The generous take might be that they’re just being realistic and blunt about marriage: historically and even in many modern social contexts, marriage is more an expression of resource security/stability than an expression of love.

It’s not how we like to talk about marriage–the motivations, values, and ideals that make marriage meaningful… But sociologically, security/stability typically plays a pretty big role.

Don’t these losers have jobs? Or is this the job /Sarcasm

You ever look up how RAM is manufactured?

Whoever is forcing this dilemma is doing something wrong. Sue them for a fat payday… or chose violence.

I believe the regalia is state-owned, unless you have a source for your claim?

The crown jewels are state-owned and might as well be part of the UK’s gold reserves worth 30 billion. Given the historical, cultural, and symbolic value, I’d say they should dip into the gold reserves first to solve homelessness and fund the NHS.

You can certainly have a debate about where some of those rocks came from and their ongoing possession by the UK tho!

Is it sleazy? Absolutely. Is it exploitation of a massive power imbalance? Undoubtedly. Is it illegal? Probably about as illegal as a game pre-loading 4gb of DLC I’m not going to buy as part of an automatic update. The terms of your agreement with Google for Chrome allow them to update their software as they see fit. Their gamble is that you won’t switch.

Where are the MRE rations when you need them?

They are still saying this when it’s convenient for them. The only consistent thing for such people is their cowardice in the face of responsibility.

“War on Terror” sounded pretty righteous too. I’m glad you noted you haven’t read much on Iran. Please do at least catch up on the last 50 years or so. It’s a fascinating tale involving western meddling, a dynamic and multifaceted people/culture, and a genuinely oppressive regime that funds many regional militant groups.

Yes, people forget Canada can still diplomatically oppose the war and push for internationally backed de-escalation without condoning the Iranian regime.

While I feel a lot of contempt and opposition to US imperialism, they’ve pulled the trigger and there’s no going back to how things were. Between expanding Iran-backed militias, international sanctions, and the conflicting goals on nuclear weapons, the status quo before the war was also becoming less tenable long term. And now there’s the question of how to stop this war without leaving a wounded and even more dangerous regime unchecked.

What’s the primary romantic relationship in that show again?

It’s not a matter of helping people in general, it’s a matter of helping these people maintain power and control.

Tomorrow’s headline “The Trump administration removes the requirement to report US deaths due to war.”

Funnily enough, this is also the framework for those reality TV shows. It’s the move fast and break things approach that seems to be entertaining in a morbid way… So clearly the solution is to monetize your project (mis)management as entertainment!

Yes, the supreme leader of Iran stated he was opposed to developing nuclear weapons in 2003. The supreme leader then did not proceed to authorize two decades of an Iranian nuclear weapons program, a nuclear weapons program the West has not been negotiating about with Iran under his supreme leadership, a nuclear weapons program which was not bombed out last year, because of course it didn’t exist. /Sarcasm

People who cannot discern context or degrees of wrong are no better than ICE agents. Love you

Thanks for sharing that idea! I appreciate what you’re getting at: that basic care (food, clothing) embodies the tenet of equality in socialism. However, the example of a parent feeding a child doesn’t quite capture the power-relations, freedoms, and systems aspects of socialism. I don’t think we really want to say a master feeding/clothing their slave or a king feeding/clothing a favorite court jester is really “demonstrating socialism”. Socialism is about how society as a whole arranges ownership, production, and resource distribution (i.e. collective ownership of the means of production). It’s a counter to capitalism.

Parental relationships are, ironically, a special case where limiting freedoms and greater power disparity are justified in most egalitarian systems. We usually don’t give children ownership over the means of production.

Good formal description: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/socialism

So if socialism is bad because it’s in the name of Nazis, then democratic republics for the people must be pretty horrible too, going by the DPRK.

While we’re cherry-picking, the Kingdom of Norway is consistently one of the best countries to live in across several metrics. So clearly we should go back to kingdoms, because it’s in the name. Sometimes the old ways are best XD

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