Notices by Matthew Merkovich (mattmerk@mastodon.social), page 2

@dalias @RMiddleton @ScribblerRVA @StillIRise1963 I’ve said it for decades now: Gen X’s biggest sin was not stopping our parents. (Though over time I’ve learned that was because most of Gen X never broke free of their parents’ politics.)

I think we need to stop surveying people for how they feel about “the economy,” and need to start surveying them for their definition of the phrase “the economy.”

New Yorkers are fun!

@cbarbermd I always piggy-back on these HPV vaccine posts, as someone who developed tonsil cancer because of HPV. Get your boys vaccinated too!

@retroist To all of us who lived in this time, this was the sci-fi future that would lead us all to having flying cars.

Did you know you can save 100% of the purchase price of any item in Amazon’s Black Friday sale by not purchasing that item? Unleash your inner saving demon today!

@quinn I think the value of having a good echo chamber is underrated, but I also think that no one should remain solely and only in that echo chamber. I just wish there were more non-social network groups out there on the internet for said echo-chambering. Problem is, those groups get sucked into whatever is the latest social network hotness. And I have no idea what to personally do about that.

More IRL friends and acquaintances might be a good start for me. 😆

Honest question: Why do YOU think people want Mastodon's user base to get bigger? You may even be one of those people, and if so, why do YOU want Mastodon's user base to grow?

Full disclosure: I don't really want or care for Mastodon to get bigger. But I also get why some people may want larger audiences for their art, or their observations about a topic, or any number of reasons.

I'm simply curious why larger social network platform size is viewed so broadly as being good or desirable.

@AnarchoNinaWrites My great-grandmother made horseradish in the back yard, wearing a WWII gas mask. That stuff can be dangerous! 😆

@AnarchoNinaWrites I FUCKING READ THOSE COMMENTS TOO AND FELT IT MAKING ME ACTIVELY HOMICIDAL!!!

@hannu_ikonen @AnarchoNinaWrites Have you seen this bullshit? https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2024/11/11/villa-vie-residences-world-cruise/76202126007/

@PedestrianError @majorlinux @seachanger Now with greater volume, frequency, and by more mouthpieces.

@blogdiva Not to let my inner cynic run rampant, but I can't help but think that if a Lavender Book were issued today, it would get co-opted by corporate interests who wanted to do some reputation laundering, and to have another avenue of advertising to a CAPTIVE (emphasis added) audience.

It's a great idea, though. I'm just more paranoid than usual these days.

@AnarchoNinaWrites >Sigh.< Yeah, between us, I think we could spend an entire day enumerating reasons someone might not tap the name of whomever's preferred candidate in the voting booth, but the pontificating white woman, ranting that under Trump, Palestinians are going to be "so much worse off," is definitely going to be on both of our lists.

Most of all, I appreciate your sentiment through all this. 😂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UosZ4mXL8EI

@julieofthespirits Exactly correct! These plutocrats are "anarchists," in the same way a certain group of like-minded white men labelled themselves the National Socialist German Workers Party.

Some people just love to maliciously twist definitions for both propaganda and political purposes. Problem is, they're good at it.

@RandomDamage @Moss @davetroy

@AnarchoNinaWrites Years ago, I was called an eco-fascist by a self-described anarchist, all because I mentioned I am an anti-natalist.

They angrily knee-jerked out their thready understanding of Malthus. (Lot's of all caps!!!) I replied, "Um, no. I just think it's presumptuous to breed children into this hellscape, who never asked to be here, who are sentenced to a lifetime of avoiding their own inevitable death."

So it is I who is apparently the eco-fascist.
Words mean nothing, apparently. 🤷♂️

I'm pretty happy with the number of disbelieving gasps I've gotten in my life from fashy, white, male relatives, acquaintances, and strangers, all for my loudly and publicly kneecapping them for their racist or misogynist bullshit.

I don't plan to lower my standards for other's conduct, so say bullshit in mixed company around me and be prepared to get publicly humiliated. I'm good at it; I have lots of practice.

Bonus: I've actually punched a nazi in the face, so don't test me. 😁

And so it begins.

I’ve learned to trust any agreement that states “we reserve the right to change the agreement without notice, and your continued use of the thing we made indicates your consent.”

What I trust is that the agreement WILL be changed, not benefitting me, and that I won’t like it.

Count on more Bluesky changes, folks.

@pluralistic @amro @eniko FWIW, Cory, haven’t you yourself said something to the effect of you are not the language police of how others use this phrase? 😉 (IIRC)

@lindsay @pluralistic A truly underrated post!