Gorilladrums

u/Gorilladrums@lemmy.world
18 posts · 1.6k comments

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You would have to be an actual lobotomite to think that killing all the billionaires is going to change anything. All the people under them would just take their place? Are you just going to keep killing people endlessly, what's exactly is that 200 iq play here?

This is such a shallow view of the world. No, if every single billionaire died tomorrow, literally nothing will change. The people below them will rise to the top. People who think like you also think that if they got rid of the hierarchy, then surely the problem will be solved... But no, when one hierarchy is gone another will take its place. This is because humans are social animals, and like all the other great apes, we evolved to exist in hierarchal societies.

Critical thinking doesn't exist on this platform. The mainstream narratives on Lemmy are built on shaky foundations and can't get past basic scrutiny. It's why the more ideologically zealous have so much censorship. This isn't a left, right, whatever issue. It's an education issue, and it's impact is reflected by every demographic in the nation.

on Anti-AI solidarity · c/fuck_ai · -9 pts · 30d

AI at the end of the day is still just a tool, and it's only used because it makes life easier. In this case, it's much faster, easier, and cheaper to use AI to make passable slop vs paying talented people to make something that might be better but is also way more expensive and time consuming.

People in the creative industry protest AI out of self interest, and nothing more. The issues with AI matter when it applies to them but not when it applies to others. People in general are okay with sacrificing others for the sake of their convenience. Ethical integrity has always been rare, and I don't see that changing soon.

Actually, if the US offered 42 paid days off a year as in my hypothetical bill, it would rank first in the developed world alongside Monaco who also offers 42 paid days off. Also most countries in the developed world don't mandate things like personal days, bereavement, or paid time off for mandatory civic duties. For the few countries that do, it's very limited.

For example, a couple of countries in the Balkans offer 7 days of paid bereavement time per year, and that's the highest in the world. Most countries offer only a couple of days or nothing at all. So offering 10 days for every loved that passes away in a single year would make this the most the most generous paid bereavement leave in the world.

Still though, we currently have nothing so anything would be nice at this point.

I think this is stupid. We need the bill to be way more aggressive, ambitious, and inclusive.

Here's what needs to be happen for this bill to bring meaningful change:

  1. Increase the guaranteed paid leave time to at least 20 workdays. Having just 10 workdays off is a joke, we need to raise our standards to match the rest of the developed world.
  2. Expand the coverage to include part time workers and contractors. I think it's fine if part employees get slightly less guaranteed time (like 2/3 of what full timers get) and contractors get more nuanced rules, but they need to be included. If they're not then that just opens a loophole for corporations to continue not giving people the vacation time they deserve
  3. Include paid sick time in the bill, and explicitly separate it from vacation time. These are not the same thing and should draw from the same pool. Guarantee all employees get a least 5 workdays of sick leave that can be expanded up to 10 workdays if the employee provides a doctor's note.
  4. Add paid sick leave that is NOT paid sick time. The Federal government needs to follow the Massachusetts model where workers are eligible to take up to 20 weeks of paid medical leave for their own serious health condition, up to 12 weeks of paid family leave to care for a relative, or a combined maximum of 26 weeks per benefit year.
  5. Just like MA, this money doesn't come from the employers but from the government. That means the federal government needs to create a department in every state that processes these claims and pays people properly when they need to take time off to ensure that the benefits are guaranteed.
  6. Require companies to give at least 10 workdays of paid bereavement leave. Employees should be eligible to get this benefit any time a spouse or close relative passes away (parents, children, and siblings).
  7. Make all 11 federal holidays (technically 12 with Inauguration Day, but that happens once every 4 years) paid by default, and add election day as the 12th annual paid federal holiday.
  8. Include a stipulation that mandates companies to provide a paid day off for any holiday that falls on a weekend either the Friday before or Monday after. Employers also need to provide essential workers that need to work on holidays, their paid day off within one week before or after the holiday.
  9. Provide guaranteed paid maternity leave for up to 24 weeks all mothers for every child, where they are eligible to start their leave at 4 weeks prenatal. Just like with the sick leave, the federal government will guarantee 100% of their pay for all 24 weeks.
  10. Provide guaranteed paid paternity leave for up to 16 weeks. Fathers also need to bond and take care of their newborns as well as the mother of their children. The federal government will guarantee the first 12 weeks with 100% pay, and the last 4 with 67% pay.
  11. Have the federal government guarantee paid time at full rates for any mandatory time off taken for civic duties like jury duty.
  12. Mandate employers provide employees with at least 5 paid workdays that count as personal days that can be taken for any personal reason such emergencies, ceremonies, errands, or extra sick time or vacation time.
  13. The federal government needs to explicitly ban employers from firing or retaliating against employees for taking any of the time off provided and guaranteed by the bill, maintain their health insurance while they're gone, and be legally required to give employees their jobs back or provide them with an equivalent position that has the pay and benefits once they're back.

Now THIS is a serious bill. It guarantees a generous 42 workdays (20 vacation + 5 sick time + 5 personal days + 12 holidays) worth of paid time off annually which finally puts this country not just on on par with the rest of the developed world, but ahead. If the US is to serve as the leader of the free world, this is how it has to be done. This on top of the mandatory employment protections and extra paid time off for specific scenarios, makes this a truly worker friendly country. This kind of bill would increase happiness, improve health, and reduce stress for hundreds of millions of people.

Now, I'm not naive, I know Republicans and corporate Democrats will try to water this down. However, even if we only end up getting 2/3 or even 1/2 of the benefits and guarantees on this bill then that's still a huge win. You have to start negotiations from a high a place so you'll end up with something that's at least acceptable. What Bernie proposed is starting from a low place to appease people who are genuinely greedy and apathetic to the point of being evil. You can't do that. You have to hit them hard and rally the people on your side. People will whine about me letting perfect be the enemy of good, but I'm not. I'm against letting mediocrity stop us from achieving anything meaningful. If the Democrats did less performative shit and focus on real change like my hypothetical expanded bill, they would sweep the GOP into oblivion.

on Friends. · c/lemmyshitpost · 1 pts · 30d

People today really do lack basic critical thinking to the point where it's not just concerning, but could outright explain the decline of our society. I think it should be common sense to consume media while being mindful of its era and audience as well as being able separate the art from the artists. I think it's ridiculous that there are people who are attacking actors for playing an outdated joke on a show 30 years ago. Like how fragile and miserable do you have to be to get that riled up while trying to watch entertainment to relax.

on Friends. · c/lemmyshitpost · 2 pts · 30d

I thought it was okay. A lot of the humor relies on awkward social situations being funny which is a hit or miss.

on Friends. · c/lemmyshitpost · 2 pts · 30d

To me the issue with Seinfeld is Seinfeld himself. He's just a very bad actor and he sticks out like a sore thumb with the other characters. Watching his deadpan face in every episode kills the mood for me.

on Friends. · c/lemmyshitpost · 1 pts · 30d

I think sitcom hate has gone overboard. It became trendy and cool on sitcoms for some reason. I personally am okay with sitcoms if the characters are well written and the writers can write gags that naturally fit with their personalities.

on Friends. · c/lemmyshitpost · 1 pts · 30d

Idk why you're being downvoted, you're right. The shows first few seasons were great because the humor felt original and the chemistry between the characters felt organic.

I felt like all of the characters declined. Chandler's sarcasm became more and more forced. Ross getting divorced again and again got repetitive, I also didn't like how they handled him having a kid. Joey's character was lobotomized and he went from being a funny womanizer to being a child in an adult's body. The girls stayed more consistent, but I felt like Phoebe's shtick kind of wore off and became annoying. I also hate the ending.

I think the first half of friends is one of the best sitcom products that American TV has produced, but the second half is just mediocre.

on Friends. · c/lemmyshitpost · 2 pts · 30d

I mean if you understand that they're satire, then they can be funny.

That being said American dad past season 9 and Family Guy past season 7 have severely declined in quality to the point where they're not funny to me anymore.

on Impossible choice · c/politicalmemes · 8 pts · 31d

I hate these shitty posts with a burning passion. They got posted on here every other day to farm engagement from idiots who don't even bother to question anything.

Both notions pushed here are just false dichotomies. Alison is pushing a flase dichotomy because there's more choices than extreme right or left and she's not being forced to choose. Qasim is also pushing a false dichotomy because his manichean framing is inherently wrong. His political team is not the embodiment of all that is good and his opposition is not the embodiment of all that is evil.

They're both being disingenuous by intentionally reducing everything to black and white absolutes. Their intention is to segregate people into rigid camps and alienate people like me who see through the bullshit by pretending we're siding with evil by not choosing to go along with them. It's so obvious that they're employing dishonesty to divide people in order to give them themselves an insulated audience that they can grift on. It's beyond me how anybody can give people like the ones in the post even a silver of support, they don't deserve it.

That's just the nature of Lemmy. It was built by tankies for tankies, and so this reflects on the user base. The politics here is a bubble and it's inescapable, unfortunately that's just a part of the package. You just have to deal with unhinged, misinformed, and extreme takes all the time. There are tools and strategies that can help you reduce the amount, but you can't get rid of it. Lemmy doesn't have the user base of Reddit where you can find big and active communities for everything. Outside of politics, subpar memes, and some niche tech stuff, there really isn't much else. However, I still think it's worth it for the privacy alone.