GoodbyeBlueMonday

This could be the cover for a cyberpunk Far Cry 7

There are some damn cool Karen-looking folks out there.

When I was a gawky high schooler, I worked in a pet store. A lady came in demanding a refund for a broken bottle of flea spray. I apologized and took a look at it: turned out she hadn't flipped the little fiddly bit on the end of the nozzle around correctly, so it was actually functional.

She still didn't want it, and demanded a cash refund. Small independent pet store, so we didn't do that for credit card purchases, or ones without a receipt: store credit only, unfortunately. She started to get mad, and I told her she could talk to the manager first thing on Monday. She wasn't having it.

Behold the entrance of a Savior sandwiched between spiky dyed-blond hair and leopard-patterned pants. Summoning the strength of all the Karens out there - but wielding that power for good - she put herself between us. She started by simply telling her to "leave this poor kid alone, he doesn't make the rules", but when it was clear that the lady wasn't going to budge, she advanced on her prey and said "if you're too stupid to figure out how to use a spray bottle you don't deserve a refund anyway".

Wish I could thank her again: it defined the best and worst of working retail.

Thanks for your best wishes! I'm lucky enough that the hour it takes a year to vote doesn't get in the way of the direct action I participate in the rest of the year.

Mutual aid isn't mutually exclusive with voting.

Yeah, I'm reminded of one of the things the Emissary himself tried to explain to the Prophets. In this case, however, the past experience guiding Pike's choices in the present is already in the future...

Prophet - OPS OFFICER: You have no regard for the consequences of your acts.

SISKO: That's not true. We're aware that every choice we make has a consequence.

Prophet - CAPTAIN: But you claim you do not know what it will be.

SISKO: We don't.

Prophet - JAKE: Then how can you take responsibility for your actions?

Sisko: We use past experiences to help guide us. For Jennifer and me, all the experiences in our lives prepared us for the day we met on the beach, helped us recognize that we had a future together. When we married, we accepted all the consequences of that act, whatever they might be, including the consequences of you.

Cited from: http://www.chakoteya.net/DS9/401.htm

Unfortunately we don't have a great track record in the USA. The president of the confederacy only got a couple years in prison after the Civil War, and lived as a celebrity for a couple decades after that...

We see the system for what it is, so I'll vote for the slightly less terrible party in the short term and also do the things necessary to change it in the long term.

The "active resistance" bit was also a metaphor. Living one's life surrounded by people who hate core parts of your identity isn't great for maintaining good mental health.

...or you're being punked, take your pick.

Is anyone here calling for it to be canceled outright? If it's canceled because people don't want to watch it because they think an actor sucks as a human, that's just the free market, right? If it was a better show/actor, they'll still do alright (look at Tom Cruise or any number of problematic actors).

Funnily enough, I already noted in my comment that the wordpress site didn't cite as well as I'd like. They do however have a number of sources for many of their claims (I outlined where you can find those, if you're interested).

They didn't say it was, they were using what's called a metaphor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphor

Not everyone can participate in active resistance.

unsourced images on a random post in the fediverse

Bottom right of the image literally reads: "List source: whatbidenhasdone.wordpress.com"

The site isn't as thorough with sourcing from there, but they have a blog post with various sources cited, and their twitter account is full of sources for their claims.

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/24645

...as if Ukrainians don't have the capacity to think for themselves. Putin/Russian wouldn't give actual security guarantees on their end. It would also have required changing the constitution. Also after seeing the horrors of the war, they weren't ready to just roll over.