• 7 Posts
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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: September 21st, 2023

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  • LesserAbe@lemmy.worldtoMemes@lemmy.mlZen Z
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    1 month ago

    I learned cursive but I’m sure have forgotten how to write it, especially some of the capital letters. Thing is learning it now is really just for backwards compatibility. Yes, it’s faster to write in cursive when writing by hand, but how often is that coming up these days, for most people?



  • LesserAbe@lemmy.worldtoMemes@lemmy.mlZen Z
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    1 month ago

    You’re right it’s good to prepare young people for challenges. Still, that should mean challenges that would come up anyways, not artificially making things more difficult.

    It’s good to know how to read an analog clock, just like it’s good to be able to read cursive. But both of them are outdated and aren’t inherently required in day to day life. Inserting them into a testing situation that’s meant to test something else is creating an unnecessary challenge.


  • You’re right, we shouldn’t regulate this type of speech. I’m not proposing we outlaw calling someone “a Karen.” I’m arguing that people who care about how others feel should reconsider this type of joke.

    You mentioned that this sort of thing is only a problem if you’re surrounded by morons. Let’s be generous and call them people who don’t see things your way. Isn’t that all of life? I gave the example of a child named Alexa because it’s a literal real life example. It is a thing that happens, not a hypothetical. I have a kind and quiet family member named Karen, and it’s a nuisance in her life.

    You mentioned egocentrism. Isn’t it egocentric to think “I will say whatever I want and if that makes someone else feel bad who cares?” I try to live my life in a way where I’m not knowingly causing other people discomfort. Sometimes that’s not possible for good reason. We can still try.



  • I encourage you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. The “joke” is there’s this archetypal character who is often named Karen who is entitled and makes unreasonable demands. If your name is Karen, that sucks. It’s not about egocentrism, the villain in this joke is literally named Karen. Imagine you couldn’t go through life and raise a concern about any issue because someone would be like “har har, you’re being a real Karen”. Even if it’s a joke, when you hear it a thousand times that gets old and it sucks.

    I have some friends who named their daughter Alexa before Amazon released the virtual assistant with the same name. Kids at school tease her. She can’t go by Alexa, she has to go by Lex. Again, I encourage you to imagine yourself in someone else’s place.


  • Easy for you to say if that’s not your name. I don’t have any hope of dissuading people from using the name that way, but imagine your name was “motherfucker” and it was a completely new combination of letters, no one had any negative connotation associated with it, then all of the sudden everyone is calling each other motherfucker and it means “fucking someone’s mom.” You probably would be pretty bummed out. Doesn’t matter if you know someone calling someone else a motherfucker isn’t referring to your birth name.







  • I realize I just essentially said to tell people to vote while you were asking for something more. I wanted to share that because some people think that posting “vote” is the same as having a conversation about voting. Posting is not nearly as effective.

    Another thing that might help is directly asking elected officials to intervene. Staffers for politicians keep a tally of calls and letters they receive for/against a given issue. So while your words may not move an elected, you and some friends can get them to act on an issue. If you have a group you can also request a meeting to discuss your issue which is even more effective. Politicians take notice of organized groups of constituents since that’s a block of votes for/against them and possible a group knocking doors for/against them.

    The trouble is I don’t know what the ask is. There should be a specific action you’re demanding: “introduce this bill” “cosponsor this bill” “vote for/against this bill”. And it has to be something they’re able to do. I don’t know what that thing would be.

    Pack the supreme court (but there’s not time for that or majority in the house).

    Long term I think building true power means growing communities, joining unions and cooperatives. Most of us aren’t rich or powerful enough to be heard, which is why organizing is so important. None of this is fair or easy to do.


  • They say your time is much better spent guaranteeing people who already will vote blue show up to polls than trying to change the opinion of people who will vote red.

    So that looks like asking people “do you have a plan to vote?” And perhaps in a less nosy phrasing: “When will you vote?” “How will you get there?”

    People verbalizing a plan makes them more likely to follow through.

    There are many places you can sign up to go canvassing, which is great. I would suggest in addition to and maybe before that, make a list of everyone you know and would feel comfortable talking to, and talk to them about voting. You will get much more mileage from existing relationships. (It’s like how sales differentiates a warm lead and a cold lead)

    Once you’ve exhausted that list then every little bit still helps. I do think high density events like farmers markets, community gatherings, concerts, games, etc have better rate of contact than door to door.