You are mad and just keep stating the same bollocks over and over, as if your take on the world and this situation is the only relevant and correct one.

You should be ashamed of this entire exchange, yet you maintain some misguided sense of superiority.

I have tagged you three times with this exact trait before, so you definitely have a habit of doing this. Each time you’ve been called out, and each time you maintain you are the only one who knows the truth and speaks true.

The problem is in you, not “us” who can’t see the light you pretend to share.

This is the fourth tag your account gets. But I won’t be blocking you, I will continue to call you out, unless or until you embrace your ignorance and block me too.

Happy solitude, you god.

Oh wow, are we getting a world war with China and Europe allied against Russia and the US?

Things are all wonky

Fair enough. I’m not going to, nor do I want to, dissuade you from continuing your search and believing what you believe, just wanted to get a better understanding on how you reason about these things. And initially I had hoped also to spark some questions and maybe second thoughts on your part.

For the record, I’m not entirely following your chain of thought here, and I do not believe as you believe, nor do I really see the the distinction you posed just now, but who knows, maybe I’m wrong and it turns out you’re right.

But you do choose to believe in aliens and ghosts, despite there being a lot more claimed evidence even in today’s world towards god?

Or do you think that aliens and/or ghosts can be confirmed to a greater extent than a god? What is the difference?

Okay, so now that the requirements are even further defined, let us continue applying them.

God must be real.

Do you believe in god?

Okay, well let’s apply that newly specified set of requirements.

Earth must be flat for the same reason. There’s even more evidence for it than for aliens, across history, across continents and cultures, and there’s plenty of content regarding it in the modern world too, independent of any specific locale.

Do you believe the world is flat?

Okay, well the US “left” and “right” may not be up to the usual standards, but it quite literally is up and down elsewhere and in premise.

Oh wow, thank you for the elaboration! Now that you spelled it out like that, I have to admit I have very similar thoughts, albeit in different circumstances, so I can’t really say I don’t see where you are coming from.

In fact, you’ve broadened my horizons, even if just a bit, and I thank you for the perspective.

I can’t say I totally understand the circumstances you live under, but I think I understand enough to know some of how that feels. And I’ve expressed the very same thoughts multiple times, even here on lemmy, so that was a little bit hypocritical of me. Sorry

Fair points. I lacked in perspective but you brought me some, so I thank you 😌

I always wonder about that. It seems like a non-issue to me. You’re just paying it, same as always, and the other can contribute when or if they can, what they can. Running costs that do increase with two people, like electricity or water, should be easy to just split some way, since the other’s no longer paying for their rent and utilities.

But why does it have to be some set sum or percentage or whatever? Why does it have to be static in the first place? Why not just let them contribute what they can, when they can, since the money’s not tight?

But of course the real correct answer will always be different for each relationship. And only revealed by talking and assuming each feel comfortable being honest and vocal about their thoughts and neither gets steamrolled or gets left with reservations or doubts about the outcome.

While your frustration is shared, and understandable, let’s not start throwing death around like it’s some little thing

Definitely not. The orange man and the US in general is equal in my eyes to Russia. A bad, backwards place I would fight if it tried to thrust its diseased member into my current life and surroundings.

Instead, I’d give a lot for what I have now: The relative safety and social progress, as well as the socialist elements such as our guaranteed welfare for everyone without gotchas or requirements, the general atmosphere of acceptance towards sexual and gender minorities etc.

A lot of reasons to “throw my life away”. The life wouldn’t be worth much if I couldn’t be myself, if I couldn’t survive and thrive even when unable to work or function. So I’d rather go fighting for those as opposed to bending over to get fucked either way.

This is actually one of the most mentally damaging parts of my youth, but before Facebook or 9gag or whatever meme-sharing places were prominent, back way when, there was a portal in similar vein but in our language and as such, not international, so the damage wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, in a sense, but I doubt it’d have been a meme if the entirety of the world’s memes were fighting for the same spots in the feeds or whatever.

Anyway, took me a long time to identify this as a source of some quirks I had, but I’m fine with it nowadays so here you go:

I went to a music college and was an aspiring musician. Before college, we had a local band that we were able to gig with and it was fun for a time. Then I left for college, which was 600km away, so that couldn’t continue.

In search of a new band, I initially made the mistake of just posting an ad in a big musician forum (back when we had really busy forums as opposed to centralized social medias 🥴) looking for opportunities. I was, and still am, a metal singer, though back then I could only really growl and scream.

Well, as it turns out, I had undiagnosed and thus unmedicated/unmanaged adhd, so I went a bit overboard and probably went too in length with it. Classic oversharing.

I still, to this day, can’t really tell you what was so funny about it, but a screencap of that ad circulated in the meme site we had back then, garnering over 10k reactions (I think they were different kind of emoticons there, and this was before standardized emojis, but anyways, some sort of explicit input), being in the top10 of memes for a week or so I think…

Luckily the image I attached was from stage and I had my long hair cover my face, so I didn’t really see it in my everyday life, but Jesus was that humiliating to the 16 or so year old me. And I was just getting into the college stuff like parties and all that.

Later, years after, my roommate told me they did it, the fucking rat 😂

Anyway, I guess the funny part was the growling teen acting as if they were already a professional in the ad and writing an essay for the ad. I wish I had it saved somewhere, or someone did, but no luck there. Haven’t seen it in over a decade, nearly two, so I bet I’d know what was wrong with it if I had the chance now, but alas, no such luck.

But that did put me off from a few band interviews for lead singer position and postponed my progress in that regard a lot. We did go on to record albums later with several bands, but I always was very inhibited sort of, really scared to get myself out there, so I always pushed back on any ad campaigns or promo pushes or whatever and we never did break big with any of them.

I’m fine now and worked through those problems in therapy as an adult, but, well, that’s my story.

For a second, I was a local meme, luckily not recognizable from it for anyone other than those who knew me.

I’m so glad we didn’t have social media back then, at least not in the same form as today 😬

Personally I’d go if they just let me. I’m a reserve sergeant with strong will to actually do something, knowing full well I will perish there, and cry for mommy in a ditch, or something else entirely, as of yet unimaginable to me.

Defense is something I accept and will always help with if I just can, if the cause is right. Other kinds of war or violence? I’d rather go to jail than participate. In defense of gender minorities, people with mental health issues struggling as it is, when we now have great support networks and financial help guaranteeing housing, food, electricity, everything necessary, I would face the horrifying prospect of unimaginable pain and fear, desperation, so that those that do not wish to, or can’t, do not have to.

I have strength and vitality some do not have. And if the only thing standing between the peaceful, at least good enough life they (we!) now have, is the sacrifice of those just selfless enough to face horrors, I’d feel bad letting them do it without me, if and when I am capable to help.

But this is only as long as the thing we’d defend is worth defending. Our current state definitely is. I’m openly pan-sexual enby, and nobody looks at me twice. I get to work, study, participate in society just like most everyone do. If that is in danger, I won’t sit down and wait for them to come for me and my kin.

But I also don’t think anyone else should be forced to do that, unless they really do want to and understand the horrors of what it will be.

I have the benefit of military training and familiarity with guns and warfare in general (in theoretical level, though, which is still better than nothing), so I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if I didn’t put those to use in defense of my fellow minorities often persecuted elsewhere.

And there will be a big bunch of people that swallowed all that troll farm shit whole and is now out there, parroting the same shit and inventing their own new shit, completely willfully, without compensation. We see this with the US and MAGA. Some people just… I don’t even know what words to use here. Some people just have such hate and bitterness inside them, and are gullible enough to go with some absolute bonkers shite and run with it.

And this is if we only strictly try and think about this fiscally. The human, social and moral side only expands from this, and are much more important, too.

The thing is, there are no ideal options here. While the 700bn goes to violence, at least in my country I know for a fact it goes to defense, since we very explicitly have no general armed forces, only defense forces. The same is not true for Russia or the US.

But I suppose you are right in that it depends on the specific country. I’m from a progressive social democracy, the world’s happiest people multiple years in row according to some studies, so it’s easy for me to say I’d rather choose the current situation over getting Russia or US conditions here… but maybe the same is not true for all European countries. There are many, after all, and in case of Hungary, for example, I would probably feel the same as you. There wouldn’t be much of a difference, just the flavor of who gets to oppress you and your people.

But there is no choice here, in my country, in which the current social situation remains as good as it is here, and in which we also do not spend any money on defense, local as well as Europe at large.

If the choice is between oppressive leadership, I’d much rather choose my current flavor. People can be who they are here, there’s no militia silencing our voices, and while things could be better in a million different ways, they also could be so much worse, as demonstrated by the two dickswingers, Russia and USA.

In an ideal world we would not spend on violence. I agree with that. It’s a waste. It leads to people dying, especially innocents. But it’s not an ideal world. And until it is, the choice has to be between different flavors of bad, I suppose, and personally I would 100% always choose the flavor in which I feel safe, happy and supported as a gender identity and sexual minority with mental health problems and adhd. And I would hope that most would do the same.

Because the alternative is just going to be fatal for me, at least, and a lot of people like me.

Edit: And yeah, you can pick out my points and their details in many ways, but the fact that the alternative can be picked out in so many more ways, remains. It’s all relative. I don’t see it as a good option to sacrifice good, just because it is not perfect, and get an outright horrible outcome. I’d much rather just try and help things remain at least good…

Edit2: Also, to address the “everybody wants to invade you” part: The US has declared it will start expansion and assimilate parts of other sovereign countries. One of those being part of Europe… An European country is currently deep in a defense war against a nation that has also declared that letting my country gain independence was a mistake and that is listed in multiple writings of prominent leadership members as one of the next countries that will be part of Russia “again”. So I don’t think everyone wants to invade us, not by a long shot. But there are countries that have been very explicit in their want, or even need, to fucking invade us and start enrussificating us.

The fact that you aren’t even considering these things, things that are well known and plainly and openly broadcast by these dickswingers, in some cases for many decades now, just tells me that you fail to understand what it actually is like being an openly stated target of assimilation. You make it a joke, as if nobody ever wants to conquer anyone, but it’s just fucking fantasy to think that. Right now, the same country that has stated my country “is in fact” part of their country, is, in real time, fighting a war of assimilation not too far from our borders… I get that this might not be close to you, you may live somewhere far away and don’t know this, but it hits a bit different when you are actually here. I can’t even imagine what it is like for Ukraine…

I do hope you could also try and expand your point of view and gain some perspective. The world is fairly shit in terms of things like this. Pretending otherwise won’t change that. The moment you blink, the nazis and oligarchs just do what they already have told you, over and over, what they will do. And next thing you know, you are being raped in a prison for being “a deviant” and your murder is then hidden away as your peers continue to face this reality.

Yeah, well, say we successfully block any further military spending here in the eu.

Is Russia going to stop their spending? USA?

No?

Then what will we do when they come for us next?

This wouldn’t be a factor if our nations were almost alike and no practical changes would occur should they conquer majority of Europe, but most of Europe is comparatively in another sphere in terms of progressiveness and social stuff. Compared both to USA and Russia.

Would the 700bn used, right now, in some better causes be worth it, if in somewhat near future we’ll have our minorities in concentration camps, killed or expelled? Our social systems torn to shreds, poverty and income differences rising? The authoritarian/oligarch rule we’d get then would spend that 700bn in many multiples in warfare, but also similar amounts extra for police and other oppressive powers to silence any and all opposition.

I’m just saying there are things worth defending, such as lgbtq+ rights, (comparatively much more progressive and universal) social equality and you know, the basics such as low levels of impoverishment, guaranteed housing for everyone, quality and unhindered education etc etc.

The sentiment is understandable and in a naive sense I agree, but the paradox of tolerance applies here, and it’s not so straight forward.

Sometimes you just have to punch a nazi in order to stop them getting too comfortable and getting bold. Well, right now the equivalent of the nazis here are, and have been, emboldened for over a decade, and it’s unfortunately going to take a lot of punches to stop them swallowing everyone whole and imposing even worse environments and even more poverty for all.

Perhaps the best time was back then. The next best time is now.