this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2026
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

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[–] pfried@reddthat.com -1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

The SCMP is, as you said, a chinese newspaper. So it absolutely makes sense that they'd ask China-focussed questions like "Were there chinese systems compromised?"

And Snowden claimed to be a patriotic American. Why would he tell the Chinese about the systems that the U.S. had compromised? He also told the SCMP that he chose Hong Kong years ago, so telling them about these hacks clearly wasn't some spur of the moment decision made with little forethought.

This is not some vast conspiracy theory requiring dozens of people to be in on some secret plan. This is a simple analysis of a single simple-minded man.

[–] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

Thing with patriotism is that everyone understands something different. Some may think that not questioning your leaders and doing what they tell you is what it means to be patriotic. Others may think that fighting injustice and corruption in your own country, so that every citizen may live in a free and just society, is what being patriotic is about. Some may even go so far as to say that fighting for your country to be fair and honest not only to your own citizens, but also other countries is patriotic. Snowden is part the latter group. You seem to be part of the first.

And of course leaking that amount of material is not a spur-of-the-moment decision. He clearly planned carefully for a long time. How is this even a point you are trying to make? He did exactly what conscientious whistleblower should do.

And calling Snowden simple-minded truly betrays your ignorance. It is you, in fact, who is simple-minded, as you jump to conclusions based on conjecture devoid of facts.

[–] pfried@reddthat.com -2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

You seem to be part of the first.

Absolutely not. I'm for fighting government abuse. I'm against helping antagonistic foreign dictatorships like China. You and Snowden seem to be for the latter. It is not that hard to do the former without doing the latter.

And calling Snowden simple-minded truly betrays your ignorance.

His plan to live in Hong Kong didn't work for what to me seems obvious reasons. He completely misinterpreted the PRISM slides. He failed a very simple analyst test. He's unironically a libertarian. He didn't understand whistleblower laws at all and didn't even bother to consult a lawyer. For all of these simple thinking errors, he now finds himself living under Putin's thumb. All the available evidence points to one conclusion.

[–] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Like I said, different definitions of what it means to be patriotic. But don't call Snowden simple-minded, that is just plain stupid.

[–] pfried@reddthat.com 0 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Sorry, I updated my comment while you were responding. Please go ahead and update your response, and I'll then cross out this comment.