dil

Oh hell yeah I love an emergent property. That's my new favorite theory

Which people, motherfucker??

Again, no shit. Everyone thinks we should be hiring on merit alone.

We can't just wave a magic wand and say "don't discriminate." We need to identify WHO is not being hired based on merit and then take real actions to make sure that they're hired fairly.

The subtext of anti-DEI is that white men are being discriminated against. The evidence for that is that many white men are struggling financially. And I agree, white men are struggling!

To fix that problem, we need to understand the cause of it.

White men are not struggling because of DEI. They are not struggling because of programs designed to fix discrimination. There are plenty of cases where folks overcorrected, and they shouldn't have, but those programs do not cause the systemic problems that white men are dealing with. Ending those programs will not help white men, because they are not the cause.

White men are struggling because they live in a system where their bosses want them to work longer hours for less pay. Every product they buy is designed to maximize shareholder ROI, so prices are jacked up. You no longer own things, you subscribe to them, even houses. White men, along with everyone else, are being squeezed on all sides by corporations seeking maximum profits.

Ending DEI is the wrong solution to a real problem. It is a distraction.

The corporations that run this country don't want you to think they're the real cause. They need you to believe that maximizing profits is good, actually. They've built up a mythology that keeps you from seeing them as the cause of your suffering.

If they're fucking people over, "it's just business" and we stop asking questions.

They need you to believe that your suffering is caused by something else, ANYTHING else, because people WILL fix their problem.

DEI. Woke. Immigration. Nobody wants to work anymore. Feminism. Welfare queens. Trans folks. Abortion. Please, dear god, anything but capitalism.

Bernie Sanders got the closest. His campaign resonated with millions of people because he was accurately identifying some of the worst symptoms of capitalism. And Democrats killed his campaign to run Hilary, because they would rather lose than help people.

The two parties work together to advance capitalism. Republicans are the party of throwing wrong ideas at the wall and seeing which ones stick with people. Democrats act outraged at the ideas that don't catch on, and quietly concede the ones that do (e.g. immigration). It's the ratchet effect, and the result is that political news is inundated with arguments about things that don't matter.

Capitalism is the cause of the problems that people have. There are many solutions, but labor unions are easy to recommend to almost everyone.

First, I think there's some risk if she's telling people you two are dating. Definitely tell your wife, but you should also probably talk to her parents about it.

1. If they start hearing stories about their daughter and you, they already have context for it
2. You can work with them to decide how to proceed

This is an opportunity to teach her about boundaries, appropriate behavior, and unrequited love in a relatively controlled environment. She will listen to you in ways that she won't listen to parents.

You could have a direct conversation with her about how it's not ok to tell other people that you're dating. Tell her that it makes you uncomfortable that she knows you have a wife but still told you she has feeling for you. Tell her that you are happily married and not interested in dating a fourteen year old. Model clear communication.

And empathize with her that it's hard to have feelings for someone that doesn't like you back. Talk about how you've handled it in the past. Tell her that it'll pass. Tell her what she should know as she grows up.

She's a teenager, so her feelings for you will go away regardless, but I think you can make the rest of her life tangibly better by having a real conversation with her.

This is not "past" discrimination. This is happening today.

We are CURRENTLY in a situation where women are discriminated against, and that's a problem. Men who are less qualified are being hired over women who are more qualified. Denying that is either ignorance or bad faith.

The solution to that problem is to hire more women.

Honestly, "gender shouldn't be relevant when it's not relevant" is in the same vein as "all lives matter."

Yeah. No shit.

Is it weird

Implying those statements are contentious is either ignorant or in bad faith.

Nepotism is a problem, sure, but racism and misogyny are also problems.

We should fix all the problems, and that's a fight on many fronts. We should support anyone fighting for equal treatment.

This might be the bit already, but I unironically think the body is a great metaphor for how society should run!

E.g. different cells have different specializations, but every cell gets the nutrients it needs.

Right!? You can't pour from an empty cup, and capitalism is systemically emptying everyone's cups.

I think the short answer is "join a local leftist org," typically DSA and PSL are mentioned.

I think the type of projects those orgs should prioritize are ones that give folks incrementally more freedom from capitalism.

I think the best example is forming a union & demanding higher pay, but at a community level you could also look into:

• Community gardens
• Tool libraries
• Getting folks together to buy in bulk

There are plenty of people that think that each of those things are morally wrong, and some who would say that they're much worse than a bomb threat.

Those people are writing the laws.

Legality and morality are two completely different things. It's a comfortable lie to think they're the same.

Having an email provider that will not comply with law enforcement is important because any of us could be next on the target list.

I'm not saying "yay, it's morally good to send bomb threats."

Folks who care about privacy don't want their email provider engaging with local authorities.

when tyranny becomes law rebellion becomes duty

"Illegal" is NOT immoral, and when laws are increasingly being passed by right-wing nutjobs, folks doing the right thing will be doing illegal things.

• women getting access to an abortion
• undocumented folks avoiding being sent to El Salvador
• trans folks getting healthcare

Any platform has three options:

1. Always comply with law enforcement, and give up vulnerable populations that are targeted by the government
2. Never comply with law enforcement, and make law enforcement track down bomb threats some other way
3. Sometimes comply with law enforcement, based on... what criteria? where's the line?

3 is obviously the thing we'd like, but no company is going to open itself up to legal threats by doing it.

This article shows that Proton Mail is falling into category 2. I think that category should exist to protect vulnerable populations.

I could see it being a "softer" way of a community enforcing good behavior, especially for things that don't rise to the level of mod action.

I'm not on an instance with (visible?) downvotes though, and I do think that makes me more comfortable voicing opinions.

The hexbear mods/admins will probably have gotten community feedback and done a poll, so might be worth checking with them?

its employees had received emails containing obscene and vulgar content sent via Proton Mail.

the email service reportedly refused to share details about the sender of the allegedly offensive emails, despite a police complaint.

Last year, the police department of the southern state of Tamil Nadu had sought to block Proton Mail after the email service was found to have been used for sending hoax bomb threats to local schools.

Honestly, pretty glowing review of Proton Mail

Totally agree - the work we need to do now is the same for both anarchists and communists. We also have the same end goal in mind.

There are interesting ideas to pull from each ideology, and I just wanted to push back on a blanket dismissal of anarchism.

Thanks for the discussion, I really appreciate you sharing your thoughts!