Philosophically, I think the pursuit of truth and the exercise of compassion are worthwhile endeavors.

But when that’s too abstract, I remind myself that I have people who rely on me and benefit from my presence in their life. I work to make the world around me better than it was before, so that others can immediately, and in the future, have better lives.

It’s a great dream, leaving. I’m not rich enough to make that happen, though. Maybe once things get worse, I can become a refugee- but, it’s more likely that I’ll cling to life here until it’s impossible to continue.

Oh God, I checked and I’m so glad the trans ban didn’t make it to the final budget. I was so worried about that.

That means, at least, it’s going to be a few more years before they try to ban trans people from existing.

There’s a conversation that could be had about how there are no truly public platforms on the web. Ultimately, everywhere you can speak is owned by someone, and any community you build exists at their mercy. This can exert a lot of pressure on a community’s standards and beliefs, and when I started using the internet, abusing this was a major faux pas.

However, that conversation requires a lot of nuance and patience. You are kind of transparently posting this in response to a moderator in another community removing your posts. If you’d like to complain about that, there’s actually a community specifically for that.

By the by, free speech complaints have become strongly associated with certain political movements as dog whistles. You might want to look into that and make sure you want to present that image.

How long have you been using the internet?

My b, I think we’re actually on the same page?

I understand. I grew up a fundamentalist Pentecostal. It’s taken a lot of time and growth to move past that, and I’ve been an ass and had to make up for it.

My problem is mostly that celebrities have a lot of influence and power that they don’t treat with the proper level of respect. If you have an audience of millions, you should consider the example you set. It’s part of the price of choosing to be a celebrity as your job.

This guy is responsible for contributing to a lot of cultural miasma- making up for that takes more effort than apologizing. It requires actual growth and an effort to make amends. You have to not just change, but try to fix the things you broke and help the people you hurt.

A lot of celebrities will performatively apologize, but not do anything and that’s really annoying.

Do you have any evidence that he’s made an effort to make up for his behavior that goes beyond words? This is an honest question, I never followed him because of random happenstance, so I don’t know.

Bruh, he literally paid some people to wave a sign that said, “Death to all Jews.” Link to Vox

“Subtle bigotry,” my ass.

Fancy savings account for retirement that’s stored in stocks so it can explode at any point. Basic perquisite to ever retire in the US. Many people don’t have them.

I wholeheartedly agree.

…so what about the minorities in those red states who are stuck there because of their financial or familial situations, and who lack the power to influence politics?

Wouldn’t work out. World’s too complicated for simple answers like that.

Leaving, even if it would produce a viable nation, would involve leaving a lot of people in the lurch. There’s people in conservative states who need the counter balance of blue states to slow down their government’s trend to self destruction and fascism.

Even though it’s increasingly frustrating with how feeble that resistance is, it does keep things like banning gay marriage in the “difficult to pass” territory and not the “a few compromises” one.