@isotope239@mastodon.online
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isotope239

@isotope239@mastodon.online

I'm an irritated academic who is increasingly dismayed by the general lack of critical thinking skills displayed by the general public in the United States.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

isotope239, to random
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

A different perspective for those folks who are having trouble seeing women's point of view.

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

Yes, I take it personally when you say you won't vote, or vote for the Dem. Why? Because among other things, the fascists tried to commit a Black GENOCIDE during the pandemic. Your actions or inaction will give them the power to do it again in some other way. My survival depends on them NOT gaining power. So does yours.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@StillIRise1963 I'm voting Dem for that reason and many others. I'm also writing postcards as fast as my pen will scrawl to try to get as many others to do the same as I can. And I'm donating blue as much as I can afford to help down-tickets candidates rout any red rivals. Vote as if your life depends on it... because it does.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

Something I've noticed a lot lately, is that especially Boomer women, but honestly, women in general, don't seem to ask for what they want or need in a direct way. I notice this a lot with my Mom and her friends. Instead of just asking for what they need directly they tell a story, to ask in a roundabout way. For instance, my Mom needed help this morning, and Instead of just saying, "Hey, I dropped my remote, can you pick it up for me?" She tells a one minute story about what happened, no ask, and eventually I get the point, and then suggest that I come pick it up. Or if one of her friends wants to do something like have a birthday party for a friend, they don't say "We should have a party!" They say, It's Sarah's Birthday coming up, you know she likes surprises, what does everyone think we should do?"

I often wonder if this is why older people think younger women are rude and demanding, because younger people often just ask for what they want and need in a more direct way. But also it's probably just straight up sexism, because men are supposed to make decisions, and women are supposed to make suggestions.

What do you all think? Is this just me? Have you experienced something similar?

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@RickiTarr @CuriousMagpie I think that's true, but indirect also works for stuff that's a bit tricky. For instance, I'm very fond of opera; not just the music but as performed on stage. I gave up on the better half coming along as loud snoring commences even before the first act is over! So, if I approach someone to come along with me, I'll sound them out first indirectly. 1/2

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@RickiTarr @CuriousMagpie The tricky bit comes in with the perception of opera being considered high-brow, so declining might make you appear somehow less cultured (it doesn't, opera isn't everyone's cup of tea). 2/2

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@CuriousMagpie @RickiTarr I'm a boomer but for me, it depends on the question being asked. I'll use the indirect method if I'm sounding out the other person to perhaps discover their enthusiasm for a proposal of some sort. Then, I go direct for questions like 'do you prefer this color or that one'. Sometimes people acquiesce to an answer when they actually aren't that keen on the idea.

RickiTarr, to random
@RickiTarr@beige.party avatar

HAPPY ART SHOW SUNDAY:
POETRY EDITION

I feel like doing something a little different today, so drop a piece of poetry you wrote! It can be old, new, or written on the spot. It can be funny, sad, dramatic, or challenging, whatever you feel like!

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history.

-Plato

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@RickiTarr

The Ghost of a Little Cat

The ghost of a little cat waiting for her second supper
Asleep in the next room
Just out of sight
Forever

futurebird, to random
@futurebird@sauropods.win avatar

The decisions and policy that have the most profound impacts on the greatest number of human lives often aren't the ones talked about most often in political discourse.

What is the biggest difference between life in this era and say... European feudalism?

I would argue it's near universal literacy. And along with simply having access to the written word, the highest percentage of a population armed with some scraps of what you might call a "liberal arts education"

The ability to self-teach.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@futurebird My father-in-law was like that. He lied about his age and went into the navy at 15 when WWII started, never went back to school. But, he was definitely the smartest person I ever met. For a variety of reasons, I've taken a lot of IQ tests over the years and typically score highly but I guarantee I'm not as smart as he was, just amazing.

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

I straightened my hair for 50 years. I'm lucky I don't have cancer and I weep for my little girl and woman self who felt the need to do this.

I love my natural hair and it will NEVER be straightened again. I want to look like ME, not you.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@thepoliticalcat @StillIRise1963 As a grizzled long time sys admin, I imagine it's just a temporary hiccup but with all the consternation going on over at Threads over Meta making "political" content less discoverable, it does give one pause. While this platform isn't centrally controlled, it can be difficult to tell what an instance admin has done to their settings or server(s).

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@StillIRise1963 @thepoliticalcat Just thinking about that genre of photography makes me nauseous. https://youtu.be/-DGY9HvChXk?feature=shared

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

Cc: Bigots & racists, who won't believe actual facts.

"Debunking the right-wing myth of the ‘migrant crime surge’

Fox is obsessed with the idea of “migrant crime.” But according to an NBC News analysis, “there is no evidence of a migrant-driven crime wave in the United States.”

https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/debunking-the-right-wing-myth-of-the-migrant-crime-surge-205235269880

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@GottaLaff I live in the Southwest about 350 miles north of the border. I often travel south on family business and can report that there isn't a migrant-driven crime wave. In fact, in the largely rural state where I live, a large number of migrants seem to gravitate toward home health care roles. I don't know what my elderly dad would have done without his home health care aide. She is a migrant and a kind, caring person who really took care of him, don't know what we'd have done without her.

jeffgilchrist, (edited ) to random
@jeffgilchrist@mstdn.science avatar

Increased Measles in Canada - Are you protected?

As Public Health crumbles and too few people are getting vaccinated for measles our herd immunity levels have dropped too much and now many people are at risk for a disease we almost eradicated in Canada. 🧵 1/

The one page easier to share version of this thread can be found at: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1764380555481674229.html

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@jeffgilchrist I was a kid before the vaccines for measles and rubella were available, so I've actually had measles and can vouch for everything in this thread. I've never been as sick as I was when I was six and had measles. The fever, the headaches, the upset stomach, I was very ill for about a month. It took me years to fully recover and I still came out the other end with balance problems (inner ear damage) and arrhythmia. Not getting your child vaccinated should be considered child abuse.

isotope239, to random
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

The repuglicans are chipping away at reducing the rights of women to travel freely within the United States (or possibly anywhere else). Folks, if this doesn't send a shiver of righteous fear down your spine, you are not paying attention: https://open.substack.com/pub/jessica/p/youre-not-overreacting?r=1rtvr5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

isotope239, to random
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

Here we go, folks. Anyone who is physically capable of getting pregnant will now have to pee on a stick to travel between Texas and New Mexico.

Texas county abortion ordinance impacting New Mexico
Texas county abortion ordinance impacting New Mexico
Texas county abortion ordinance impacting New Mexico

isotope239, to random
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

A sign in the back window of a car ahead of me at the traffic lights just now: 'If it's got tits or tires, it's gonna cause trouble'. <sigh> And these incels keep whining that they can't find someone to date. Clue one, Bubba, get rid of that sign.

isotope239, to random
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

"Best description of tRump I've read": https://londondaily.com/british-writer-pens-the-best-description-of-trump-i-ve-read

arisummerland, to random
@arisummerland@mstdn.social avatar

I almost died out there yesterday because somebody needed chicken fingers RIGHT THE HELL NOW.

This big pickup crossed two travel lanes from the left then stopped sideways in front of me when they couldn't get into the right turn lane bc other cars were in it.

Glad my habits of careful driving and paying attention on the road paid off.

I drive with the assumption that everyone else is likely to do spectacularly stupid things, and, well, someone did.

It could have been really bad. ☹️

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@arisummerland A similar thing happened to me just two weeks ago. I was sitting at a traffic light about a car length away from the car in front of me when a bozo in a big pickup to my right decided to cross over in front of me to the turn lane on the far left. I had no room to back up so I just had to hope he wasn't going to drag off my front grill. How hard would it have been for him to have taken the right turn, turned around and come through the traffic light normally? Jeez!

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@fmhilton @thepoliticalcat @arisummerland I'm also still isolating, masking, and got the latest vax a couple of weeks ago. I travel a lot for work and I'm not terrified, more like grimly determined. For me anyway, the key is never let your guard down, stick to the routine and keep the mask on your face. I avoid eating or drinking in a public space, getting room service or sitting outdoors etc., we know what precautions to take now, just don't get lulled into a false sense of security.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@arisummerland I agree 💯 !!! Even beyond that, I don't understand why drivers today can't just go with the flow and move with the traffic even if they need to take another route. They probably wouldn't have to go more than 5 minutes from their intended route. There is a distinct (and dangerous) lack of critical thinking now.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@fmhilton @thepoliticalcat @arisummerland Horribly enough, I think the vast majority of people (at least in the US) just aren't paying attention. I 💯 agree with you about the corporate interests; taking precautions, from their point of view, is an unnecessary expense that doesn't go in their shareholder's pockets. Those million (probably more) deaths are just abstract collateral damage in their pursuit of profit.

isotope239, to random
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

In the US ordinary people don't really notice how corrupt capitalism (the cancer stage of capitalism) is affecting their day to day life in all kinds of ways. They just notice that goods and services have gotten expensive but don't understand one of the major causes: private equity.

https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartmann/p/is-private-equity-as-dangerous-to-615?r=1rtvr5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

isotope239, to random
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

Bribery and massive corruption; we've got to get rid of Citizens United: https://open.substack.com/pub/thomhartmann/p/when-was-bribery-legalized-in-america-07c?r=1rtvr5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

When SCOTUS fucks us over during the month of June, you’ll see just how DANGEROUS it is to NOT VOTE.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@StillIRise1963 ABSOLUTELY!!! Don't look at me, I vote for dog catcher, school boards, every election no matter how small. The viciously crazy types work their way into the system by going after those small elections that no one pays attention to. Sort of like getting termites only more destructive. The Women's League of Voters has a nifty one-stop-shop for figuring out what's going on in your area: https://www.vote411.org

thepoliticalcat, to random
@thepoliticalcat@mastodon.social avatar

Speaking of locking up disabled people, I just remembered people would LOCK THEIR DAUGHTERS UP if they didn't want to marry the man their fathers wanted them to. A friend's cousin was chained to a wall in a back bedroom, and nobody knew she was there. For 20 years.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@thepoliticalcat @obeto I'd like just one thing from 'the good old days': Eisenhower's 91% tax on the top monied 10%. It was that tax on the wealthy that built a lot of our current infrastructure. However, I suspect that the majority of those who yearn for 'the good old days' don't mean they want a fairer tax structure back.

GottaLaff, to random
@GottaLaff@mastodon.social avatar

WTAF!

"U.S. intelligence officials are planning to brief on national security matters if he secures the GOP nomination this summer — despite concerns about his handling of classified information.

The decision would be in keeping with a tradition that dates back to 1952, but it would mark the first time an admin has volunteered to share classified information with a candidate who is facing criminal charges on charges that he mishandled classified documents." https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/07/biden-intel-briefings-trump-00145651

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@GottaLaff My brother used to work with a fellow who was part of the team that prepared daily security briefings for tRump while he was in office. One day, he asked the guy how it was going and the reply was that it was becoming almost impossible. Normally, the briefings were prepared almost entirely in text, but increasingly they were having to prepare them almost entirely in images. Let that sink in: high level, detailed, complex security briefings prepared like a child's picture book...

StillIRise1963, to random
@StillIRise1963@mastodon.world avatar

Why would MSM not cover Trump’s agenda and the extreme policies he’s planned to enact? Because that’s the United States MSM's oligarch owners want. Don’t be fooled by the gaslighting about horse races and ratings. You could get higher ratings by telling the truth.

isotope239,
@isotope239@mastodon.online avatar

@StillIRise1963 This is all of a piece with tearing down public education so that 53% of current high school grads are functionally illiterate and other attacks on critical thinking. The oligarchs want an ignorant electorate that they can manipulate.

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