That the liberal standard for an abusive relationship is becoming “wants the approval of the other person” is just…I can hardly even think about that.

It’s amazing.

This is largely self-aggrandizing bullshit.

I think one of the reasons people in academia are so obsessed with (usually small) power imbalances is because they have so little actual power.

In that exchange, literally every possible relationship is deemed a bad and invalid one because “if someone wants your approval…” there is a power imbalance, therefore it is an inappropriate relationship.

But I want the approval of my partner. I want the approval of my friends, and even of the young woman I mentored at a previous job. And whom I (evilly enough, apparently) consider a friend. If the measure of an abusive relationship is that someone wants the approval of someone else (which is apparently becoming the standard in the nearly-clinically insane liberal mind), then every relationship in history, nearly, was an abusive one.

Can these people even hear how fucking crazy they sound? I guess not, but damn they are far gone.

My advice is to date and form friendship with (non-minors) of all ages, for both men and women. You’ll learn more, have a lot more fun, and just generally be a better person for it.

Power imbalances aren’t actually (mostly) where delusional libs think they are found.

Anyone who uses the phrase "hygiene theater" in earnest can go kick rocks. That nonsense is beneath contempt.

— Puff the Magic Hater (@MsKellyMHayes) June 13, 2021

What the fuck is wrong with people’s brains? The problem of course is that “hygiene theater” is used to forestall and prevent actual mitigation measures, like better ventilation and superior building practices.

I will never understand the, “We must do something. This is something. So we must do it!” mentality. Never. But it does help me understand how and why so many are so easily snookered.

As with lockdowns, a whole lot of people care more about the ritual than achieving the godddamn goal. That the ritual is incidentally effective (or not) matters not at all.

To be clear, I think the evidence indicates that lockdowns work, especially if they are done early.

But that we see that as our only option indicates a deeper dysfunction that people seem not to know how to even talk about, or that there is anything to discuss. In many people’s (especially liberals’) minds, it is lockdowns or nothing. One must wonder why this is the case, when there are so many other NPIs that are possible, and question why one must worship at the lockdown altar. Especially since lockdowns are so anti-human and so inhumane, when rapid tests, test and trace, masking, etc., could obviate the need for the measure altogether.

Why do people get so excited about lockdowns? Why is this extreme measure all they seem capable of thinking of? Those are the questions I ask that I am not supposed to ask. (And I am not supposed to ask them because we are not meant to think of any alternative.)

And now I will answer my own question: people get so hot and bothered about lockdowns because they feel meaningful. Monastic. Austere. Ascetic. Consequential. And they allow politicians to exercise control, which is always important to those who seek power. And also not unimportant, for the libs looking for that missing religion in their life they fill a compensatory role.

That is why the near-orgiastic ecstasy around them and the calls for the “passion of the lockdown” will now never go away.

‘Lockdown’ states like California did better economically than ‘looser’ states like Florida, new COVID data shows.

I believe this to some extent, but huge confounder: California is where most of the tech industry is, and this industry benefited enormously from the work-from-home surge. Control for that factor and I bet those numbers don’t look quite so rosy.

I’d still expect some small benefit from lockdowns, especially early, but at what price?

The best use case for twitter is print media trying to make bug-eating happen and the general public responding with catastrophic levels of nope https://t.co/J16WAcGmRX

— Mason ‍♂️✂️ (@webdevMason) June 13, 2021

I’m still attempting to figure out what all the bug-eating propaganda is about, who is funding it…and why, exactly?

Also great recipes for sourdough with cricket powder. I'm celiac; good way to get protein. https://t.co/ra8gShIxge
(Recipe here: https://t.co/ZYx0woBUzT)

— TheBrowser (@TheBrowser) June 13, 2021

Bug-eatin’ propaganda really heating up now.

Unpopular opinion:
The best thing that young people can do is live life fully. TRAVEL. Go places completely different from where you were born or live. Explore. Find what brings you joy.
And if your boss expects you to give up your weekend? Your time?
Find another job. https://t.co/7wK1UGW9ie

— 💐Julie💐ShadyTomatoStudio (@vintagegoddess) June 13, 2021

Travel? Explore?

You mean, one shouldn’t stay inside forever (in the pod), eating bugs, awaiting death? Enough liberal tears are falling to fill the entire Amazon basin!

The lib turn against the world is mystifying. I love making fun of it.

I haven’t allowed myself to be weighed in 13 years and I ain’t stopping https://t.co/4LrRjFfuUY

— Faine Greenwood (@faineg) June 12, 2021

The problem is that denying the truth and relevance of something does not make that truth and relevance go away. It just makes you more ignorant and less likely to unfuck yourself.

Which, your body, your reduced quality of life and chance of dying much earlier, not mine.

Disappointing, as with most of these mixer cans of booze. It’s like drinking fizzy pop – cannot taste the rum at all. Some of us like to taste our alcohol. On the left – the canned Dark n Stormy. On the right – one I made last year. Look at the colour difference! pic.twitter.com/0PnSCv4G3V

— Tits McGee (@Scientits) June 11, 2021

A canned Dark ‘n Stormy? That, my friend, is an abomination. There is no reason for this when they are so easy to make.

(Probably my favorite drink.)

Just forced to upgrade #Firefox, greeted with a new design. An arrogant UX team has totally eliminated the subtle semantic link of a tab to its referent that indicates layering. "I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices just cried out and were silenced." pic.twitter.com/qOU0lKJ3qJ

— Peter Zelchenko (@pzelchenko) June 12, 2021

What a bunch of doofuses, but then again the Firefox “design” team has been for years.

All of this is in an effort to eventually remove tabs. This proceeds by, first, by making them more difficult to use. Then, Mozilla will claim “no one uses tabs.” Last, removal and moving to something more advertising-optimized.