My comment or the political party?

Andrew Yang is a billionaire which does suck, but if a billionaire is able to help us get RCV I’ll take it, but that’s just my 2 cents.

As for me I’d love if my comments were being funded by dark astroturfing money. I got credit card debt that I need to pay. Sadly I still need to go to work.

Edit:

Andrew Yang isn’t the one guy funding the party- just like any party they are pulling from many sources, I just assumed the comment was trying to get at the fact a billionaire is setting this up. I had a knee jerk reaction to that because I see purity tests as an unproductive way to judge a movement. There should be boundaries sure, but there should also be a degree of pragmatism in how to get things done.

So I think a lot of folks don’t know the context this comic was written in and how misleading the message is.

This is an attack comic on a recently created 3rd party, the Forward party, created by Andrew Yang. There are several pillars to this party’s mission, such as UBI and Campaign finance reform, but the core of the party is the ranked choice vote.

If you aren’t familiar with ranked choice vote, Here is a great video explanation , but essentially it gives voters the ability to vote for multiple candidates and removing the entire “voting 3rd party is throwing your vote away” situation. If the forward party is successful to getting this passed in every part of our government, it would fully upend the two party system.

This comic is pointing at Andrew Yangs slogan in his 2020 run for president as well as for the forward party- “not left, not right, forward”. What he is trying to do is tap into the discontent found in a majority of Americans. Most voters would like to see choices beyond Dems and the GOP and these voters are all across the political spectrum.

Someone like my father, a former Republican who is disillusioned with the party but is still heavily free market, and myself who believes more in regulation and strong institutions both agree on the issue of RCV because we are in the same boat of feeling like we aren’t actually represented in our government.

I’d say this comic is a perfect example of “if you ignore the details of a philosophy and redefine it’s rhetoric, you can make it stand for anything you want”.

TL;Dr this comic is trying to convince you that the Forward party is the exact opposite of what it really is by ignoring any nuance.

Edit: Here is a video explaining the positions of the forward party. Keep a critical eye while watching it as I’m not trying to sell you on the party, but at least for you to be aware of it’s existence.

“we thought we hit rock bottom, but then we heard a knock from below” -Russian Joke

100%

I know I’ve even taken more extreme stances outwardly than I actually believed because I didn’t want to be outcast by my friend group.

Oddly enough when I became more comfortable to speak my mind in a non-threatening manor to those who trust me, I did get my close circle to show that they weren’t as extreme as they presented themselves either.

It’s almost as if social media has only intensified tribalism by giving us two dimensional views of the people we interact with. Our in-group has a diverse set of reasonable ideas, whereas the outgroup is a brainwashed monolith of everything we hate.

So I dealt with this a shit ton in my 20s, and have only recently found an effective way to reframe my mindset.

First, my friend introduced me to parts theory. It’s a practice that’s underscored by “nonessentialism” for my philosophy friends here (i.e. there is no single you, you are made up of many, many identities that come together). The exercise I would recommend you do is to name the different parts of you. Hell, to make it fun, pretend they are tarot cards or something. For instance my negative feelings came from a part of me I now call “the sleezy politician” who manipulates people into doing what he wants. I also took note of the origin story of this character- I had very unstable family dynamics that had a lot of backroom conversations, and also I had a traumatic friend group explosion in highschool that taught me I need to control others through charm to survive.

I also have “the musician”, “the teacher”, “the council”, “the romantic”, “the child”… I listed 34 and I could probably keep going. Recognize each one of these people is trying to take control of the wheel of your life, and you can choose who you give it too.

I also just listened to Kevin Hines on the Man Enough Podcast . The man enough podcast is a podcast that deals with men’s issues through a feminist lense- I see it as the antidote to the manosphere. That said, I don’t think you need to be a dude to take something from this. TW: it has a lot to do with suicide, but it is very uplifting when it comes to self love. The exercise I took away from it is to note the thoughts repeating in my head of who I tell myself I am, and then say the opposite. I am responsible. I am kind. I am genuine. I am honest. I am enough.

Finally I had a thought yesterday- I need to love myself before I love others. If I’m not comfortable in my own skin, how can I be comfortable with someone else? My friend who just got married said he knew she was the one when “the relaxed feeling I have when I’m alone at home is the same when I’m with her at home. I feel at home.” That’s when I realized I need to be at home with myself.

But don’t just love yourself- have a crush on yourself. Idk about you, but when I’m absolutely crushing on someone I’m seeing, I become like a bird of paradise. I keep my place clean. I exercise. I eat right. I take them out to dance and see the world. I do everything I can to be my best self for this person. So why not do that for me?

I hope some of this can help friend. You aren’t just wanted here, you are needed here, and for a reason.

Bahaha I mean there was a mountain of other things, it just was that this was the last straw.

Okay this hits too hard.

My high school girlfriend was always great at giving me gifts. I thought “wow she’s amazing at knowing what to get me!”

I had one moment of foreshadowing when she was able to buy me a bow tie I saw on a guy because his name was Michael and he was in Seattle.

One day I was being a silly goose while waiting for her to get ready for the pride parade, and I began flipping things in her room upside down.

I flipped over a notebook with my name on it.

I decided since it had my name on it I could peak, and oh boy.

It was a journal with the day, time, what I did, what I said, dating back to before we met

I broke things off shortly after.

Are you a middle age straight man?

I remember the way I felt when the railroad strike first ended- it was a smack in the face to the railroad union. He sided against the protesters and ended the protest without giving them what they wanted- sick time off. I thought “dang, Biden is just another in a long line of anti-labor presidents”.

That was big news posted loud and everywhere.

And then only a few months later, and with little fanfare, The Biden administration pressured rail companies to give that sick leave.

Biden (actually Pete Buttigeig) prioritized preventing an immediate logistics crisis over workering conditions, but he didn’t just let it slide off his table. Now we don’t have a logistics crisis and the railroad union has more sick leave. Absolute win.

Yes, but all Minecraft villagers are also war criminals.

All Texans are war criminals

Oh yeah I’ve had that conversation over and over. I’m well aware of the reality of a profession in music, but I also have realized in the 10 years I spent in corporate America that I can’t live that life.

Someone said “don’t get a career in the arts until you’ve exhausted all other options”. It was annoying to have to constantly convince my mom that I was deeply unhappy in those roles, but she’s come around a bit more especially because I’m actually finding success following my passion.

It’s a rough road for sure, but I’ve found avoiding unhappiness is not the road to happiness.

While I had a lot of things that made me angry at my mom in my early 20s, I realized she did this with me with my music. Sometimes she still would suggest I go into sales and get a big boy job and get down on me for my choices, but I also know on her good days she was super supportive. The last panel is word for word what she would say.

Ofc! Have fun, be safe, and don’t actually eat people!

I would take a step back: why are fetishes a thing? It’s a difficult thing to research, especially since western society is reluctant to talk openly (or even privately to researchers) about their sex life. In this thread people talked about how childhood trauma could be a factor in kink, and that would make sense.

I can tell you from my experience, types of fetishes are not a biological response so much as social response. For me, I know many of my fetishes are simply based on the fact that it’s a social taboo. If people walked around in gimp suits and nipple clips all the time in public, I would find that kink far less interesting.

My guess is good as any, but I think if being kinky with a partner has an evolutionary advantage, it would be about social cohesion. When you show someone this dark side of you that you would never show other people, you strengthen a bond with your partner (assuming they are into it as well).

In the case of vore fetish, my partner doesn’t actually want to be eaten, rather she likes this version of submission where she is seen as “delicious”. Once sex is over and we return to our senses, we maintain our sense of self preservation.

Personally I would never eat someone else, but playing this role is fun for me since I can get into a Dom role and do something society would frown upon if it was real.

With that said, I find in any kink play, aftercare is SUPER important. We say fucked up things while having sex all the time, but afterwards we make sure to assure eachother it was just an act. Communication during and then afterwards is so important to reinforcing the relationship when enjoying kink play.

My partner chooses the bear bc she has a vore fetish and gets turned on at the thought of being eaten.

That’s a very real experience, and I have experienced that too. As a male teacher, I have often been seen with suspicion. As just a tall guy who has some self awareness, I can sense that I can be seen as a potential threat. It’s exhausting.

But remember, it’s not women’s fault. It’s the fault of asshole guys that bought into a shit idea of what masculinity is and taught women to be on guard.

The fact is the boys are not alright. They are being outperformed in school, and in all demographics except the elite, there is a drop in real wealth among men when women are climbing. This is especially true for men of color. If there is a failure of progressive change in the 2000s, it’s not giving the boys a path forward beyond “no means no”.

I’m a dude and I would love a world where women feel safe to be open with their boundaries. This comic nails it in that the problem isn’t women, it’s other men.

Patriarchal society doesn’t just hurt women, it hurts men too.

Any guys reading this- we don’t have to be the problem, in fact we are part of the solution. We are not useless, we are not supposed to just shut up and listen, we are supposed to be role models for the next generation. We have work to do, and when everyone benefits, we will benefit too. This isn’t a zero sum game.

I’m an educator, and I try to teach the girls that men don’t need to be feared, and teach the boys not to be men to be afraid of. It’s my job to show the boys that there is an alternative masculinity to what Andrew Tate prescribes.

If anyone wants a good YouTube male role model, I suggest John Green. I want more men who can recite Emily Dickinson and be open with their emotions in healthy ways.

I hate it even more