Men who are inferior to their fellow men, are always most anxious to establish their superiority over women.

-Mary Wollstonecraft

The reason for the ban is still stupid though.

More damning? I would think trying to overthrow the government and trying to install himself as a dictator would be just as bad.

People following the story of a former Olympic runner: First time?

I hope every time he gets out of bed he steps on a Lego. And when he hops off it in pain, he hops onto another Lego. Every time he goes barefoot, he steps on a Lego. For the rest of his life.

Probably because it used to be that being ostracized from our towns/clans/whathaveyou was basically a death sentence.

Getting criticized for something could potentially lead to the town/your family driving you out. Either through the people listening to the complaints deciding you weren’t ‘good’ for the town, or others dogpiling on with their own complaints, real or imagined.

You have to remember, there were bandits, wild animals, and deadly weather outside the protection of our small groups. And that’s assuming you got to survive the ostracizing in the first place.

The Bible gives a rather chilling example: if your kid is disobedient or troublesome, drag them to the front of the town and loudly criticize their behavior. Then, it is the moral imperative of the town to assist you in stoning your kid to death.

With things like that being a social norm, is it any wonder we developed a fear of criticism?

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. -Winston Churchill

It depends in part on male vs female; male rats and mice mark territory (and sometimes even their favorite walking paths, so beware if you let them roam) with urine. Back when I kept rats and mice, the female cages would always smell better than the male cages, no matter what I did.

Now I keep pythons, and both male and female cages don’t stink lol. I have to admit that the smell is the biggest thing I don’t miss about having pet rodents.

Honest question: have you considered getting him desensitized to the sound? It’s totally doable; hunters teach their dogs to not be afraid of the bang from their guns after all.

Yeah, a couple family members converted a few decades ago and the Mormons sent us all a request to list all our ancestors so they could retroactively ‘save’ them. Most of my family being Lutheran, that didn’t go over well lol.

My grandpa, my uncle, and a few other family pranksters got together and gave them the most outrageous list they could come up with. I had a Mormon kid as a friend when I was young, and some days I wonder if they looked me up, and actually believed I was related to the King of Sweden.

Hahahahahaha

Go to any place Christian nutters have ‘missionaried’ in over in Africa and you can see them with the masks off.

The only reason that sort of shit doesn’t openly happen in most of Europe anymore is it isn’t a popular idea with secular people, and religious leaders don’t have enough power to force it down people’s throats - yet.

21 out of 24

That was kinda fun

Citation needed

Because I’m pretty sure puberty blockers do literally none of that.

Oh, don’t worry; they definitely want to ban them for cis kids too (or at least girls). The one thing Conservatives the world over have in common is they like their women young.

I wonder if there’s a bit of not wanting to believe what people can accomplish if a massive number of us all teamed up to do something.

Because then they’d feel guilty for not getting up out of their armchair and going to support whatever cause they claim they’re supporting from the comfort of home.

‘Tell him we will pray for him.’

‘He needs your prayers.’

‘Is he, then, an unhappy man?’

Poirot said, ‘So unhappy that he has forgotten what happiness means. So unhappy that he does not know he is unhappy.’

The nun said softly, ‘Ah, a rich man…’

Poirot said nothing—for he knew there was nothing to say…

Hey, at least you’re listening and giving it serious thought. That’s better than some people.

According to the CDC, 1 in 3 women in the US have been victims of sexual harassment or assault. And honestly, given how underreported those sorts of stats are, it’s probably higher.

Another hypothetical question was posed to women a while ago: if all the men on the planet got whisked away (not killed, just sent to an awesome men-only vacation planet or something) for 48 hours, what would you do?

The answers were overwhelmingly things like ‘go for a walk at night’, ‘take a jog with my earbuds in’, ‘go to the gym’…

‘Most ignorance is willful’

Some people need a very structured, simple, well-defined worldview in order to function. Sort of like a computer has to follow a set program or it bluescreens.

‘This person coming towards me is a man. I can tell by his bowler hat and dapper suit. Therefore the correct action is to say ‘good morning sir, nice weather today’.’ And ‘This person coming towards me is a woman. I can tell by her dress and long hair and makeup. She is married based on the ring I see. Therefore the correct action is to say ‘good morning, ma’am, nice weather today’.’

And so on.

A person not presenting clearly as either gender, or isn’t the gender they’re expecting, means the ‘script’ no longer works. They no longer feel sure of what to do, and that lack of control of the situation makes them panicked.

Really, a lot of this, and conservatism in general, comes down to simple structure and control, so these people feel they always know what to do and where they stand.

Because our society is a social contract, and to act wrongly means you get ostracized from society. In ancient times that was practically a death sentence, and I don’t think these folks have ever gotten over that. They fear becoming the ‘outsiders’, left to the wolves and lions.