The only real hope is the total removal of social media from everyday use, and for so many reasons, thats simply not happening. Everton..........albeit that is a Great Idea but sadly it ain't going to happen. It would mean the end of Baby's Pick-Em........OMG we would have to send our Pick's in by SNAIL Mail.
Well, except us. Thinking back a decade ago, I was optimistic about where we were headed. I naively assumed that once everyone had an internet connection and smartphone, they would be able to find facts, history, science, reason on their own. The blinders would fall off and ignorance would be thing of the past. Then we had the Arab spring, which was a "good" thing. Social media was instrumental in organizing the toppling of corrupt dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia. People literally named their kids "Facebook" after the revolution occurred. But then the dictators returned and then ignorance/stupidity overwhelmed the internet. So much for my optimism. There is a severe mental health crisis going on right now that is not really being talked about. Particularly among Gen Z. And social media may be the biggest reason why. https://theintercept.com/2020/08/28...e-u-s-is-fraying-severely-if-not-unravelling/
That's a really interesting article blang. The upsurge in deteriorating mental health is happening all over the world I think. It would be interesting (I don't have the time to check right now) to see the percentages by country. It's hard to get my mind around those numbers. I know from my g/f who is CEO of a women's shelter in the township nearby that the numbers of women going to the shelters during the last 6 months has dropped significantly because those women have been isolated at home with their abusers. Also, the number of people calling in for help for anxiety and depression has sky-rocketed.
Hmm... I'm just wondering now if SoCal realizes how long women's memories are for being called names ...
Here I'll repeat it for you SoCal, "There is absolutely no reason why anyone needs to own an assault weapon. Not one reason in the world. If you do own one you are part of the problem. " If it wasn't so terrifying thinking of all the misguided people in the States who own an assault weapon it would be hilarious. This makes me think of little boys and their big guns ... measuring their machoism with the quantity and quality of their weapons. I'll say it again for good measure, no one needs to own an assault weapon.
OK I'm being serious now. All due respect here. Baby ? I love you sweetheart. But there is no way that you and I will ever see eye to eye on this one. Yes. I own an AR15. You say I'm the problem. I say that if a problem ever comes into my home ? I can defend my family/home/etc. I won't apologize for that. I've never killed anyone. I've never even pointed a gun at another human being in my life. And I pray to God that I will never have to. But I felt more secure the day I brought that thing home. What more can I say ?? I can see how passionate you are about your beliefs and I respect that. But I'm the same way on mine. I hope that we can just walk away from this as friends.
Since this isn't a discussion about the 2nd Amendment I'm not going any further than this with our corner of this discussion either.
Very Adult of both of you......Kudos. SCS......I'm NOT a Gun Guy and I don't understand why you need a AR15.....would a Smith and Wesson do just as good of a Job ???
The rationale already discussed here was this: You might miss a lot of shots. You need lots of bullets fired quickly, or else your family is dead. Or, your house might be invaded by an army, and your family would fall victim if you had to change a magazine. No judgements on my part, just summarizing the cases already made... As amazingly reasonable as they are...
In a word ?? Yes. My wife has a 9mm hand gun. I've fired both guns. It's just a quirk of mine, I'm more comfortable with a rifle in my hand than a pistol. Their safer and way more accurate.
This. It may have started with good intentions, but it's turned into this sickening tool for hate speech and accusations/lack of facts without any contentions or evidence. There's a psychological/physiological element lost because there's no human interaction. Its the easiest open channel to all types of speeches (including reasonable ideas) without repercussion. Agreed. Social media does have its wonderful uses, including free/basic methods of communication which is vital to keeping a healthy, modern human nature. But in order to fix this, you'd have to remove the financial motive for the social media giants. That ain't happening. I'll call horseshit on the marijuana front. The research has been done time and time again. It's not a secret that marijuana has long term effects on people ages 26 and under who use it regularly. The human brain is still developing even though your body peaks at about 21-23 for the vast majority. Alcohol damages the body worse than pot. College kids/high schoolers still party and get shithouse drunk, and adults do too. Yet society somehow is about to still hold idiots responsible for getting behind the wheel blasted or going streaking through the quad, to whatever dumbshit happens if it happens. At this point, other than the alcohol/tobacco industries would take major hits financially, there is no argument against the recreational use of marijuana. As for Psilocybin, DMT, and psilocin, all research was halted long ago in the 1950s or 60s, but a few recent studies showed benefits of the substances on people with specific mental issues ranging from depression or anxiety to heavy stuff like the psychological effect after learning one has a terminal illness. For most people, these substances also increase empathy, understanding, and relaxation/calmness while decreasing ego and pride, which of course we just don't fucking need even a little bit in the US right now...that just might be what Jesus would do.
I was just looking at a couple of studies about there being any increase in lung cancer from people who smoke pot. As far as I can see no conclusive results have been found as of yet. From the National Institute of Drug Abuse: I use cannabis oil every night for pain and sleep. I have always had cannabis in my life. I think I started smoking when I was about 11 years old. My niece started smoking more weed at the onset of the Covid break because she has high anxiety and she was having trouble coping with her two toddlers. Because pot is legal here in Canada a lot of people are growing their own organically which leads me to think that there is less danger or risk coming from any added substances to the weed. Cleaner is healthier. I don't know of any circumstance when someone who is high showed aggression towards another. I'm not saying that it is not possible, just that I have never witnessed aggression between 2 people who are high. I would be really interested in learning about how smoke versus alcohol influences decision-making. How many deaths are reported each year of vehicular fatalities due to alcohol abuse as opposed to the same situation where weed is involved?
I think we need to pass around a giant bong and get everybody in the entire world high for one day. Even if for just one day we can have peace on earth.
Not much of a pot smoker myself, but when you do that, put Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi in the same room. That would be hilarious !!!!
We all own a ton of stuff we don’t need. Since when can we only own things that are needs? The whole attack on AR’s is stupid anyway. It’s a semiautomatic long gun that looks like the ones used in the military. It is no more dangerous than any other semiauto long gun that looks like it’s meant to hunt deer. IMO if you are anti AR’s and not anti all guns you are an idiot fooled by the media. I am a gun owner. The main reason I own a gun is because way too many people own guns in this country that shouldn’t and I just don’t see that changing anytime soon. So I would rather be prepared. My second reason for owning guns is they are fun as hell to shoot when done so properly. You know why AR’s are so popular? Not only does it look and feel bad ass. (You feel like a member of seal team six shooting Bin Laden as apposed to a woodsman shooting Bambi at the range.) It’s totally customizable. And you know us Americans love shit we can accessorize. This thread is great by the way. Lots of good stuff. I tend to stay out of politics but IMO nothing is going to really change until the 2 party system is abolished.
