Too often this option is presented by people who are deliberately manipulating you and causing you to think that you only have the two choices which each benefit them and neither you. Always consider who is offering this choice and why. The true lesser evil here is whatever you have to do to get out of the situation where this choice is being presented to you.

The actual bubble that needs to be popped is financialization. The US economy is now completely detached from productivity and is now running on speculation only through financial valuation. At the same time, people are starving, infrastructure is falling apart, the birth rate is plummeting, and suicide is on the rise. It’s time to stop taking “job creators” seriously and use all this fallow professional experience and skill to restart the material economy and forget this pretend crap that keeps plutocrats busy doing nothing of any value to anyone.

This is really interesting. Faking an endorsement by someone who is accused of preventing thousands of needless deaths to sell shirts is on one level nefarious but on another level incorporating Luigi into mainstream pop culture. The plutocracy wants people to think this kid is the worst monster who ever lived, but the average American is so pleased with what he is accused of doing his likeness can be used to sell clothing. I am not totally opposed to the mainstreaming of this kind of folk hero. Optimally he should at least get some royalties to pay for his legal fees, though.

It’s an inhuman facsimile of the expression of humanity.

China has for decades deliberately designed their economy to provide affordable and quality labor to the capitalist world, and in all of the English speaking world capitalists are free to invest their money however they please wherever they please. Since it is cheaper to produce and import particular similar quality products from China than produce them domestically, that is what the right business move would be to minimize costs to maximize profit.

This is not a universal phenomenon. This is the result of stress affecting sleep by causing sleep latency problems or the quality of the sleep itself leaving the individual non-refreshed upon waking and needing a refractory period to recover from sleeping before getting out of bed. The reason it’s coming up a lot more often is that greater numbers of people are experiencing the health consequences of chronic stress.

If it brings me pleasure it is something I need, as I need to enjoy my life. On something like this I would just think about whether the cost justifies the amount of pleasure it would bring me. If I know I would get tired of it after a few weeks, I’m not going to blow thousands on it. If it’s a major enhancement of a hobby I’ve had for a long time which deepens my ability to enjoy it and I’m not risking anything else by spending the money, then it’s a decent investment in my happiness.

And the Nintendo of my childhood was responsible for pretty much every anti-consumer practice and cultural trend concerning videogames during my childhood:

Inventing the idea that videogames are toys only for little boys only for marketing purposes. Betraying and exploiting established relationships with developers. Screwing over partners on disc technology and reversing course to limit technology to be under their control. Supporting Jack Thompson throughout his campaign to ban all videogames with any adult content at all. Lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit to hold the entire industry back. The list goes on.

Tinder is an app where you look at pictures of people and on that basis alone decide whether to go out. It’s even easier to lie about height than to take a misleading picture. I’m really not sure if this would make any difference at all. Everyone frustrated on tinder will continue to be exactly as frustrated on tinder while tinder squeezes them all.

They could be having that effect. Scams that look obvious are to attract people who fall for obvious scams, such as people with dementia. They are designed to be transparent to most people because they don’t need anybody clicking that has the faculties to know better than to fall for the rest of the scam.

1930s style superheros where they stood with the people against the corrupt establishment rather than the other way around.

Empiricism. We need to acknowledge that not everyone considers evidence when determining truth and encourage it way more than we do.

The most central characteristic of whiteness is a belief in racism. It feels disingenuous because there is no white race other than what we’ve constructed socially for political purposes. English culture exists, Latvian culture exists, Russian culture exists, many American cultures exist, and white culture doesn’t exist and never has.

Honestly, it’s a great source of truly stupid ideas. It’s convenient to have a total idiot on hand at all times to make dumb suggestions when asked, inspiring me to think of something better since the standard was set so low.

Something slow or still and beautiful. I relate to wanting some of my time back whenever I get the smallest moment only to find that nothing is good enough to balance out the activity of rest of the day. Low stimulation activities are also not good enough and are boring but can be a much needed moment to get grounded. The best solution is to address what’s really draining you and address it in a way that is not as draining for you. Far easier said than done, I know.

You get to impress the worst people in the world by giving them a number which generally indicates the quality of your education. Other than that, it’s pretty useless.

Go somewhere private and explain to yourself out loud your objection to this girl having this doll. Don’t think about it, just talk and listen to yourself. Be honest.

Since you’re speaking English, I assume you’re familiar with racism. When you’re raised in a racist culture you end up with racist ideas whether you would like to or not. It sounds like your reaction here made you uncomfortable. Reflecting on it rather than burying it is the right thing to do. If you identify as someone who is ok with any girl playing with any kind of doll, whatever latent belief you have causing you to feel differently can be dismantled once you know what it is.

The word “lazy” exists for exploiters to shame their thralls if they aren’t profiting them enough. Think about anyone who might call you lazy and their relationship to you. They are not your friends; you don’t have to serve them.

If you’re not satisfied with how you’re living your life, that’s meaningful. The protection from loss you have gained through your job doesn’t balance against the stress of what you’re doing. There are no easy answers but something needs to change. I would suggest working on those changes before you get burned all the way out, because at that point you’ll be making changes whether you want to or not.

I made the mistake of reading a few bestsellers in a row a few years ago and I’m now convinced the book industry depends on people buying books on bestseller lists and not reading them.

I’ve heard of one big protest song by a pretty mainstream artist which didn’t autofill on youtube when I just searched for it and was apparently buried. I wonder how many other songs were buried.