Ahaha, that’s very true Scandinavia is a mysterious place.

Yeah the comment on Cleopatra is just laughable on the face of it haha, I didn’t even think it was worth addressing.

Glad you’re stepping away there’s no point getting worked up on this. I normally wouldn’t have engaged to this degree myself, but I found that particular rebuttal to Tacitus to be so damn funny that I couldn’t not.

I suspect they’re genuine, I feel I’ve been this person in the past. Sometimes it’s hard to learn to reevaluate and be wrong about things, and religion is a pretty stigmatising issue that can leave you with a lot of unresolved and misguided anger. It’s unfortunate, but human.

The claim about Tacitus not writing on Jesus comes from one “source” in the pop culture section. That source is a fictional character in a novel (one who’s obviously portrayed as highly biased on this issue, ironically…) it gets even more embarassing when you look up what that novel is about…

There’s also this which mentions that his writings on Jesus are pretty much agreed to be authentic. The Roman empire was indeed very good at keeping records, that’s why Tacitus is considered such a reliable source…

You’re making a lot of claims about the motivations of people, with no actual evidence to show for it, and using that to dismiss them as sources. This is painfully ironic. Not everything is a Catholic conspiracy, it’s okay for the world to be nuanced.

There are non-biblical sources

No there aren’t, you just believe the bible

???

Either way, I appreciate you providing those, it’s a fascinating topic. Frankly even if Jesus was just some guy running around deceiving people into thinking he was the Messiah, he had some good lessons and that’s gotta count for something.

This is something widely accepted by secular historians, it’s widely accepted by atheists too.

Occam’s razor does not work like that. It would actually suggest that Jesus did exist, given that it requires a single person to have existed instead of requiring a mountain of very valid evidence to be a conspiracy while a whole group people, who’s entire profession revolves around determining the trustworthiness of such evidence, to suddenly all be very bad at their job on this one specific issue etc.

Well again, it doesn’t actually matter to me. I’m not trying to have a debate, I’m just saying that’s what I’ve heard and I tend to trust experts on their own fields. You can make up your own mind about what you believe, makes no difference to me.

I don’t think it’s really that big of a deal if he was a real person or not, it doesn’t say anything about the validity of religion one way or the other. Plus I don’t think it’s really that far fetched that someone could have amassed a bunch of followers and birthed a new religion. It still happens in the modern world.

Edit: I read how you’ve responded to everyone else. Take a break friend, people are just having a discussion with you, disagreing isn’t an attack.

It’s fine if you personally think the evidence isn’t reliable, but calling everyone delusional and shouting down frankly well supported arguments as fake with no way to back it up all while refusing to read and engage with them isn’t a good look. If you can legitimately explain why people are wrong, I’m sure they would appreciate the discussion and potentially learning something.

If you can’t, then I’d suggest reflecting on why this is so upsetting to you. Believe me I absolutely understand what it’s like to hate religion and to be filled with an intense desire to want it to all be wrong and evil, but that shouldn’t affect how you treat people.

I’m no expert whatsoever, because frankly it makes no difference to me, but last I heard it was accepted that Jesus the person existed.

It’s hard to find trustworthy sources when I’m being lazy and so many people are trying push very biased views, but this is something, I guess. There’s also a Wikipedia article about it, but I’m tired and it’s dry.

I deleted one once because I complained about someone by name, hoping someone else would have experience with them and could offer better advice.

I think it would have been relatively easy for them to find that post, which I didn’t want to risk given that they could cause me harm by denying their services. It wouldn’t have been hard to work out who I was given the context I provided.

Yeah, he’s just one member of the nsn in the end. I think making him NZs problem doesn’t do much realistically. He needs to face actual consequences, he’s done so much shit and keeps getting a slap on the wrist. It’s well known that he intends to keep doing awful shit, especially assaulting people…

It does the same thing as laser, it kills the follicle using a burst of heat. Even laser is in some sense temporary and you’ll have regrowth, but in either case that process takes months and it’s very gradual, it’s why laser clinics say you need to perform maintenance.

I stopped doing IPL for nearly year and I can count the numbers of chest hairs that came back on my hands. I had a similar experience when COVID lockdowns interrupted my facial laser sessions for a couple of months, except that grew back faster. I think a large part of it is related to growth phases though, as in you’ve gotta kill the follicle at the right time for it to stay dead or something, I’m no expert.

Cops aren’t gonna dob in their own

At home IPL absolutely works, it’s definitely better for dark hair on light skin, I’ve had pretty good results. Still struggling with facial hair, but so did professional laser. I’ve gotten rid of almost all my body hair with my little IPL machine. It’s slower, but you can also do it more frequently so it isn’t too bad. It’s also an option for maintenance once you’ve done laser rather than going back every 6 months or whatever they recommend. (Also IPL doesn’t hurt)

At home electrolysis is apparently a scam according to a friend of mine :/

I don’t disagree with you at all. I think it’s true that they are both victims and a huge problem that needs to be fought against. Progressive/liberal activism is a massive problem for one of my collectives and we’re constantly suffering their attempts to undo every step forward.

I think I understand the “Disney adults” thing but that’s not as common here in my experience. There’s certainly an equivalent of it, but it’s less dream world and more “I’ve got mine” reinforced by being completely separated from those who don’t, rather than blindly ignoring reality. It’s a product of having a relatively large and comfortable middle class and a culture of individuality 🤮.

I also don’t really know how to push people to change, exposure to injustice works but I’ve only ever managed that when they’ve already started that process themselves. Get them involved in something that puts them in opposition with the state, like mainstream climate activism or something, and then provide more and more exposure to radical ideas and the suffering of those who aren’t favoured by the state. The problem is they have to be willing to engage with it at every stage…

What you’re experiencing is relatively common in my experience. Transitioning sucks, even with support. It’s slow, expensive, often disappointing and it takes an absurd amount of both bravery and energy to live genuinely. You’re doing great.

I’ve always struggled with transition timelines, especially before I started transitioning. Thinking about it now, I’m actually surprised that I don’t find they trigger dysphoria any more. Certainly still jealousy, but it makes me happy to see people enjoying life. I’m not really happy with the physical changes I’ve made so far, it’s been slow and subtle and I can’t really work out how to stop boy moding, but I like myself now even if I still want to much more.

It’s too bad that transition timelines often focus on meeting stereotypical beauty standards, because imo transition is about so much more than that. I get to talk to a lot of people at different stages, and the truly inspiring thing is how much happier people become. It’s definitely a fight, but it’s one you can win even if it’s in ways you might not expect. I’m sorry it’s so damn hard and I wish it was possible to ease the burden.

Celebrate your wins as they come, you’re working hard as hell and deserve to feel good about every step forward.

I think you’re pretty on point with the normalcy bias and general sense of privilege, but I’m less inclined to agree on the insecurity and weak sense of identity. Of course I’m likely speaking from an entirely different political context given I’m not from the US (committing the sin of assuming you are though, correct me if I’m wrong).

Even when those traits are present in liberals, I think they’re generally symptoms rather than the cause. It’s suprisingly easy for one to be disenfranchised and not realise; the neoliberal discourse tends to suppress unique identity in favour of assimilation/conformity and cowardice is a side effect of convincing people that the power to effect change lies solely in the ballot.

I suppose the intentional disenfranchisement is how that faith is maintained. I tend to view the ignorant liberal as a victim and I know first hand that they can get free, but it either takes a lot of time or something big that realigns their worldview with reality, quite often both.

There’s a lot more I cut out from my comment, but the general gist is that the systems of oppression rely on abusive tactics to create class traitors, and it makes me sad to see the well meaning progressive oppose real change. “Soft on people hard on power structures” is a saying I keep in mind, although it’s not a rule by any means and it doesn’t excuse anyone’s actions: we still have to fight against the liberals.

• Rally organised by neo-nazis
• Rally to reaffirm australian values

That tracks, fuck the state.

Not surprised personally, it was an easy block a long time ago lol.

I think this sort of take is painfully common, I don’t really get why even the weakest forms of lib propaganda are so effective at making their followers dismiss gigantic problems. It’s the same thing that makes people think the democrats are okay actually, and it’s why people here are okay with the prime minister doing insane shit like sentencing a species to extinction or actively advancing the rise of fascism…

Also fuck electoral democracy lol

Yesterday was absolutely fucked down here in Naarm.

Our counter protest was completely crushed by cops, the fascist rally was given space and free roam of the city. In the end, it empowered the nazis so much that they charged on camp sovereignty and seriously injured people, it was a full on war at one point, cops did nothing.

A Nazi spoke at the rally and was met with cheers. At one point they sent a group to chase after me when I was leaving the CBD. It was really disappointing to see kids in their group just projecting nothing but hate for everyone around them.

I’m still recovering physically from everything yesterday, it was easily the most intense protest I’ve been at. Absolutely unbelievable to see, but I’m honestly not surprised. This is a racist country and it always has been.

Oh that’s actually so horrifying though, if you fall asleep and stop standing…

The possums even more so I’d say, especially in the cities.

I’m actually not sure I’ve ever seen a wild platypus, and I haven’t seen a wombat since I was very young, but I don’t think I’ve ever lived in an area with them. Kangaroos were everywhere growing up in the bush though, in the backyard, school car park, sharp bend around a dark corner…

Snakes on a plane, you take a drink every time there’s a snake on a plane. (I can’t remember where I’m stealing this from)