I grew up rich and inherited my wealth and I’m still a leftist, so I know there are exceptions to the rule I just gave. I didn’t mean to imply that all rich people are conservative and it’s a function of wealth. I just meant that while many leftists on Lemmy demand the rich empathize with the poor, I don’t think enough of them empathize with the rich—particularly the self-made rich.

You wanna know what the best thing about my inherited wealth is? I don’t have to plan for retirement. This leaves me free to work a job that doesn’t pay well, but affords me the opportunity to help people less fortunate than me (community therapist). I don’t think enough leftists on Lemmy realize how many of us are out there. It’s the problem of a handful of bad actors spoiling things for the bunch. It doesn’t matter how many Warren Buffets are out there; a single Jeff Bezos sets the bad example.

But it’s the system. We need laws that prevent 90% of the wealth falling into 10% of the hands. We need laws that stop the richest from paying the least taxes. But we also need oversight committees that stop government bodies meant to help the poor from pocketing the money—something leftists rarely want to acknowledge happens. I work in public health and I know how corrupt the system is. We can’t expect the we’ll-meaning wealthy to give up their capital to a system that is designed to line the pockets of other rich people.

I think a lot of far leftists are relatively poor and would change their tune as soon as they earned a lot of money. When you experience success it becomes a lot harder to excuse or sympathize with the people asking for handouts. Success is difficult. Yes, a lot of luck is involved and successful people do tend to give themselves too much credit, but it still doesn’t happen without a lot of effort from one ambitious individual. When you know you’ve built an empire, it’s a tall order being asked to give it up.

You’re citing a problem with our justice system though. Yes, that should be fixed, but it’s not the same as justifying vigilante justice. This should not be condoned. The system’s inability to prosecute and convict should be.

As much as I take some degree of delight in this CEO’s death, yes, his killer should face justice. Vigilante revenge should not be allowed in a civilized society. If we condone that, we open the floodgates for all forms of reprisal. As justified as I and others may feel this murder is, the CEO still should have had his day in court.

No, not having any money to buy food and pay rent is a real problem, no matter what your mental state is or how you choose to think about it, much less anybody else.

One major difference: bankruptcy is real.

You can’t rely on someone who is suffering to make a rational decision about weighing a very permanent choice with the chances of maybe someday getting better.

That’s just not true. People dealing with chronic pain can absolutely make informed decisions about their own healthcare, including voluntary euthanasia. Psychiatric and neurological illnesses could potentially impair a person’s judgment enough to bar them from making the choice themselves, but this notion that anyone who is “suffering” can’t be relied upon to make a rational decision because they’re somehow too biased by their own pain is pure idiocy.

That would depend on the person I’m talking to. Not everyone is well-suited for it. Generally, I recommend people find jobs that they enjoy doing most of the time.

Therapist here. This is correct. While almost any activity can be addicting, OP isn’t describing an addiction, which would involve distress in the absence of a particular activity, even when other activities were engaged in. What OP is describing is much more like the apathy/lethargy we see in depressed people, which often results in persistent engagement with easy distractions.

I think it’s a bit ironic that Wikipedia hasn’t succumbed to the modern era of misinformation the way other information sources have, particularly given the warnings about it that have been given in the past. Not saying those warnings aren’t warranted, just that the way things have played out is counter to said expectations.

They’re protesting no sex against a rapist?

Yeah, I can’t imagine how this is going to turn out….

This asshat is a professional troll, people, please don’t pay any attention to them.

As someone who voted for Harris? Nothing. Nothing related to the question in this thread at least.

As someone who paints an entire national population with the same broad brush though, what the bigoted fuck is wrong with you?

That’s right, bringing race, gender, and other demographic variables into it totally makes your argument stronger. It definitely doesn’t expose your own prejudices at all, no siree.

This has happened plenty of times in other countries. To think it can’t happen here is what is irrational.

I took this attitude the first time Trump was elected, and boy was I wrong. Not this time. Now, I’m seriously considering what his options might be for eliminating the election in 2028. He needs to clean the military brass of people disloyal to him, which he can easily do as Commander in Chief. Once he’s got a loyal military, there’s virtually nothing he can’t do; and this SCOTUS will let him do anything he wants, so long as it aligns with the view of Evangelical Christians, who have been wanting a theocracy for decades. He can conjure the specter of “Democrat corruption” to justify eliminating any opposition politicians as an official act, completely re-stock the FBI with loyalists to wage any legal battles he needs to make his actions seem legitimate and “official,” and arrest any problematic judges under the same “corruption” myth so that he can then replace them with loyalists.

Honestly, we’ve seen this playbook before in countries that are now dictatorships and Trump has already made it quite clear he wants to be a dictator. There is absolutely no reason to be convinced this will not happen. It might not happen, but there’s no reason to think definitely will not.

LOL. Omg I’m such a survivor. I’m only a survivor because I survived this long. I would be a completely different person if I I just survived longer than this. 😝

Because you invested in a shit plan or simply made your investments poorly. I know plenty of people who are doing well on their retirement investment plans, and I’m doing fine too. Don’t blame America, the country, for your shitty decisions.

They’re all over the place, but I suppose I encounter them most in the news and politics forums.

I like the relatively sane moderation compared to Reddit.

I dislike the heavy far-left/communist presence here. I’m a lefty myself, but a lot of people here are extremists in my opinion, little better than the far right.