Notices by The Dread Slender Gnome (gnomeshatecheese@spinster.xyz), page 2

@HebrideanHecate I'm definitely of the view that people who think this way should be allowed to express their views, especially off the clock.

However, I'm also very much of the view that if a person does not want to participate in an established medical procedure, then that person should not attempt to join a profession where the professionals are expected to perform the procedure or assist in it. (Borderline dubious and genuinely dubious procedures are another matter.)

Jehova's witnesses for example probably shouldn't be in the medical field at all, if they believe blood transfusions are bad and immoral.

I guess these people think the wife should've either been fine with it, or at least not feel like the foundations of her marriage have been seriously shaken.

Imagine if a gay man had got married, then came out to his wife, and when the wife had an emotional crisis over what is to become of her marriage, an outsider commented *"I can't stand when people make someone else's sexual orientation about them, they need to grow the fuck up".

The people behaving narcissistically are the Reddit echo-chamberites egging each other on to not even acknowledge their actions affect the people they live with.

RT: https://hell.twtr.plus/objects/c875aed2-4f0a-4e03-80a4-5145d1147628

@KeepTakingTheSoma @HebrideanHecate @FeartnTired A lot of people, for some utterly unfathomable reason, seem happy to leave their kids to putter about on the Internet without supervision, much like they might allow their kids to watch regular TV before the watershed. It has to be either sheer ignorance, or just some form of laziness.

I am aware that adults have to make up their own minds. But at the same time, there are cultural ideas of what is admirable and what isn't. Right now vacuous glam-fluencing seems to be seen as admirable in the general culture, but there's no reason why that has to be so forever. I suspect at some point the influencer-economy bubble will also burst, and being an influencer ceases to be fashionable.
And then we might finally have some real respite from "people do stupid shit because influencer".

@KeepTakingTheSoma @HebrideanHecate @FeartnTired That only works for you though.
It does nothing about these influencers influencing those who don't know better.

But like I said, I don't see many options, barring just "influencing" becoming hopelessly passé and worthy of LOLs.

@HebrideanHecate On the one hand, I'm glad people are looking at amazing pictures and being drawn to getting outdoors. That in itself is not a bad thing.

But I do put a lot of blame on the influencers who post pretty pics without ALSO explaining that the outdoors aren't a joke. And I also think something has gone wrong in just learning basic life skills, when people haven't learned that it's not just towns and traffic that can be dangerous.

Then again, I consider the entire influencer culture to be fundamentally toxic in its utter superficiality.

@HebrideanHecate @FeartnTired I do dearly wish it was possible to make the vacuous influencers face responsibility for, well, influencing people to do stupid things.
Sadly, I see no feasible way of doing that, apart from perhaps public shaming.

@HebrideanHecate @FeartnTired Probably the only thing that could curb this in short term is charging for stupid rescues and publicising that heavily.

In the long term, I do think public education desperately needs to happen.

I don't begrudge people writing on Substack their option of putting some or all of their texts behind a paywall.

But I wish their front pages, or their archive pages, had some kind of a tag marking the paywalled posts. That way I wouldn't waste my time clicking on articles, only to find out I can only read the first paragraph or so.

@HebrideanHecate @Flick posted a link to a very good article a few days ago, about how Germany is ruled by a frozen consensus, and how that consensus paints anyone pointing out problems as a fringe extremist.

Unless the governing parties start pulling their heads out of their arses, AfD will only continue to grow. Same with any other political force that comes along and starts talking against the consensus.

@HebrideanHecate @KeepTakingTheSoma Also, they specifically don't have a central organisation (this is how the nay-sayers can claim Antifa isn't a "thing" or a threat), which reduces their need for funding by a very significant amount.

And then of course there's all the True Believers channeling whatever income they get into their Antifa activities. See also: cults.

@HebrideanHecate @KeepTakingTheSoma From what I've seen, they get loads of money from a large number of individual donors, who ARE the useful idiots, and have bought into the "fighting fascism" bull.

Also, while I haven't yet read Ngo's book, it seems that Antifa's practices seem to be very low-budget. They specifically go for DIY, low level, high intensity mayhem. Their recruitment strategy also seems similar to cults, in that it's person-to-person, slow-boil process that doesn't necessarily need much money. This sort of thing would suit them, because they prefer to operate in the shadows. Any high-expense methods or tactics would also be likely to draw more attention.

@HebrideanHecate Depending on where you are, Antifa unfortunately may be more than useful idiots. Where they have managed to cultivate a sufficient base, they are an actual danger, in that they genuinely want to break down state control and take over instead. I suspect that the relevant security services are aware of the threat, but that the mainstream by and large refuses to acknowledge it is Not Good.

If the more organised Antifa had their way, we'd all live in Antifa-controlled "autonomous zones".

@HebrideanHecate I loathe and despise "World Hijab Day".
From the bottom of my heart. Without reservations.

It's one of those things, like courtesy pronouns, that I kind of wish someone asked me to join in. Just so I could say "No".

(See also my post about gym training and hijab.)

@TriptychTwinsRidesAgain All literature classrooms are to put up a massive sign above the door, à la Dante.

ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE

@TriptychTwinsRidesAgain Let's just cut out the middle steps.

We should just put up massive signs on the doors of all libraries and on the front pages of all book selling websites, as well as print them on all e-readers and make them the opening page of all reading apps.

And these signs should all say

"TRIGGER WARNING: literature may mention unpleasant things"

some teachers who took part in the annual poll said the “Covid baby” explanation was starting to feel like an excuse.

I've said it before.
When the lockdowns etc. happened, who were these kids left to spend their time with?

It sure as hell wasn't early educators.

And since the issues persist, I'm feeling even more confident in my opinion on what I think is a key factor.

My face after running 7km.

On the murder of the Iraqi refugee in Sweden, the one who committed the horrendous crime of burning a supposed "sacred" book.

Some have dismissed Momika’s death as an unfortunate but predictable consequence of his provocations. But if we accept that logic, we must also accept that free speech exists only at the pleasure of those most willing to use force to silence it, that the mere threat of violence is enough to determine what can and cannot be said, and that laws, principles, and rights are secondary to the raw power of intimidation.

It is a question not just for Muslims or for Middle Easterners but for the whole world: Are we going to defend liberty, openness, and democracy, or are we going to allow radical theocrats and their ideological allies—including decolonial anti-Western leftists—to try to crush our hard-won freedoms?

https://quillette.com/2025/02/05/burning-the-quran-salwan-momika-uk-sweden-islam/

@taylan I agree it's hilarious.
And I find it dumbfounding that anyone falls into that, because it just dances over a very basic logical principle.

Namely that "trans people exist" is NOT the same thing as "people who claim to be trans exist".

@Flick That's just straight up painting a target on his back.

If this isn't two-tier policing, I do not know what is.