I never thought I’d say it, but I don’t even use YouTube anymore. I might go there once a month to watch a tute, but only if I absolutely can’t find help from any other website.

Well, in essence, propaganda is advertising. And advertising leans on satisfying perceived need.

So if I’m selling you shoes it’s to satisfy your physiological, social, or self-fulfilment order need. Shoes are functional, make you cool, or make a statement.

Propaganda is fulfilling some need to be effective - probably fear based in the social, safety, or belongingness orders, and carried via viral channels like word of mouth or social (viral).

I haven’t really thought about it too much but it’s just a communication or a reinforced message; it’s just advertising. Think about it that way.

And with regard to Russia, they are all ‘fear the West’ and ‘national pride’ driven, compounded over 3-4 generations. It would be such an easy spin.

Shit, my guy or gal.

That’s put my mind massively at ease. Thank you for putting the time in.

And yes, behavioural/clinical is exactly the path I’d go down.

I’m not. I’m aware of how selfish it is but something in my system of belief that I have (undefined? spiritual? no idea?) says that when I’m dead, I should be ALL dead.

Like, if there’s any kind of afterlife, will leaving a functioning part me behind hold up the transition? This even sounds fucked up to me because I’m 100% not religious at all.

I would just prefer all of me to be dead or all of me to be alive. Not fractions of both at the same time.

What echo chamber?

Test it yourself. Try saying anything positive about him. Say he has nice eyes, I don’t care, and watch the downvotes flow.

As a matter of fact don’t even be positive, be neutral. Say something like, “I haven’t formed an opinion on this yet” and watch what happens.

I dunno, man. Sometimes I’m really concerned with the echo chamber here. If you look at Lemmy and Reddit, it’s nothing but an Elon-hating amphitheatre, yet objectively, the guy still seems to be soaring up all the lists that matter.

So, something isn’t right. The guy is obviously popular in places that matter, and it’s worrying that places like this never, ever, ever show it.

I’d like to think Lemmy isn’t one-sided and biased but it clearly is.

And for the record, I’m not pro or anti-Elon. I’m not plugged in (or care) enough to know shit about the guy. But what I’m not going to do is Boomer-lean into one source and parrot the sentiment. Isn’t that what us Gen-Ys and Gen-Zs are supposed to despise, and be too internet savvy to fall for, or are we following our parents into ignorance?

Kids are about the only thing Italians can beat in a fight.

Amirite?

New research is suggesting caffeine’s stimulant effects are caused by the placebo effect anyway. The idea of decaf is kind of void if true.

I can offer you a very small example of a difference in thinking that I experience.

I’m a grown ass man and I can’t easily tell my left from right. The best example of this is when I’m gaming and the tutorial tells me to press ‘left thumb stick’, I usually fuck it up. It took me a long time and a lot of thinking on it to realise what was going on. For me, left and right is not instinctive like up or down, but rather, it’s either a feeling, or not a feeling.

The reason for this is because when I was 5 I nearly lost my left index finger in an accident. It was reattached, but during the healing process I was constantly told my left finger was the one I hurt, so I literally learnt left from right as ‘injury’ or ‘no injury’, which I then attributed to as ‘hurt’ or ‘not hurt’.

So now, when I have to choose left or right, my brain has to remember an injury and where it was, then kind of feel that injury and tell myself that yes, I feel it so that’s left, or no, I feel nothing so that’s right. These steps take more time than a normal person’s automatic reaction to left or right direction.

Imagine someone touching you and saying, “does this hurt”. It takes time to figure out if it hurts or not and then reply. Thats what I’m doing every time I need to identify left or right, and if there’s no time for that, like “quick, make a right turn here”, I’m forced to guess.

And there is no way for me to unlearn this.

My experiences with stink.

• Old people. Some were raised to shower infrequently because regular bathing wasn’t a luxury they had access to growing up. They carry this habit with them now. Source: I used to work with lots of old people.

• People from cold climates who move to warmer ones. Sure, in Amsterdam you can shower once a week but move to Australia and you stink. Source: My ex-father-in-law is Dutch, living in Australia.

• People who avoid soaps and deodorants because they prefer natural alternatives or ‘splashing and rinsing’. They think they don’t stink. Most girls I’ve met with bad smelling vaginas fall into this category. Source: Dating.

• Teenagers who haven’t worked out puberty yet. Source: Used to work in a school.

• Re-wearing unwashed clothes too many times. Source: Figured this one myself.

• People who prefer to stink. When you don’t bathe and don’t use deodorant, you get used to the icky feeling and the smell to the point where you prefer it, and a shower and soap then makes you uncomfortable (itchy/tingly). Source: Ex-girlfriend.

People should also be aware of the growing number of alternative mental therapists popping up everywhere due to the shortage in actual psychologists.

They are nothing more than life coaches with a six-month certificate in whatever-the-fuck, most of which are disguised as Masters qualifications from wherever-the-fuck.

We live in a time of most access, most abundance, and most peace. Even if you’re doing it tough, you still have it better than most humans in history ever have.

Relish in that because it probably won’t last. We could be remembered as the 2 or 3 generations to ever live in a golden age of resources, space, health, access, opportunity and freedom.

I often eat a meal and look at my plate and think… the components and flavours on this plate alone come from 5 or 6 countries, while I’m sitting in total safety and comfort, while also being entertained in some way, and if I want I can immediately talk to my family or friends, who live 3,000kms away, who I know are all alive and healthy.

Some of that wouldn’t have been true two decades ago. Probably none of it would have been true for people 100 years ago. Probably most it won’t be true for people in 100 years.

We really are in the sweet spot.

Blocking a handful of something hasn’t worked for me. I must have blocked about 100 anime/furry porn sites and I still get a dozen every day in my ALL feed.

Even when I sort HOT, they still come up constantly with no comments and no upvotes.

Ahh, fair. I got some WW1 and WW2 details mixed up. I’ll edit so I’m not feeding false info.

How long do you have? Here’s the very brief summary, and full disclaimer, I don’t have dog in this race.

1. Jerusalem is an important place for both Jews and Muslims.

2. They’ve been fighting over this space for two millenia. The Roman’s had it for a long time (Christian), the Ottomans had it for a long time (Islamic).

3. After WW1 and the Ottomans were defeated, it passed onto the Turkish (Islamic).

4. After WW2, with Britain now in control of it (Palestine) and with the surviving Jews now displaced worldwide with no country to live, the U.N decided to give Jews a new home and call this new place the State of Israel. They put Israel right in the middle of Palestine, which no Islamic nation could object to because they were all defeated in war.

5. Since then, Jews call Israel their home country. Surrounding Islamic countries don’t recognise Israel and want the Jews to leave.

6. Islamic nations including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Syria have all gone to war with Israel (the 6-day War) to kick the Jews out. They’ve all lost because Israel is militarily backed by world powers. Israel is now a military powerhouse and have full control of the region.

7. Israel allow Muslim Palestinians small areas to live in the area, namely Gaza and the West Bank, but they’re not particularity nice to the Muslims living there. This is the Palestinian/Israeli war that’s been going on for almost a century.

8. This space is now two main religions crammed into a very small space. Both claim that it’s their ancestral land. Islamic nations don’t recognise Israel as a country. Most of the rest of the world does.

9. Israel has become a defensive fortress with nukes, and is surrounded by five countries that hate it. No Islamic nation is strong enough to beat Israel. Skirmishes and shit fighting continues. Sometimes it gets serious. This week it got really serious.

10. This fight will probably go on forever because of the religious significance of Jerusalem which neither the Israelis or Palestinians will ever give up claim to.

11. So who’s right and who’s wrong? Probably neither. Probably both. Probably humans are just shit.

EDIT: I know there’s lots of missing parts here but honestly, the full story would be a semester of university worth of info. I tried to keep this ultra-digestible, without bias or conspiracy or finger pointing.

Thank you below for the corrections.

I attribute my loss of interest in things to social media. My attention span is just cooked.

I’m not depressed. I still deeply want to do the things I love - guitar and gaming are two interests of mine too. I just can’t stay with either for more than 5 minutes without being bored.

And yes, being perpetually tired is your new adult reality. I negate tiredness by hitting the gym for an hour each day. One hour of working out = 5 to 6 hours of unbridled energy for the day regardless of commitment. As I get older though, I get diminishing returns on this as the week goes on.

I also think it’s semi-natural to get more bored and tired as you get older. Technically, we’re supposed to grow up, breed, take care of kids, and die. That’s our deal. No where in there are we supposed to have room for a career, a degree or trade, two hobbies, 10 close friendships, annual overseas trips, and weekends partying. Just my two cents in this area. Not a scientist.

Yup. $20 every year.

I just like that it’s there and I’ve used it a lot, and I want it to be there for the next generation.

Plus, they’ve maintained staying ad free, sub free, and bullshit free. I can’t think of another site that’s kept that level of decency.

I haven’t been back. Creddit can get fucked. Apollo deserved better.

In saying that, I have missed the abundance of content. In saying that, Lemmy has grown in order of magnitudes since I got here a few weeks ago. And after the June 30 API cut, I think this place will jump in users.

Nice one. Who’d’ve guessed.