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544
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2 yr. ago

  • From Putin's perspective, it's great. It's not like they're needed for their votes, and one of the key indicators of revolution is unemployed young men.

    Since that's mostly who dies in endless war, endless war is a great technique for dictators to maintain control long term.

  • There have been studies that indicate that people who are not exposed to varieties of people constantly tend to not recognize faces and/or facial expressions on other races.

    There are also studies that indicate that white patients are more likely to be prescribed painkillers when they're in pain, whereas black patients are more likely to be thought of as exaggerating.

    I've had instances where I, as a white person, got immediate access to great medications. My black coworker, same illness around the same time, was told to take Sudafed and other OTCs.

    The numbers also don't lie. Maternity mortality is higher for non-white patients. Surgical outcomes tend to be poorer. Follow care tends to be less stringent. It's across the board.

    On one hand, there are some systemic things that can explain this. Drug interactions are kind of presumed to be identical for all races when you control for race, but that may not be the case - we may just be averaging out to a measure that is no longer useful. So biological differences, ability of the doctor to identify pain/issues, willingness to believe the patient, and all sorts of other things play in just as much if not more than overt racism.

  • I think you're right if the goal is to stop them all together.

    But what we can do is stop people from sending them around and saying that it's true/actually the person.

    Once they've turned it from a art project into a weapon, it should have similar consequences to "revenge porn."

  • Most arguments about wait time are conflating two issues: how long from when you check in to when you see the doctor, and how long between when you try to make an appointment and the date of that appointment.

    The US system is not terrible for wait times on appointments, and depending on your type of insurance it's not terrible to see a specialist. But there are some niche practices that are horrible wait times, such as endocrinologists.

    The US system "solves" the office wait time issue by dinging doctors for spending more than 7 minutes per patient.

  • Because they know a lot of people agree with them on individual policy ideas, but if they claim/accept that label in particular, it will alienate the low information people they target.

    English only education
    Immigration quotas
    Policing policy and methods
    Incarceration
    Tons of other things

    All of these have racial implications, and a huge swath of "middle America" will buy into specific stances. Their MO is to get them agreeing on anything, and then gradually ramp up the rhetoric to get them to more extreme views.

    As a normal looking white guy, it is shocking the number of times people will say borderline racist things to feel you out. Depending on your immediate response, they will either cloak themselves in whatever plausible deniability they built into their initial comment and stop talking to you, or they'll continue with gradual escalation until you match them, at which point they know they've found a kindred spirit.

  • This is a very nuanced issue, and I won't be able to explain my thoughts without someone whatabouting it.

    And while you're right, it is absolutely insane that we blame individuals for the exploitive nature of society.

    Kids are expensive because businesses realized they could charge whatever for everything and then run ad campaigns about how bad of a parent you are for not buying their product or service. Simultaneously cutting every public, infrastructural component that used to support parents.

  • I apologize if you're being sarcastic, but this is the point. We need cars because we designed our cities around cars.

    If we designed around foot traffic and rail, we wouldn't need (as many) cars and could do with less expensive car-centric infrastructure. Not just interstate exchanges, but also the massive parking lots and garages that are required, gas stations and car repair/oil change places on every corner, etc.

  • I thought the same way as you until recently.

    A lot of times when we fly, we have to rent a car anyway. Once that's factored in, driving often winds up being cheaper.

    Did a ten hour drive recently. Gas for the whole trip wound up at about $300, including driving around up there. Which is close to what we paid for a car last time we had to rent, plus the gas for the rental.

  • In this scenario, it's less about the damage you can do to the company and more about the damage you avoid doing to yourself.

    Integrity is something only you can define for yourself. If you're fine with it, do what you want and live with the consequences (or lack thereof).

    To your example, I don't eat Chick-fil-A, and I don't shop at hobby lobby. There's something to be said for "there's no ethical consumption under capitalism" but those two companies in particular, I find repulsive, even though they remain incredibly popular. I know my boycott doesn't impact them, nor does it stop anyone else from supporting them, but I feel dirty when I shop there, so I do not.

  • Wonderful in theory, but in practice it's a dumpster fire. Quick, mainstreamm-acceptable takes are incentived, and nuanced, alternative viewpoints are nearly impossible.

    If it were all for hobby stuff, it would be fine, but when this is how most people get their news, it's not good.