A superpower by definition cannot really be a rogue state. A “rogue state” is a political label applied by dominant powers to states that defy the international order. For example Iran or North Korea are considered rogue states because they defy the international order. What is “the international order”?
Well, it’s the combination post-WW2 institutions created by none other than the US. The UN, IMF, NATO, etc. They set the norms of “legitimate” behavior. When the US participates in military interventions, economic sanctions, and other aggressive actions it’s framed as upholding “rules-based order” whereas identical actions by weaker states get them condemned with the label as “rogue states”.
To call the US a rogue state is to misunderstand power. Hegemony is the ability to define reality, not just defy it. In this way, the US has always been a rogue state in the sense that it does whatever it wants regardless of the international norms. I mean, just look at the mid 1900s and its actions in Latin America. It was involved in about a dozen states toppling governments and supporting military dictatorships- including sponsoring the genocide of natives in Guatemala.
we’re just hairless apes that are both too smart for our own good
By that same logic the Earth is just a rock floating through space with self replicating molecules on it. What makes it any more or less important than us? It’s all rather meaningless, no?
We’re a virus on Earth, but just like viruses don’t care about invading and killing the host - why should we care about killing the Earth? Don’t misunderstand me - I think we should try and stop climate change from getting out of control from a practical standpoint. We’re stuck here so rising temperatures will have serious long term impacts on our global society. But I think this idolization of nature argument falls flat - feels almost religious.
Main reason for me is that we are just as part of nature as anything else. To assume otherwise is arrogance.
If I remember correctly, this is an element of the three body problem series. Essentially some type of warp drive would leave long term effects on the surrounding space-time.
Sort of like nuclear fallout, but at the solar system level. Basically to use it safely, you would need to travel at normal lower than light speed to some empty place and then from there use the FTL warp drive.
I thought these were popular for pulling out the little stick to pack a joint with. Never seen anyone open a beer with them.
I’ve seen people open beers in a lot of different ways though. I had an alcoholic friend in my early 20s who could do it with anything. Even his teeth. He chipped his tooth once and stopped doing it with his teeth though, lol.
I’ve been at the bottom doing manual labor all the way to the top and everything in between. When I was in manual labor at 19, I thought that it was stressful. Truly. I thought I was swamped with work and was always running around with my head off like a chicken.
But now that I’m older I realize the job was dead simple. I know that because I have more experience with both life and work. If I were put in that same position today, it would feel like a vacation.
Imagine a waitress. Their job can be stressful, sure. But imagine they really fuck up and fall and break a few wine bottles. What’s the potential damages? $100? $200? Let’s say $1,000.
A CEO of even a small company can fuck up and lose millions. The problems are on a whole different scale. You will see as you move up. People think it’s easy to be the boss because they only see from the outside. There’s a price you pay in sanity.
the problem with police is that
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the people who should work as a police officer don’t want to be a police officer
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the people that shouldn’t work as a police want to be a police officer
I don’t think police is inherently a bad thing. It just happens to be because people who want power over others should not have power over others.
similar story with politicians. I’d prefer an honest politician. but the process of picking them selects for those who are dishonest.
The higher up you go the less work you do and the more stress you take on. You’re essentially trading your peace of mind for more money.
When you work a simple manual labor job you clock in and clock out and then go home and live your life. Work stays at the office.
When you’re an executive or a business owner you’re working 100% of the time. Something happens, you need to respond. Sometimes you need to make hard decisions where you’re fucked either way but you need to minimize damage.
You need to find solutions to problems and that keeps you up at night. Don’t have enough money for payroll next week? How you gonna do it? Not pay vendors this week? Take out another line of credit at ridiculous rates? Skip a payment on your rent? Equipment financing?
You have to do something- you stop paying your employees and the company falls apart very quickly. Could start a chain reaction of good people leaving, making the situation worse. The buck pretty much stops with you, you can’t pass off the problem to someone else.
It’s not easy to be in charge. Lot of blame rests on your shoulders if things go wrong.
Of course that doesn’t mean they deserve 10,000x the salary of a regular job. I think CEO pay should be capped to some multiple of regular employee pay. Whatever that scalar value should be 2, 5, or 10 I think is debatable. But it should be capped.
For stuff like chess, programming, drawing, etc where there is a skill you can learn…
Just do it. Every day. Do it in manageable steps. So for example if you wanna program, make a goal to create a calculator app. Then work out how to do that. Then do it.
Just keep doing progressively more difficult projects. After calculator app maybe a demo/visualization of sorting algorithms. And then a basic web server. And then a 2d video game. Etc
Learning by doing is the only real way to learn. Even in CS school the classes were great for certain things (I liked data structures & algorithms) but generally speaking the classes are there to facilitate you teaching yourself by doing.
Tldr: do the thing you wanna learn. Do it regularly. Every day if possible. Even if only 5 minutes.
Out of curiosity, are they delicious or are their rubs/seasonings/spices/sauces delicious?
Usually I eat my meat with only salt. Anything else distracts from the taste of the meat.
On the flip side, I only enjoy coffee with lots of cream and sugar
I drink black coffee. I used to drink it with milk and sugar when I was younger. When I was 17 I lived with my uncle for a few months and the guy was a coffee addict. He would drink like 3 or 4 full pots of coffee a day. Naturally, he would offer me coffee a lot and I started drinking a lot of coffee as well. Everytime I would put sugar/milk in my coffee he would call me a pussy. Say I’m being effeminate, couldn’t handle coffee, etc. So I started drinking it black lol.
Once you get used to it though, it’s better in my opinion. Coffee with sugar tastes gross to me. You can really taste the coffee when it’s black. I say try it out sometime. Maybe you’ll end up a convert too. Although I don’t think anybody is a pussy for not drinking coffee black. My uncle is a bit close minded / old school immigrant.
I wouldn’t eat a dog, a monkey, an octopus, a dolphin, a whale, a cat, a parrot, a crow, or a donkey. Pretty much everything else is on the table unless I’m missing something.
I don’t think it’s entirely to do with intelligence. Pigs for example are apparently of similar intelligence to dogs, but I love eating pork. Obviously the dog has the advantage of a unique domestication where they can read and react to our emotions better than virtually all other animals.
So it’s an interesting question you ask. Because while intelligence isn’t the primary reason it has to certainly be a motivator because all of those I listed are intelligent animals.
To actually answer your question, they would have to be pretty damn smart for me to stop eating them because they are delicious.
Alcohol causes increase of domestic violence. You’re right in that there exists a certain number of shitheads regardless of alcohol. But alcohol reduces inhibitions. While sober, they may just yell at their wife. Drunk, they hit them. This is a well-studied effect.
And sure, alcohol can act as a social lubricant and the majority of people who use it don’t commit violence.
But amplified over the whole population we’re talking about tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people affected by alcohol related abuse - depending how you define abuse.
As for positive from cigarettes, it can act as a mild antidepressant and mild stimulant. Helps you focus. Something like 80-90% of schizophrenics smoke. They think it’s because it acts as sort of a self-medication.
It also helps during the process of quitting other substances. For example rehabs give away free cigarettes and vapes.
Having said all this, I’m not trying to start a crusade against alcohol. It’s perfectly natural to use. And the government shouldn’t ban it - that’s stupid for a number of reasons. Philosophical to practical.
But I’m just saying people are very negative to smoking and positive to Marijuana and alcohol when statistically speaking alcohol does a lot more damage
I still browse reddit occasionally to watch videos like/r/crazyfuckingvideos or to read discussion on thr war /r/credibledefense or certain game subs like /r/chess or /r/slaythespire
I haven’t made a comment or voted on anything since the API change though. All of the content I generate going forward will go exclusively to Fediverse.
My point is that there are no “good guys” and “bad guys”. There are only differing levels of power. The US has been doing a lot worse for a lot longer. It’s just that past administrations were diplomatic about their use of power. This administration, being a reality TV star, is just choosing to be loud about it.
America under Biden supplied 80% of the bombs that Israel dropped on Gazan civilians. Obama led the illegal attack on Libya and killed Gaddafi and doomed Libya to anarchy and chaos. Bush destroyed Iraq and doomed them to anarchy and chaos- creating ISIS. I could go on and on.
Most American citizens (just like the citizens of virtually every country in the world) are not really concerned with geopolitics. They have to pay their rent, they’re gonna be late for work, their kid is failing a class, their girlfriend is pissed because they don’t go out enough, they’re tired from work, they’re working hard for that promotion, they’re worried about rent increases, etc.
So to answer your question. No, Americans don’t really care. And even if they care, they’re forced to worry about more pressing individual matters. Basically the same thing that happened in your home country in the 1930s.