• 46 Posts
  • 55 Comments
Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: February 15th, 2024

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  • You’re not paying enough attention if you think Trump winning means “too bad the rest of the world will feel the consequences.” Germany just elected their first far right government since WWII,

    There were elections in two states in the east of Germany last weekend. In one of them the far right party AfD gained most votes compared to others. In the other state they finished second largest. There is nothing decisive however. Other parties have been called to set up a firewall “Brandmauer” to prevent the AfD to govern.

    France had a massive right wing that is now in the EU council, Austria… well they keep making shitty right wing choices, down into South America Argentina shifted right, and other countries continue to do so as well. We’re not special or alone in this.

    Exactly. In the last few decades Austria , Turkey and Hungary were among the first to shift to far right party based governments in Europe. An interesting read is this book by Turkish journalist Ece Temelkuran (Who fled the country) which is about Turkey going downhill from democracy to dictatorship. This book also reflects on Trump winning in 2016. At some point also Poland had a far-right government but the damage from that is slowly being repaired by a new government. By now among others Slovakia, Italy and the Netherlands have far-right government coalitions. Outside Europe there was Bolsonaro in Brazil. Still, Trump winning (legally or not) would be bad for the rest of the world, especially for Ukraine.





  • For US citizens there is another petition which you can sign : https://www.oxfamamerica.org/take-action/action-alert-tax-the-rich/

    American billionaires are 33% richer than they were at the start of the pandemic, all while inequality has worsened and inflation has soared. Billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos pay a “true tax rate" of just 3% or less while working people around the globe pay far more.

    Enough is enough. It’s time for the ultra-rich to pay their fair share of taxes.

    Just a modest tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s richest individuals could bring in $1.7 trillion in a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty.

    Sign your name and demand that President Biden, Congress, and world leaders address the inequality crisis globally and here at home by making multi-millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share of taxes.







  • The example you are giving about fighting back turned out to be in your favor.
    But things could have gone wrong, especially when a whole group would have backed the other guy.
    And by that you are sort of advocating a survival of the fittest which is maybe not a good idea
    when you are small and timid versus some strong guy.
    I believe it is not wrong to involve school personnel when bullying happens.

    In Europe anti bullying policies were implemented years ago. I remember reading that in newspapers.

    Here is an example of a school which has anti-bullying policy :
    https://www.eeb3.eu/app/uploads/2022/03/B3-Anti-bullying-Policy-EN.pdf

    • Our Anti-Bullying Policy is based on the principles that:
    • Each individual must be treated with respect
    • Bullying is never an individual problem, as it degrades the atmosphere at school.
    • Bullying is a problem that can be addressed.
    • All members of the school community (school staff, parents and pupils) are called upon to prevent and
      react against all forms of bullying.
    • All members of the school community must have the opportunity to be listened to, respected and
      supported.

  • The US should improve treatment of mental health issues.
    The US should recover public confidence in its political system.

    The things you have suggested are just distractions away from these two points and won’t fix anything.

    Your point about mental health issues is about the victim being bullied or being avoided by others I guess ?
    If I refuse to buy Nike shoes like all others, and if I decide to wear all black clothes with heavy metal shirts and I prefer to read books rather than talk loud and the rest of my class mates avoid me for reasons, does that mean I need to get therapy ?


  • Hell, no. Don’t put the responsibility on victims to help their bullies/abusers.

    I see. In Europe things are different.
    Here is an example of a school which has anti-bullying policy :
    https://www.eeb3.eu/app/uploads/2022/03/B3-Anti-bullying-Policy-EN.pdf

    • Our Anti-Bullying Policy is based on the principles that:
    • Each individual must be treated with respect
    • Bullying is never an individual problem, as it degrades the atmosphere at school.
    • Bullying is a problem that can be addressed.
    • All members of the school community (school staff, parents and pupils) are called upon to prevent and
      react against all forms of bullying.
    • All members of the school community must have the opportunity to be listened to, respected and
      supported.

    Also, it’s not always a clear cut bully/victim dynamic. My school had a loner gun-loving asocial student. He probably thought he was bullied. In reality he made people, especially the girls, super uncomfortable and he was avoided. No one really made fun of him, never physically attacked him, never pulled pranks on him, just avoided him. Not inviting his friendship is not bullying. He needed professional help.

    Forcing me, for example, to talk to him and pretend to be his friend would have been bad for both of us. He needed counseling/therapy, which I was not and still am not qualified to provide, and I needed safe friends I could trust.

    Okay. That is a lone wolf example, it is not about active bullying.

    I consider bullying to be violent in general.
    Even words can be damaging for some people.
    The whole “boys don’t cry” is a tragedy in my opinion and has done a lot of emotional damage already.

    And reading this today https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_L._Trump#Personal_life I would not be at all
    surprised if Donald Trump would benefit from long time therapy.




  • To me there is a significant difference between a possible US dictatorship a la Project 2025 and the Western Europe where the far right is in some governments but certainly not close to a dictatorship (Things are different in the East of Europe, for example in Hungary). And there’s more differences, compare worker unions in the US versus Europe. And compare gun ownership in the US versus Europe. Same for death penalty. I consider the EU future a breeze compared to the US future.