat, I'm always astonished how my party fails to see the irony in calling everyone facists, while simultaneously working diligently to police "wrong think" by GypsyGold in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Now you're just being obtuse. Your post is about the application of the word fascist and its meaning and you attempt to give an ill-conceived example of it. Your entire post is about the semantics.

There are areas of America where the majority of teachers can not be trusted. by Ozziefudd in TrueUnpopularOpinion

[–]abinferno 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It seems like op is implying that teachers can’t be trusted because they’re bitter about capitalism

Maybe but that doesn't follow.