We have a term here in Brazil, for appointed “job” positions that seem to have no responsibilities and are basically a way for rich people to place their relatives and such in places close to power:

Aspone. Assessor de Porra Nenhuma. Translates to like “Advisor of Fucking Nothing”

itautec

reproduto(…)

points Brazilian

I’m more curious which is Stallman’s poison of choice

Some of those that work forces

are…

… not the same that burn crosses this time!!!

omg durge is smol

Ok bootlicker.

I wouldn’t know. The only Okra I ever ate was the one my mother made when I was a teen. And it was slimy and gooey and got my autism going crazy.

Nowadays I don’t eat dishes that have it, or do but push it aside.

Okra is the most unpleasant vegetable I ever did eat

But if it helps save the world, it’ll have my eternal respect.

Shart.

I’d have to relearn a bunch of shit.

Don’t feel up to it. I’m so used to my setup.

Even using SteamOS (“Arch but we modded it to be sorta kinda like an immutable distro but not really”) miffs me more than it should.

… It might have been kickboxing. I was half remembering him being some kind of sport-fighter.

Yeah before he was a Youth Pastor for the Church Of Misogyny (where jesus is replaced with EVEN MORE MISOGYNY) – He made his name as a competitive MMA fighter.

Yeah there is plenty to hate about Catholics too (hey, pedophilia) –

– But when it comes to like. Accepting reality and modernity? They are head, shoulders, and pectorals above the average Evangelical Church.

In conclusion, your experience here can be what you make of it; don’t be afraid to just block the parts that stress you out. You’re not “creating an echo chamber” as everyone likes to say (often in bad faith) – you’re just taking care of yourself.

We really, REALLY need to de-stigmatize blocking people. Bad-faith concern trolls have successfully convinced people that “choosing not to interact with someone” is akin to censorship and also bad for us because what do you MEAN you don’t want to be disrespected by a complete stranger? Are you creating an echo chamber by preferring to be with people who are nice to you?!?!?!?

Like. No. Fuck off. That’s not how it works in real life. We’re not friends. We’re not even co-workers for me to be stuck having to be polite to you even if you’re an asshole.

You’re a complete stranger and you’re saying rude shit at me (or even at other people with me bearing witness), at best I’ll walk away because I don’t need that shit, at worst I’ll call you a wanker and hit you in the face.

Good.

Musk should have been shoved into more lockers as a kid.

Why does he look like He’s wearing makeup to make himself whiter

Does it also contain the latest patches for my Autism?

Ah. I see that the Trump administration has managed to pull the same thing as the Bolsonaro administration did.

The country is Brazil.

If you are unfortunate enough to live in the favelas (aka: Very very poor in a big city), you’ll be under their thrall.

But the little secret is that… They end up being not that different from the government. They have their own ‘laws’, and if you follow them, you’ll be left alone. Their protection rackets become like taxes, except instead of going to jail for not paying, you’ll get tortured – And you might even benefit from them in a way.

A friend of mine tells a story about doing social work in a favela, and how after years of neglect from the government resulting in kids from the place not getting vaccinated, the local crimelord bought the vaccines with his own money and had his own paralell vaccination campaign for everyone that was properly paying their protection money. Hopefully you won’t catch a stray bullet when the illegal liege lord of your neighbourhood-fiefdom is at war with the police or another neighbourhood-fiefdom’s illegal lord for the umpteenth time that year.

If you are not in the favela…

… Well… If you buy weed from a dealer or borrow money from illegal lenders and don’t pay your bills, they’ll probably abduct you and break your legs.

If you do none of those things… You might get pickpocketed or mugged, but that is honestly the extent of interactions that I, a rich boy from the third world, have had with the criminal factions of my country. Muggings. Being threatened and told to hand over my phone (which I did, I’m not stupid). Having a gameboy swiped from my bag while at an anime con.

Inhabitant of a 3rd world country here

I don’t think “kidnapped and tortured by the government” is a thing we’ve done much of since the US stopped funding our far right dictatorship in the 80s (and the military immediately fucked off and ‘let democracy take its course’ when the funding dried up).

… Let us not speak of what our criminal factions get up to though.