It was my thought that the produce, meat, and staples seemed to be the bargains people were talking about, not the processed stuff. But yeah, the produce section disgusted me so much I just wouldn’t go back. Bags and bags of rotting garlic, soft onions, bruised and spoiling fruit and veg — I just was like “nope,” went to the only employee I could find in the store at checkout and let them know their produce section had a lot of spoiled product, put my cart back, and left

I’ve got some friends in education and I definitely don’t envy them at all. I’m sorry you had to go through that. Good people, I think, feel it is their duty and sometimes even their purpose to protect children. I feel that imperative too, and can empathize with how upsetting it is to know there’s a harmed child you cannot help. There’s evil, despicable people everywhere and I personally cannot fathom how they live with themselves doing what they do. The sad reality is they often are protected from the consequences of their actions, and I definitely know that righteous anger and that desire for some extrajudicial punishment for people like that.

Maybe you couldn’t save her. But you tried. Maybe you’ll have another kid and won’t be able to save them either. But you just keep trying, doing your best, and you hope that one day you’ll be able to save at least one. It only takes one to know you were somebody’s angel, and that there was a reason for you to be where you were when you were. Give yourself some grace, friend.

“Okay boomer, and how many school shooter drills did you run?”

Bro my brain has been fucking me my whole life, get in line

I don’t. I don’t think there’s a direct line from helplessness to anger. I think it’s just fear of things you cannot control, being overwhelmed with the logistics that accompany a response to any and every possible disaster or inconvenience, and a lifelong weariness built on your own constant vigilance against anything that might marginally worsen your stability and comfort. It’s worry. Constant worry, and your own forecasted model of whatever consequences await should you stop worrying.

If you personally experience anger as a coping mechanism to difficult feelings, I think there’s an emotional regulation issue you need to address and work on. If you’re angry because you feel powerless, it’s probably because you feel more comfortable being angry and use it to avoid the discomfort of feeling small, and that’s your way of reclaiming power. That’s not anxiety, that’s a frightening quality for others to have to deal with, and your pattern of thought shows a willingness to offload the blame for your aggression on external factors. Anyway, I hope you find a way to deal with that, if that’s how you process anxiety.

• Do your friends really like you, or are they just being nice out of pity?

• Did you leave the stove on?

• Really, did you leave it on?

• Hey, so this climate change thing looks pretty scary, huh? Probably not a good thing to leave your progeny to suffer through.

• On an unrelated note, when was your last period again?

• Fuck, now you’re gonna have to go to the drug store, pick up some tests and holy shit what are the abortion cutoffs in your state, again?

• What if you have to find an in-network provider for an appointment, call them, and face the possibility that they’re not taking new patients?

• Oh, that’s an itchy scalp, isn’t it? Better spend the next 30 minutes recording a zoomed in video as you look through each hair section and check for lice.

• Can humans get fleas?

• What if you have to fumigate? You can’t afford that.

• Your car’s sounding weird, don’t you think? What if it just had a catastrophic malfunction on the highway and you die in a horrific crash?

• I mean, at least then you won’t have to worry about the appointments, might be a relief.

Copium

Oh right because court orders are always an effective mandate with this admin

Yeah, I once lived in a food desert. Nearest actual grocery store was 5 miles away and this was in a densely populated urban district. A primarily low income, black district. The only walkable stores nearby were liquor stores and a few different dollar stores. Luckily I could drive and it wasn’t an issue for me, but the overall feeling I got was that most people I lived around were not eating well.

I wish I had good experiences with Aldi. Mine just has an entire section of actually rotten produce and it’s hard to want to go back.

Idk maybe I’m old but I feel like I’m always one good shart away from calling it a fucking night

We all participate in unethical business, however far removed our choices may seem from it. I’m not part of the military, don’t endorse it, and am angry about how my taxes are spent on it. It’s our government and military leadership that causes these problems and should be derided though. A lot of these sailors probably joined the military fresh out of high school with nothing better out there for them and aren’t educated enough to realize they’re not doing anything good. They’re kids though, but ride your moral high ground. I’m sure you’ve never worked for a scummy corporation or consumed slave labor goods.

I just think willfully ignoring the fact that there’s systemic pressure that coerces the lower class into the military and then saying they deserve to be starved and sent off to their deaths in pointless war is a fucking wildly dickish perspective. Like you assume they chose to be in the military as one of many lucrative options and not as the only prospective chance to better themselves (however false the illusion is)

Yeah fuck those stupid poors who had no financial safety net nor a good enough education to pursue traditional employment, who wanted the option to secure a good mortgage or steady healthcare

You forgot the one where the police served an illegal no-knock warrant to the wrong house and kicked the door in causing the homeowner to fire a shot (rightfully) believing there were home intruders and his EMS worker girlfriend was murdered in the officer’s return fire. Can’t you think of the poor officers? It’s awfully hard to read a house number

Elon Musk only had to shut the fuck up and mind his business and he could’ve been the happiest, most successful, piece of shit drain on society alive. Instead, he’s a miserable little removed whining online about a murder committed by an officer 6 years ago. Christ.

Yes because organizing a revolt of >200M people spread out across an area over twice the size of the EU who cannot afford to miss a paycheck without a very imminent risk of homelessness, starvation, and loss of healthcare for themselves and their families is such a logistically simple thing

It’s a good thing they haven’t made missiles to sense oversized shitted-in diapers, or he’d have really been in trouble

Why are you conflating an inability to practice emotional regulation in a sudden, horrific event to the same in the topic of conversation: trying unfamiliar foods? Emotional response is a muscle, and while there are certain things which cannot be practiced for, there are absolutely others which are entirely trainable and controllable, barring some massive disability that leaves you unable to function independently in society. Having an aversion to new experiences is absolutely something most people have the tools to cope with, and I say this as someone who is on the AuDHD spectrum.

Bro most of America lives paycheck to paycheck under an inhumane capitalistic system designed to make us desperate, afraid, and without a sense of community. We are dependent upon employment to get whatever overpriced and impersonal healthcare we are allowed by our employer-provided insurance. We have no savings. We are guaranteed no time off, and we can be fired in most places at any time for any reason. Our educational infrastructure has been systematically degraded over the past few decades, as have all our consumer protections and what few tools we’ve ever had to fight these oppressive conditions. Our kids get sent to war because joining the military is about the only method the poor and undereducated have of getting a chance of going to college or securing a mortgage. The people fucking you and the rest of the world aren’t Americans, they’re our oligarchs.