Hegar

If I've misunderstood your point, let me know.

There isn’t anything to be ashamed of suggesting you are gay

No, for sure, definitely not. That shame - and the juvenile belief that being identified by others as gay is somehow damaging - is harmful. The insecure need to claim 'no homo' perpetuates homophobia. I wanted to state that clearly so my next point isn't misunderstood.

'Gay' is an identity that some people feel applies to them and others do not. Often when you hear, for example, public health officials talking about the '22-23 mpox outbreak, they used terms like 'men who have sex with men' - because men who identify as straight or primarily straight still occasionally have sex with men.

Similarly, plenty of people who identify as gay have sex or have had sex with the opposite gender. Among my gay friends gold star gays are a minority, but I'm 40 and suspect the numbers look different among younger folks. But that doesn't make them shamefully closeted bisexuals, as real as bi-erasure is.

These labels are not iron-clad descriptions of immutable fact, they're identities with fuzzy edges that only roughly describe how we see ourselves and how we want the world to see us.

It is possible to maintain a healthy, homophobia-free identity as a straight man, while still having sex with other men. It's definitely far less common in most parts of the US than a homophobia-laden gay man like Lindsey Graham. But identity is identity whereas behavior is behavior and the two aren't always linked in ways that fit our culture's expectations.

This is somewhat closer to some historical ideas on sex and gender than our strict homo/hetero divide.

In the classical period manliness in sex was more about being the penetrator rather than who you were penetrating. Intercrucial sex as he describes was quite popular among the Greeks, I believe. "You're only gay if you take it" is an attitude that still exists in some places.

The insecure need to deny the "gayness" is quite childish and perpetuates damaging homophobia, but you can identify as a man, fuck men, and not identify as gay. Human sexual is broader than the boundaries any one culture tries to put on it.

He's fucking himself?

The best thing about the super bowl is that it's the christmas eve of not having to hear about the super bowl. The anticipation! It's so close!

If you like that character just go watch some Nina Hagen music videos instead.

She was the inspiration for the character, she's the original punk opera prodigy, she's crazy and she was once a strong contender to be the german voice of marge simpson.

Smack Jack, So Bad, Naturträne, Imma Lauter are all tracks I still listen to a lot. Her recent cover of 16 Tons is great too.

If there's a bad linear a joke, I haven't heard it.

I honestly thought the friends I was watching with didn't like that show because I was the only one laughing.

Took me like 3 episodes to realize it wasn't satire.

No, it's not likely at all unless we get into an open conflict. Then cyber warfare will be just one arena of conflict. But I think most estimates are that that would be disastrous for us, china and the world so it's unlikely for now.

It's way more likely that the fbi want more money or are repeating some talking point to push an agenda or as a political favor.

Working in pharma and getting ready for the day?

200 ping to NA? Lucky east coasters. In my wow playing days living in perth on the west coast I was main tanking at 300-500ms.

What's your alternative when Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea actively seek their own colonialism?

Why does the existence of multiple evils make you want to defend one particular evil? Why not mention our brutal, murderous or genocidal allies like Saudi or Israel?

Our empire created the problem that is iran, our invasion of iraq showed putin that empires can still destroy foreign countries with no comeuppance, our lack of imperial interests in africa gives russia room to stoke violence and war unchallenged, our antagonism to china encourages them to prop-up NK as a buffer state against our client state on the korean penisula and that same antagonism is driving china to a more belligerent position.

I'm not trying to say that everything is our fault - obviously all those countries are responsible for their fair share of vile behaviour - but our empire has actively contributed to how bad those situations are. All countries are vermin, the more powerful the greater the capacity for evil - and we're the most powerful.

Of course I don't have a step-by-step program to a better world, but it's pretty obvious that we're a big part of the problem and an alternative is needed.

It is quite funny that we call our empire rules based order. Athens was also known for using a lot of euphemisms.

Something about pretending that an imperial democracy is a legit thing that can exist seems to make you want to lie to yourself.