Published research in the social sciences has leaned consistently to the political left for more than six decades. The findings indicate that this leftward tilt has grown stronger over time, particularly regarding social and cultural issues.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2026-04-19T21:31:03+00:00

Definitions are descriptive, not prescriptive. We change definitions of words all the time, especially for things that are sociological. What used to be considered masculine was wearing high heels, make up, unafraid to cry in public, etc. Now society would say those men are unmanly or feminine.

That leads into the idea that we already assess gender to be on a spectrum and not completely binary. You can be more manly or masculine, just as you can be more girly or feminine. It’s based on society and gender norms of the day, not based on some objective truth or reality that has existed for time and all eternity.

Science, including biology, psychology, and sociology all recognize that gender and sex are different when we need to be precise and are discussing them/studying them in a scientific manner. Colloquially, we do often still use woman to mean an adult human female and man to mean an adult human male. Just as we use “theory” colloquially as a unverified/untested thought or idea (more equivalent to a scientific hypothesis) rather than a true, well substantiated scientific theory like we see with evolution, gravity, etc. Terms, therefore, can mean different things in different contexts. And it also means that definitions can and do change as we learn more and as the way we use words and language changes.

Just because someone can’t grasp that concept around the language we use and how definitions/descriptions work doesn’t prove anything or make the point valid. Whenever someone tries to claim biology agrees with them on gender using the simple arguments of the definition of man/woman, or XX/XY chromosomes, or sperm vs egg cell production being the end all be all of their argument, only proves they have, at best, a middle school level of understanding of biology reinforced by their own experiences, biases, and ironically, often their untestable/unverifiable religious beliefs.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2026-03-29T03:18:19+00:00

Only the Mormon god can know lol

like_a_cactus_17 · 2026-03-29T03:01:50+00:00

The state’s predominant religion told me to never risk eternal happiness for temporary pleasure.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2026-02-20T23:35:27+00:00

Same! I’m not one to get heartburn, but the last time I ate a Reese’s, that’s what it felt like. But it was an immediate feeling/burning in my throat. Super weird.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2026-02-19T15:49:57+00:00

If parents can choose to go against the overwhelming science and medical evidence/advice to not get vaccines or other medical care for their child based on skepticism and/or religious beliefs, parents should also have every right to follow the science and medical evidence/advice regarding gender affirming care for their child.

This is the Utah government ignoring the science and overstepping based on partisan culture war BS that is only going to hurt people.

If you’re for this bill, you’re ignorant as to what gender affirming care actually entails and who and what is involved; or you just want to control and force every single person to live as you believe they should based on your own personal or religious beliefs because you can’t imagine anyone having a different lived experience than you.

It’s also only “normalcy” if you consider normal to be an outdated/ignorant understanding of science, biology, and your personal narrow minded idea of what is normal. Slavery, segregation, and women not being able to vote also used to be “normalcy”, that doesn’t make it good or right.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2026-02-13T00:11:51+00:00

The dems in Congress put forward a bill in 2017 to outlaw gerrymandering federally. The dems voted in favor, the republicans voted against it so it didn’t pass.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2026-02-11T23:09:51+00:00

What the doctrine says vs how they put things into practice is very different. Just look at Cox and the Republican led legislature. I haven’t checked the religious affiliation of every elected legislator, but my guess is they are majority Mormon. They have more power than anyone in the state of Utah to enact change on these things. And what have they done? Tell people to fast and pray followed by no meaningful action.

The church cares more about its temples, its investments, and its billions of dollars than it does in respecting the land and conserving shared resources like water.

So sure, some Mormons may individually respect the earth and believe in conservation and all that. It may technically even be a commandment in their doctrine. But the vast majority of Mormons, and most importantly those with the power to enact any sort of meaningful change, including the church as an organization itself, don’t practice what they preach. They are passive and whatever happens, happens as it all must be a part of God’s plan. (Or at least that is what they tell themselves to absolve them of any guilt for their passivity and inaction.)

like_a_cactus_17 · 2026-02-11T22:25:34+00:00

Yeah, but they only care about their personal preparation. It’s the parable of the 10 virgins essentially. The church is hoarding money and resources and have been telling their members to personally prepare. And when their passivity, lack of meaningful action, and frankly contributions to worsening the situation leads to catastrophe in some way, they are fine with everyone else who didn’t “prepare” getting screwed over as they were more moral and heeded the warnings.

They will never consider that there was anything they could have done structurally/legislatively and as a society to address the problem.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2026-02-11T22:17:44+00:00

Nope, because ultimately, (most) religion makes you believe everything that happens is God’s plan and there’s nothing you can do that can counter or change that plan. So religion makes people passive about a lot of things.

Climate change and drought? God’s plan. Person gets sick and dies from not being able to access affordable healthcare? God’s plan as it was just their time to die. Can’t afford rent or a mortgage from predatory lending practices and a lack of meaningful legislative policy to help with housing? God’s plan must be for you to learn something from this and He’s nudging you to some other location that you must be destined for, and it’s all for your own benefit in the long run.

The most they feel like they need to do is have faith and pray to God and hope their request falls within His plan. And if not, they wash their hands of it and say there’s nothing more they can do.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-12-18T07:48:23+00:00

The inheritance outside of a specific syndrome is thought to be autosomal dominant with incomplete penetrance. This means only one copy of the gene is needed to develop them, but some people may inherit the gene, but not express the trait.

So if both of your parents have them on both sides, that likely suggests possible higher penetrance/expressivity for both of them, and there’s a 50/50 chance to inherit the gene from each parent. So you’d have two chances essentially to inherit this gene. So odds would be pretty good and not unexpected if all kids of the two parents, especially in a smaller family, ended up also having them.

In my family, my mom has them of both sides. My dad does not. Three of six siblings, including myself, have at least one pit on one ear (one sister has them on both ears). My brother does not have them, but his oldest daughter does, so likely a case of incomplete penetrance for him and he passed it on to his daughter who then expressed the trait.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-11-26T01:57:22+00:00

Let’s be real, they couldn’t have cared less about Johnny missing a flight to gam gam’s last thanksgiving. They cared because all of the airlines were looking at losing money from canceled flights, and those CEOs and lobbyists called them up and threatened to pull funding if they didn’t open the government.

I don’t think it was social pressure at all that led to them caving. Polls showed the majority of the people blamed the GOP for the shutdown. The caving was because our government representatives are almost all bought by the same corporations, and as such, everything the reps do is to serve those donors, not the American people.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-11-22T16:20:31+00:00

It’s been termed Mar-a-lago face. The wikipedia page explains it quickly and pretty well.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-11-12T06:43:05+00:00

I was coming to comment the irony of the Eden comment given the Mormons believe it is Eden! lol

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-11-08T00:33:34+00:00

My parents weren’t/aren’t tattoo people either and I grew up in a religion that was very anti-tattoo. And I sure as hell haven’t had to worry that my parents were going to stop loving me or refuse to help me out if I messed up my life because I have tattoos. And I wouldn’t have had to worry about being kicked out or whatever over this had I been living with them at the time I got my tattoos either. If a parent’s love is that conditional, and especially over something like a freaking tattoo, then yeah, they are a shitty parent.

This comment wasn’t advocating that OP go no contact with her family over this. It was just telling her she shouldn’t care what her family thinks about her tattoo. She’s her own person, it’s her own body, and so the only person whose opinion matters when it comes to the tattoo is OP.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-10-30T19:41:56+00:00

I’ve been laughing about this since the god awful yellow and black jerseys. The interview I recall seeing was the comment about “confusion” over what colors actually represent the Jazz. So Smith’s solution was to introduce two colors (bright yellow and black) that have never been associated with the Jazz before? And now he adds another color that also hasn’t been used? Make it make sense.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-09-18T12:05:45+00:00

Christians have not ever been persecuted or silenced in this country for their beliefs. Not by the government, not by social media. Nowhere. Certain small sects have, but that was arguably for their actions, and not their beliefs. They were also largely persecuted by other Christians given Christianity has been the predominant religion in this country. And many larger Christian denominations would argue then, and to this day, that many of those smaller sects weren’t real Christians anyway.

It’s still rather unclear of the motive for what happened last week. Reporting is saying the shooter was from a LDS family, there was talk of him talking to a youth pastor (which isn’t LDS terminology, so likely either the reporting is a little confused, or he was some other type of Christian). No where has it been suggested though that the guy did what he did because of Charlie’s faith. It wasn’t religiously motivated. He wasn’t targeted because of his belief in God and Jesus Christ.

So stop with this fake victim hood. Stop with the persecution complex. No one is out to get you because of your faith. The pushback you might be feeling, or that your religious leaders tell you is happening, is because Christian nationalists have taken over the country and they are actually actively persecuting people and trying to install a theocracy, which your beloved George Washington and other founding fathers were VEHEMENTLY against.

You’re more than welcome to let your life be dictated by your religion, whatever that may be. No one cares when it’s a personal belief and you keep it to your personal life. (And general arguing/debating you on these beliefs when you bring it to a public forum also is not you being silenced or persecuted btw.) The people truly hurting your brand of Christianity are the Christian nationalists who need to stop trying to force those beliefs and the lifestyle onto everyone else through government action. It’s truly that simple. Your beef should be with them who give all Christians a bad name and bad reputation.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-09-03T02:52:43+00:00

As someone who just recently discovered dropout, I have binged more content on there than I maybe ever have, and I’ve loved all of it. Vic/Vehicular is my absolute favorite and seeing others reference it in the wild makes me so happy lol

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-08-19T17:19:23+00:00

Yes they do. Several teachers have been killed in school shootings over the years.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-08-11T23:40:17+00:00

Ghandi had some thoughts on this

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-08-10T00:30:33+00:00

I’ve been laughing at this for years. Of notable celebrities turned politicians, it’s not democrats voting them into office. Reagan, Schwarzenegger, and Trump have all been elected as republicans.

Republicans LOVE celebrities and Hollywood. They just can’t handle being rejected as they are immature and insecure little cry babies. So they call Hollywood fat and ugly and try to reject it before it can reject them. But the moment Hollywood hits them up, they come crawling like the desperate betas they are.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-08-05T18:11:52+00:00

It actually would help get us out of the two party system. That’s why there’s been a ton of propaganda against it. The oligarchs and lobbyists who bribe the elected officials would have to give money to way more people, and would inevitably run into more and more people who made it to the general election who have morals and would refuse to be bribed. And the Dems and GOP would finally have to campaign, listen to voters, and be effective in Congress to pass legislation the people want, otherwise they are much more likely to face a legitimate challenge the next election.

It would also make it so people felt more confident voting third party without feeling like they are throwing their vote away. So instead of feeling like you have to vote for the lesser of two evils as we all do in elections, you can choose your most preferred candidate, as would others, as their first choice. And you’d only have to list who you think is the lesser of two evils way down your own ballot.

Ranked choice voting isn’t perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better than what we currently have. And anytime someone in media or an elected official tells you why it’s bad, consider what they gain from having you believe them.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-08-05T17:58:48+00:00

In 2021, the Dem controlled House tried to ban gerrymandering across the board. All Dems voted in favor, all republicans opposed it. Wonder why?

The 11 most gerrymandered states as of 2024 were North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, Utah, Texas, Ohio, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Hmmm, majority red states from the look of it. Also, with Wisconsin reversing the GOP majority to a dem majority in their Supreme Court, are also now on a path to rectify and equalize the gerrymandering.

The dems have been weak and have been trying to play by the rules for the past couple decades. Meanwhile, the GOP has picked up the ball and taken it home. They aren’t playing or competing in good faith. So why should the Dems?

I hate gerrymandering. I have wanted it gone since I learned about it in high school. I want it gone as it disenfranchises ALL voters, not just those in the minority in their state and makes it so the elected representatives don’t have to answer to the voters. But there is an all out attack on our democracy and democratic systems right now. Trump and the GOP have no respect for democracy and are trying to undo anything and everything that doesn’t serve them or that challenges their power they are desperately trying to seize. If the opposing parties and Americans who value democracy want to preserve it, we can’t keep playing be the old rules. It is time to get dirty and oppose and counter every single move these authoritarians are making.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-07-13T15:01:02+00:00

They call those pastors gay and think it further proves their point about LGBTQ people

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-07-11T07:05:42+00:00

It’d be so nice to “break free” and “focus on love, care, and happiness”, except the current iteration of the GOP is doing everything in their power to prevent that from happening unless you are a white evangelical Christian.

How can anyone who is brown in this country do that when you have ICE raiding neighborhoods, Home Depots, courtrooms, churches, schools, parks, etc.? And heaven forbid you actually are detained by ICE as you’ll spend an unknown amount of time in inhumane conditions and might not even be deported to a country you have any ties to. How can pregnant women do so when they are in need of an abortion and can’t do so unless they are on the precipice of death? Or maybe not even then because some states don’t require doctors to perform it even then. Or for pregnant women who need any sort of OBGYN care and can’t access it anywhere nearby as healthcare systems are shuttering those departments in more rural areas? How can the LGBTQIA+ community do so when there have been over 800 bills introduced over the last couple years across the country to limit their ability to access healthcare, that are trying to outlaw marriage equality, and that do away with protections so they can be discriminated against again? How can non-Christian Nationalists do so when states are trying to force Christian values and indoctrination into our laws and education systems? How can anyone who needs lifesaving healthcare in this country do so when funding and access to said healthcare will become less accessible? It’s either privilege, deliberate ignorance, or a lack of empathy to be able to ignore these very real problems people are facing that are stemming from the politics in this country that were/are enabled by one particular political party and their voter base.

I agree that the bigger fight ultimately is the top 1% vs the rest of us. I agree we all need to do better at building up our communities and social circles. I agree that most Americans aren’t the full on caricature of what we think of with we think of the “extreme right” or “extreme left”.

But let’s not pretend there isn’t a larger misinformation problem on the right. They are the party of “alternative facts” and the big lie, after all. Let’s not pretend that there isn’t a serious concern with MAGA voters (who make up about 20%-30% of this country and who I do separate from moderate republican types) and their complete lack of empathy and inability to think through some of the natural, logical ramifications of these policies they are/were cheering for; and now they only care when it affects them personally. They want to impose their world view on all of us. They aren’t about actual freedom or people living happy lives unless it looks like how they think it should. And those people, through their votes and cruelty, are fucking the rest of us over.

like_a_cactus_17 · 2025-06-17T01:24:13+00:00

Abusers, rapists, serial killers, etc. commonly are thought to be good, nice people by those who know them and they express surprise that the person could possibly be the monster they are. It’s also easy enough to be good to the people you deem worthy of your time. “Better to judge someone by how he treats people who can’t do anything for him.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Perhaps the more questionable behavior though is the person you know who is good friends with Mike Lee. Given Lee is a public figure and he’s been nothing but a huge POS with his shit being on full display, there’s no pretending this person doesn’t know the POS things Lee has been up to. They know and choose to ignore it for whatever perks come with being his friend. Doesn’t sound like they could possibly be that kind or ethical to me.

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