Psychopaths are human beings still, and humans believe in things / have values and principles. In psychopaths those beliefs and values are not informed by feelings of empathy or compassion, but by consequences and understanding, and that tends to make a selfish worldview more likely but not inevitable. It is possible - even if unlikely - for a psychopath to come to the conclusion that values of altruism and cooperation are in their interest because they like living in the kind of world that results from these values being practiced and want to perpetuate it.

Even if you can’t feel empathy on an intuitive level, you can still learn it on an intellectual level and abide by a moral code. You don’t have to feel that something is wrong to know that it is wrong.

I think it’s possible to be a psychopath and still live a good and moral life, it’s just more difficult.

Sounds like a system of rampant exploitation allowed to operate with impunity for decades bringing out the darkest parts of our nature. Humans are not fundamentally evil, nor are we fundamentally good. The potential for both exists in all of us and is brought out by circumstances. I believe that through determined efforts we can change our circumstances and bring out the better parts of our nature.

Neck-deep in liquid mercury wearing tungsten shoes is how I do my morning workout. Better gains than the Dragon Ball gravity chamber.

This is the kind of thing the blazed out of his mind guy sitting next to you at the Waffle House at 3am says to you unprompted.

I only said we have to go through the process, but there’s no reason we can’t speed it up or prepare better for the consequences. I think the role of those who learn from history is to work behind the scenes to soften the blows we know are coming to those who learn the hard way, and ease the transition from one phase to the next.

In more concrete terms, maintain solidarity even with people you think are making a mistake, and prepare for the moment they are ready to do more.

The movement needs to go through this more naive phase and reflect on the results so that it can mature and adjust strategies. It’s easy to learn about history, see what finally worked in the past, and think that we should just ‘skip to the end,’ but that’s not how large groups of people operate. You can expect an individual to learn from history and do what’s most effective, but groups must always go through the entire process because the group infrastructure has to be built brick by brick.

Colloquial use of the word Nazi is pretty much synonymous with fascist, and I don’t really have a problem with that outside of - like - academic discourse and such.

Just having POC and LGBTQ representation isn’t all that’s needed to deliver a progressive message. You also need to incorporate plotlines that thoughtfully explore themes related to their modern-day struggles. Old trek, namely TNG and DS9, did this well because they had writers that were genuinely progressive for their time (and even for this time if we’re being honest) and actually understood the politics. Despite being held back on direct representation (Garak and Bashir), they were still able to get their message across through the plot structure and story beats.

Nutrek goes all-in on representation, but completely falls flat when they attempt to go any deeper because they don’t understand the issues.

Only idiots dislike it for that reason. I dislike it because of its atrocious writing, and its attempts to be progressive are incredibly shallow because the writers are out of touch hollywood socialites.

I’ve felt the same as you and have been working to find like-minded people in my area, and have found some success, so I can offer a bit of advice. Even in deep red rural areas there is likely to be an active Indivisible chapter, and the people who participate in those groups - despite their closeness to the DNC - tend to be on the more progressive side of liberal and more willing to act beyond just electoralism. Usually in the rural red areas they will skew older as well, but there’s almost guaranteed to be younger and more lefty folks lurking in the group chat, they just tend to have less free time to dedicate to it or they may be more cynical about the protests. You can also find leftists by volunteering at places like homeless shelters, soup kitchens, etc. so long as you avoid the evangelical ones. I’ve also found like-minded people at farmer’s markets, though that’s usually a mixed bag, but if you do something subtle to make yourself visibly inclusive like a pin or a t-shirt with a progressive message like-minded people might approach you, but of course you might want to be careful about attracting the wrong kind of attention. Look for more hippie-ish looking folks and you’ll hit more often than you miss.

I’m still working at it but I’ve managed to find a decent number of like-minded people in a much shorter time than I expected by doing some of the things listed above, and this is in rural West Kentucky. Form relationships with the people you find and the organizing can follow.

You’ve never seen those urinals that have complementary delicious cake?

The IHRA definition of antisemitism is “if you criticize Israel you’re antisemitic,” and restrictions on boycotts are unconstitutional. These orders should have been rescinded even if Adams hadn’t been indicted on federal corruption charges.

Well, it’s been a very big topic in American politics since Oct. 7th, as the majority of Americans have now become aware that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians with our tax dollars, and most of our politicians are complicit. Even the right-wing has largely woken up to this, though there is some extra baggage in their case.

People who try to convince you that words are meaningless are never up to any good. I’m sure it makes you feel real good about yourself to pretend I’m too stupid to understand instead of smart enough to see that words that are often misused still have meaning.

You been living under a rock?

I would argue even further that genius is something that is cultivated in a person by placing them in an environment that encourages their creativity and is tailored to their strengths.

I believe that authoritarianism is the origin of class. All that it takes is for one person to draw a boundary, state “this is mine,” and then enforce that with violence. There is no end of history. Even if we do manage to create a classless society, there’s no guarantee that it will remain that way. To maintain such a society will require maintenance, and that means identifying and resisting authoritarianism when and where it inevitably emerges. It is therefore essential to have a word to describe the types of behaviour that can result in the reemergence of class society.

Explain.