Go with the standard politician non-answer: "to spend more time with family". I have no idea if German politicians give the same stock response though!
The world's population is getting significantly sicker and we're blaming the victims for "lifestyle diseases" as a way of dismissing the problem. But research needs money and time, so there will always be better and stronger evidence for money-making remedies instead of the slow and complex research into why people are increasingly experiencing disease.
We're hurting ourselves, and each other, and because disabled people are excluded from huge parts of society, we're also covering up the evidence. It's only when we're wounded that the reality is clear, but by then it's too late - you're just written off as someone who made bad choices.
My feed is filled with bad news, which is my fault for using the fediverse as a news feed, but it made me wonder: Which organisations, groups or individual people in the world are doing the most good for our world? I'm particularly interested in those who manage to do good on a larger impact scale (quantity or quality), but if...
Thanks for helping out a person in need! I hope you're able to keep doing so, and that should the situation ever arise, someone will be able to do the same for you.
Ehhhh, I'm going to have to disagree on this. She's obviously better than her ex-husband, but when you have that much money, the amount of interest/dividends it generates would likely offset her tax-deductible donations.
Also, if she has US$36.2 billion and has donated US$3.8 billion in 9 months, that would be like someone who has $100,000 donating $10500. Except you can't generate much money from interest on $100,000. The average person donating 10.5% of their assets is praise-worthy, but there are millions of people who do that without CNN articles praising their philanthropy.
I'm looking for the people who are really helping, not dodging taxes and generating publicity for themselves.
It wasn't actually to help me feel better, I was hoping to offset some of the doom that is very widely covered by providing some much-needed attention for the people who are putting in real effort. I also hoped to learn about new people who I could support, because they don't receive coverage from their public relations spokespeople putting out media releases that are pasted into articles by journalists.
Criticism of your suggestion is not an attack on you. I'm sorry that you felt it necessary to try to insult me for expressing a difference of opinion, and I hope your day improves.
Oh it's less a fixation and more an interest in scale of impact. There's a lot of people out there who talk a big game but when you look at the results, they're clearly underwhelming. Edit: or worse, they're self-serving publicity not designed at all to do good. The blood donor in this thread is a great example of oversized impact, but that's difficult to replicate. It does give good food for thought in terms of things to look for that could use more support.
The multidimensionality is why I didn't provide any opening suggestions; I didn't want to guide the answers. This was so that I might find some dimensions I had not previously considered, and I was curious about what metrics others use to measure "good" in the first place. Unfortunately Elon Musk as always proved to be a topic that generates more opinions.
Thanks for the support though. Honestly, there are a huge number of good choices already, more than I could ever dedicate enough to. I'm hopeful there are some gems out there that have potential to really offset some the vast quantity of suffering the world has to offer, this was just a small experiment in looking outside my own bubble of experience for them.
i think we need Cracked-style articles back. desperately. or like, a guy doing a weird thing and writing a piece on it. sites like those are declining faster than the glaciers.
Almost everything except the fact that it was dominated by one language, from a culture with an emphasis of computers being an interest that was unnecessarily gendered, and that the internet nd the tools used to create it were only accessible to the wealthiest able-bodied people from a specific demographic due to systemic inequity. And the speed. I don't miss the slow speeds.
Just about everything else about the early internet was better than today by huge margins. Imagine being able to search for a niche topic and not turning up thousands of seo-optimized paid-advertizing affiliate-link-program ai-generated tangentially-relatedish user-tracking sales links. Sure, there were times you found nothing, and it was ugly, but that was better than wasting time sorting through total shit.
Nationalizing is when the government takes over the business and the funds go into the government treasury. This is a private individual who was formerly appointed by a political party to head the treasury buying a business that has been gutted by his government friends for him. It's plain old economic imperialism, definitely not nationalization, even if politicians were abusing their legal privileges to facilitate Mnuchin's purchase.
Why would I give them a vote of confidence with my money so that they can use it to convince investors that they're popular and they should pony up a billion dollars for Spez's pay?
They're relying on gullible people who think either Reddit is legitimately a good investment or gullible people who think they can beat the market and won't be left holding the bag. I'm nobody's bag holder, let alone Spez's.
if I can quickly make a couple of bucks and then cash out, that might be worth it.
I've never felt so conflicted. On one hand, I want to hug the puppy. On the other, sand. It makes me sad like porcupines do. Why won't they let me love them?
To clarify the point for my four-legged friends. How do you resolve the incongruity between this and the conventional view? Which is that people are self-aware creatures with valuable opinions .
You seem to be preoccupied with what everyone else is doing that is, in your opinion, wrong. What are you doing right that makes you so comfortable condemning and dehumanizing others?
When we make an exception for a particular gender, race, religion etc, we imply that an exception is necessary for this class. Which is to imply that this class is somehow deficient. (which is of course insulting and problematic). Am I the only one who sees this?
I have a deficiency in my ability to stand for more than several minutes. I am not insulted to hear that I have a deficiency, living that reality is far more insulting.
Lets assume I am invited to a professional event, one where I know the location and layout. If the event organiser has deliberately removed all the seating because it didn't match their cocktail party aesthetic, is the deficiency in my ability to stand or their ability to plan for the completely predictable outcome that all their attendees might not be able to or want to stand for a full 5 hour event?
And even if you think the deficiency is my problem to solve alone (which it legally is not), why does having a deficiency also then imply that I as a person am deficient? My ability to stand does not define my existence, so why has my personhood been defined as deficient? That's the insulting part. My standing time deficiency doesn't even limit my existence if a couple of chairs also exist nearby. These are not a new or expensive or niche technology.
Donald Trump cemented his grip on the Republican National Committee on Friday after his daughter-in-law and another ally assumed top leadership posts amid a debate among members over whether the organization should help pay his legal bills....
In what way? The RNC will be funnelling cash before the election, and nothing has been done about Trump beyond some civil suits since his presidency. What has happened to make you think his cash flow has been restricted enough to prevent churning new loans that he won't pay? He's been doing it his entire life.
what happened was a logical and known potential outcome and consequence of signing up
It certainly is, but when the burden of responsibility is only placed on the person at the end of the line, it lets the fuckers at the top with the unequal power skirt their responsibility. Perhaps "blame" is too far, but it doss seem like you've perhaps disproportionately assigned blame to thus one shouting guy and his kid.
You make it sound as if the choice is binary between starving and joining the military: it’s not.
Not at all, but I do acknowledge that for many, and in increasing amounts, the decision has indeed become very close to that binary. US hegemony relies on people to do the enforcement. That's obviously dangerous, and thankfully, despite pervasive cultural conditioning, most people aren't interested in killing others overseas while living in an overcrowded dorm eating slop. So the conditions have been put in place by the ruling class to force people into doing it.
If you're unlucky enough to be born in Podunk Nowhere, where disaster capitalism has resulted in the only employers being Walmart, mcdonalds or the shady abattoir that "hires" minors, you don't start with many options. Add in an "education" from a system that has been rotted from within by zealots, complete with in-school army recruiter. Add in a culture that loves guns. Add in a family member in debt from medical accident (probably at the abattoir), or an unplanned pregnancy because of no access to abortion. Maybe they're also living at home with a parent who is addicted to meth out of desperation to avoid their poverty and misery... and the military starts looking like a very tempting option.
You have the chance of dying and disability in the military, and the likelihood that you're forced to murder, but also the glimmer of hope of an education, family healthcare and a way out of Podunk's cycle of poverty. That's a powerful motivator for someone who doesn't see any other realistic options. It's a deliberate funnel into committing murder through economic coercion and military worship culture, and the fault lies with the trap makers, not the trapped.
The only thing that makes the last 80 years different is the efficiency of murder and the new murder weapons they have access to.
And the extent of its reach. A century ago, the US was pretty limited to war on North American soil, and land it claims. When the war is that close, the realities of suffering are hard to conceal from the people whom you need to inflict it. Wars in other continents though can be sanitized by the media, and the people who are caught in the military funnel trap find out after they've signed the contract.
Thankfully the prevalence of video tech has allowed us to mitigate some of that media sanitization, but again, putting the burden of responsibility on the 18 year old who has never been taught critical thinking skills allows the 65+ year old networked decision makers at the top to slide off the hook.
Tl;dr I think it's OK to acknowledge everything on all fronts is fucked for everyone except the ruling class. I also think it's OK to shout at the ruling class, even in their house, when you were invited to be there.
Help me formulate the dullest response to colleagues when they goad me into telling them why I quit
This happens in Germany....
What do you see that you wish others saw?
Hey (lemmy.world)
Bandit
Who is doing the most good in the world, and how?
My feed is filled with bad news, which is my fault for using the fediverse as a news feed, but it made me wonder: Which organisations, groups or individual people in the world are doing the most good for our world? I'm particularly interested in those who manage to do good on a larger impact scale (quantity or quality), but if...
Winter curled on my lap (i.imgur.com)
Playground bullies do prosper – and go on to earn more in middle age (www.theguardian.com)
Five-decade UK study finds that aggression at school leads to better-paying jobs, while those with emotional instability went on to earn less...
What do you miss from the old internet?
i think we need Cracked-style articles back. desperately. or like, a guy doing a weird thing and writing a piece on it. sites like those are declining faster than the glaciers.
What is the best hip hop lyric of all time?
deleted_by_author
Former Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin forming investor group to buy TikTok (www.politico.com)
What would be an example of a healthy online conversation?
I’m looking for any examples that you might have encountered and links to them.
Space One's Kairos rocket explodes on inaugural flight (www.reuters.com)
My favorite part of this story:...
To those who got the Reddit/MorganStanley email... Are you gonna do it?
Asking because I got it and I’m not really sure what to do. So, I wanted to see what strangers on the internet are going to do....
baby seals!! (mander.xyz)
People are, as a rule, small and obedient creatures. They like to be told what to do. Shortsighted and small-minded. And, in packs, vicious yapping beasts. How do you resolve this?
To clarify the point for my four-legged friends. How do you resolve the incongruity between this and the conventional view? Which is that people are self-aware creatures with valuable opinions .
Exception implies deficiency. Am I the only one who sees this?
When we make an exception for a particular gender, race, religion etc, we imply that an exception is necessary for this class. Which is to imply that this class is somehow deficient. (which is of course insulting and problematic). Am I the only one who sees this?
Trump tightens grip on US Republican Party as daughter-in-law takes key post (www.reuters.com)
Donald Trump cemented his grip on the Republican National Committee on Friday after his daughter-in-law and another ally assumed top leadership posts amid a debate among members over whether the organization should help pay his legal bills....
Father of Marine killed in Afghanistan arrested for shouting at Biden (thehill.com)