Surprise! The world is complex and all three can be not good for anyone, with room for more bad actors besides. Plus, while China isn’t at war with anyone (and hasn’t, as you said, been at war for fifty years), it doesn’t mean that they haven’t signaled their intention to take Taiwan - militarily, if needed, nor that they aren’t abhorrent in just the same way their international peers are (See: Uyghurs, the Chinese surveillance state, excessive force response to protests, etc.). This isn’t a defense of the US, but rather to say that acknowledging the shortcomings of China and Russia (which frankly should not be in the same category as the US and China) is not a way of blaming them for the shortcomings of the US, it’s just being realistic.

No problem! I figure I should make my time as a believer useful for people, especially so given how much misinformation about the church there is (people still ask me about polygamy when I travel outside Utah, despite the fact that the practice was ended in the late 1800s). As religions go, it’s definitely a lot more extreme than most you’ll find, but is simultaneously less extreme than a lot of people seem to think.

Utah is the beating, putrid heart of the LDS (Mormon) Church. If you’re unaware of the particulars of Mormonism, it is, in a phrase, American exceptionalism as a religion. One part massive corporation and one part puritanical religion, the LDS church has guidelines for nearly every aspect of how you should live your life. For example, there is The Word of Wisdom, which prohibits green and black teas, coffee, alcohol, and tobacco. This has since been expanded to include vaping and all recreational (but not prescription) drugs. Premarital sex is strictly off the table, and while they are less uptight about it than they used to be, it is still definitely not acceptable to be LDS and queer. They weren’t even cool with tattoos and more than one piercing in each ear (and even then, only for women) until the last couple of years where it was reframed as a personal decision.

Now, for Utah itself. As a result of the high concentration of Mormons in Utah, social dynamics amongst them become very strange and, frankly, deeply judgmental. Everyone who is part of the church sort of becomes an accountabilibuddy for everyone else, in a sort of arms race to prove their own purity and adherence to the teachings of the church, and because the religion is so baked into communities, a perceived loss of piety can often translate to a direct loss in community and social standing. Consequently, the Mormons you meet who are from Utah are going to be a very different breed from the kind you’ll meet outside of Utah.

Edit: I’ve been fairly negative toward Mormons here, but I should say that this is, in part, my perception as an Ex-Mormon who grew up in Utah. The church has some negative aspects, but I feel I should be fair and mention that it isn’t all negative. Mormons are BIG on community. Participation in local service projects in your community is expected and heavily encouraged. If someone in your ward loses a family member, it would not be uncommon to see that ward band together, creating a schedule of people to cook meals and bring them to that person to help support and care for them while they grieve. Food drives are common, and the church has a history of running food banks and providing financial assistance for people dealing with poverty. Often this assistance comes with some strings (listen to missionaries/take lessons from visiting teachers) but they don’t require belief, baptism, or even church attendance to my knowledge. Not ideal, certainly, but an hour of evangelization a week beats homelessness or starvation. Like many religions, it’s a mixed bag.

God is only watching while you’re in the holy land, eh? I’ve definitely met Mormons who operated on Rumspringa rules. Hell, I’ve been a Mormon who operated on Rumspringa rules lol

Naw, Mormons already know the joys of sinning, they just don’t do it in public or around other Mormons.

There’s a common joke here in Utah that’s relevant, and it goes something like this: How do you keep a Mormon from drinking all your beer? Invite a second Mormon.

I’ve seen cardboard boxes used as PC cases. The only true rule in PC building is “Does it post?”

Gonna create an Addams family ass kid with a name like that

The recharging image feels very Tactical Breach Wizards

All cops are bastards, especially the one you know

I would argue cypherpunk more than cyberpunk

I mean, there is def an applicable skill set there that most people won’t have. Understanding common passwords, the typical ways people might add variation to those passwords, and understanding how to apply relevant information about the person in question are all ways to massively narrow down the scope of potential passwords when brute forcing or guessing your way in. There’s a good numberphile video that covers something similar to this topic which goes into a bit more detail.

That’s to say: everyone should use a password manager.

Me, researching endless information ‘for the book I’m writing’ but never leaving the research stage and becoming a glorified ideas guy.

Ah, well, at least I’m good at trivia.

I feel like this absolutely would have been almost everyone’s first guess lmao.

Though, on second thought, maybe it would’ve come second after his lust for minors.

I doubt she wants you to get rid of books, given that the thing that brought her to prominence was writing them

Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter.

Funny, you cut off the important bit right before that quote where the man cut her off as she was about to explain her most recent book. Here’s a bit of context:

“She began to talk about her most recent, on Eadweard Muybridge, whereupon the man cut her off and asked if she had “heard about the very important Muybridge book that came out this year”—not considering that it might be (as, in fact, it was) Solnit’s book.

See how the context changes the situation? She was already speaking, and the man cut her off, assuming she was unaware, and explained to her something that he would have learned to be unnecessary if he had simply treated her as a conversation partner to be listened to, rather than something to be narrated at.

I can already tell I’m not going to be able to convince you, though. In order to support your point (and, perhaps, avoid any self-reflection) you’ve ignored nuance - generally bad practice when talking about the intricacies of social interaction. Certainly, men monologue to men, men monologue to women, women monologue to men, and women monologue to women, but much like when people equivocate the fear of sexual assault to the fear of false accusations, the thing being ignored is the amount that these things happen; they are not equivalent.

To be absolutely clear: I am a man. An autistic man, even. One who loves to learn, loves to info-dump, and has more female friends than male. In all my time info-dumping to my female friends, I have never once been accused of mansplaining, because I ask before I explain to ascertain their knowledge, and I actually listen when they speak.

Funny how that works.

Probably bait, but I’ll take it anyways.

Mansplaining is when you make an assumption that a woman doesn’t know something basic and fundamental about a topic, and then explain it to them like they’re an idiot or a child. You may not even be aware you’re doing it as a man, because misogyny is ingrained into our culture and social conditioning. Such is the nature of microaggressions; you do them without realizing, because it’s a bias that has become so baked into your worldview as to become subconscious.

It’s easy to avoid doing, though. Anytime you’re about to explain something, to a woman or otherwise, simply first ask if they are familiar with ‘x topic’. If the answer is yes, proceed without explanation, if the answer is no, explain as you would to anyone else without condescension. It’s literally that easy.

Queeah

Wild. That seems incredibly stupid, but incredibly stupid is very on-brand for the US education system lmao.

I’ll take that to mean my experience was very much not standard, then.