• 2 Posts
  • 61 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 25th, 2023

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  • There is no careful use of language that can stop people from preferring hatred. Humans are machines for making the world worse, and they will continue to do so, and while they do it they will rationalise doing it, and while people get hurt (including themselves) they will blame the victims.

    “It’s not fascism!” they complain as minorities are scapegoated and children die. Just get used to the fact that anything that is pointed entirely towards harming people for fun and profit is going to attract a range of derogatory words, and maybe think about how to stop humans from hurting humans instead.





  • I really don’t agree with your last sentence though. “Fixing” problems before they arise is exactly why we, particularly governments, already spend millions on the promotion of wellbeing and heathy lifestyles in order to prevent health issues in later life.

    I’m pretty familiar with the differences in life expectancy statistics caused by health inequality. I’m not sure that you can truly promote wellbeing in a world where people are treated like they’re vastly less valuable.


  • Because being hypnotised prophylactically can easily come across as creepy and controlling, even if it’s well-meaning.

    Let’s give an example that is both well-meaning and at least a little overbearing: “Hey, let’s hypnotise our kids to really want to try hard at school.”

    Freedom means the freedom to be unhappy, make mistakes, and differ from others, as well as the freedom to be happy, succeed, and conform.

     

    If you want prophylactic hypnosis, maybe try self-hypnosis? However, from everything I have read and tried myself in that field, it’s still used reactively. You realise your thoughts and behaviour cause a problem (e.g. over indulging in some vice), and you try to hypnotise yourself to not. Imagining potential problems and trying to fix them ahead of time could be based on poor assumptions, and lead to you trying to change your thoughts and behaviours in maladaptive ways. Fixing a problem before diagnosing it doesn’t make much sense to me.


  • So, a visible difference that some other people react to with prejudice is not like racism. Got it.

     

    You ask: “Why assume they react to your VISIBLE ETHNIC DIFFERENCES in particular?”

    1. The VISIBLE DIFFERENCES are visible.
    2. People have made fun of me for having those VISIBLE DIFFERENCES before.
    3. I can see facial expressions when people perceive THOSE VISIBLE DIFFERENCES, and notice features of judgemental reaction in their speech and behaviour after.

     

    I’m sure you can comprehend why removing the controversial topic of ethnic differences [controversial because e.g. some people want to claim racism is does not happen any longer, or is not of any importance when it does because ‘it’s illegal to discriminate’] to replace it with another visible difference made it a suitable metaphor. I’m sure that you knew this, in fact, when you called it ‘dumb’.
    Your annoyance is, therefore, possibly more at me saying that a woman is allowed to believe she is being targeted for racist reasons, and that such a woman should be listened to fairly. Feel free to clarify on that, if you wish. As for me, I logically believe that racism exists, as I have seen it. And that people can intuit when it is happening, as I have seen it. And that other people can disagree with it, because they profit from racism being ignored, as I have seen it.



  • I have a birthmark that reads ‘VAGINA’ on my face.
    Some people treat me differently from the moment I meet them.
    I say, “I think that those people are reacting to my birthmark.”

     

    You ask: “Why assume they react to your VAGINA birthmark in particular?”

    1. The VAGINA birthmark is visible.
    2. People have made fun of me for having it before.
    3. I can see facial expressions when people perceive it, and notice features of judgemental reaction in their speech and behaviour after.

     

    Now, apply this to OP’s wife. OP says this about her:

    If I hadn’t seen the blatant discrimination she’s faced job hunting, I’d be more skeptical. She’s Filipino, but that’s “Mexican” to many. When I say blatant, I mean to say heads would roll if we had some of this on camera. She’s mostly unhurt by these things, just figures that’s the way of the world. But damn. One lady asked if she was Asian and was visibly appalled. Another said she would have to attend their church, and barely stopped short of asking her to renounce Catholicism. There’s much more I’m not remembering ATM.

     

    I’m heavily autistic. I’ve figured this all out logically, as a person who has experience discrimination myself. It wasn’t easy, because I don’t grasp social cues natively. I thought I’d been doing something wrong for a long long time when people initially appraised me as ‘other’, but it turned out they were just being judgemental assholes. If you’re not heavily autistic, I believe it should be easier for you to figure all this out, right?