Ask Lemmy

A little bit of 'Be Kind' with a twist of 'Kill billionaires'

"Paying it forward" is fundamentally the most important weapon we have against the oligarchy, and simply refusing to participate in the endless cycle of new technology.

A long time ago, I kind of stumbled into a habit of "paying my hardware forward". It started because it was simply a pain in the ass to try to sell something on ebay because your first ten offers are scam artists.

So when I upgraded a drawing tablet that I was using, I had a friend of a friend that was looking to try digital drawing and said "Here you go. The only thing I ask is that when you upgrade, or when you're done with it, give it forward to someone else who could make use of it."

Later, the same thing happened again with a camera stabilizer. I had bought one that it turned out was too lightweight for my DSLR. So I had to buy a heavier weight one. Meanwhile, a friend's son was a budding filmmaker just using his cell phone to make stupid movies with his friends and I said "Hey...he'll like this. The only thing I ask is when HE upgrades, or whatever, he passes it forward to another person"

Even something as simple as a dog ramp I bought for my aging dog. After he passed, it hung around in my shed until a friend of mine's dog needed an operation and couldn't do stairs. When her dog recovered she asked if I wanted it back and I said, no...just pass it forward.

I've done it with spare monitors. Old laptops that someone has needed for school, etc...

So what started as me just being too impatient to deal with ebay became something that literally makes me feel good knowing that I'm helping someone out, or even better, supporting another person's artistic passion.

You know how dog people say there's no bad dogs, only bad owners? Same thing with kids. It's way more nuanced than that. It's true up to a certain point. After having a giant boom of babies in my life recently, nothing has changed my thinking more than watching a blank slate of a human being be morphed into whatever the parents molded that child into. Sometimes it's rough.

One of my biggest beliefs came from Star Trek : IDIC, or Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. The idea that one homogeneous whole is not only undesirable but simply wrong has shaped damn near everything about me. It may seem sad, but the science fiction I consumed as a kid shaped the person I am today

Most people would rather cooperate & help than compete & hoard

I believe that men wearing shorts/trousers and women wearing skirts/dresses is abhorrent and a crime against basic logic.

Quite simply, skirts are for people with testicles. They're kept outside the body in a special climate controlled sack that's kept at a lower temperature than the body. Skirts and dresses allow airflow in the groin area, assisting this process.
Conversely, shorts and trousers restrict and insulate the groin, perfect for people who don't have to worry about keeping their genitals cool.

I don't care if the hegemonic gender paradigm disagrees, it's categorically incorrect.

Be excellent to each other.

I think that we should call # a hash, not hashtag. Hashtags are social media tags with a hash in beginning, the character itself is not a hashtag.

Inaction is still an action. Not improving the world around you is a choice to accept it. You need to choose your battles, of course, but choose none and I will judge you accordingly.

Unionism.Bosses will always try to screw you over, but the workers united will never be defeated.

the flippancy you find especially across threads on political news across the fediverse is awful because it drives people away without accomplishing things other than virtue signaling

It's fine to change your mind. The world is to be understood through the lens of power and money, but that doesn't mean that you have to agree with it. Assume good intentions. We're all hypocrites to a certain extent and it's okay. Be kind to yourself. You're never too old to learn. Being right all the time gets you nowhere. It takes time to get good. Adopt a thankful mindset, even if you don't believe in a higher power. Never give up. Say 'yes' more often. It's your life and you're in the driver's seat. Live and let live. Worry less. Kämpfen bis zum Verrecken.

The first thing I remember learning in philosophy 101 is the principle of charity, which has been eternally useful during discussion:

1. Assume the other person has something worth saying
2. Questions of meaning come before questions of truth

One value that really shapes most of my other beliefs is that my moral system should be internally consistent. It’s caused me to try to consciously rethink all of my beliefs and values, and discard or refine any that are inconsistent and add others that were missing.

I don’t really think I’ll ever get to a point of all my beliefs being conscious ones and all my values being objective, that’s not really my aim (or even realistic imo), but it’s changed a lot about how I act and view right and wrong and it’s a process I don’t plan on ever stopping.

I value and believe in honor, which feels countercultural these days.

I value the story. If something good happens to me, bad happens to me, as long as it's a good story that's ok.

Kindness, curiosity and a firm belief in treating everyone like they are actual real human beings who can do what they want. It's important to ask people why they do things.

Anarchist with a small 'a' (that is, never going to be vegan, and I've had a managerial position [no, I don't think anarchism means no leaders but I do feel gross about taking part in the paramilitary office structure, and how much I loved the money and status and power]).

The controversial one is ’if you have disposable income, your day-to-day problems won't be real problems'. Most problems are not real problems because money addresses them. Existential, emotional difficulty? Great! You can afford to go to therapy whilst still not suffering any real day to day problems because you have the money 👍.

I'm also fed up of weird consumerist attitudes around 'if I dont get to do everything I want, I'm struggling for money 🥺 I'm poor'

That needs to go fucking yesterday.

Politics: practicality before ideology. My (your) favourite ideology has flaws. Policies that are effective should be enacted, policies that are ineffective should not, regardless of being left or right.

Religion: Don't care.

I'm a pragmatist.

It means everyone hates me because I don't agree with their ideology and principles. I also acknowledge change and limits, which also pisses people off. I don't argue from or compare reality to utopian ideals, because that's inherently hypocritical, as I am not ideal.

I think principles are cool, but stupid when they are self-defeating, and a lot of ideologies hold to their principles to the point of stupidity and self-defeat.

I think idealism comes from insecurity and a lack of control over oneself and a projection of that lack of control onto others.

I also think pop psychology is demonic and destroying our social fabric, in the USA, at least.

I believe that the human race is stupid, egotistical, irrational and self centred. Yet it is still able to create beauty, still able to show sacrifice, kindness.

I believe the world will only truly be lost when I (from my personal POV) stop believing in it. Until then, my corner of the world will be kept as clean as possible. To quote Charlie Chaplin “as long as dictators die, humanity will be free”