If you’re really into Catholic lore and mythology, then yes, the Pope’s word holds a lot of weight. They believe in papal infallibility, which means that when the Pope meets certain very specific criteria, he is literally speaking for God and is thus perfect and unquestionable.

Regular normie Catholics? They believe in the Pope the same way they believe in the Bible: it is the true word of God, but it’s too much of a bother to actually read it. They’re never reading papal edicts, they’re just reading news headlines about the pope like everyone else.

Suicidal thoughts in response to this news is really concerning. From what I understand, you aren’t being personally affected by this news. Go take care of yourself. Touch grass or do whatever you need to do.

I think it will help to have a broader perspective. The US spends over $1 trillion each year on violence. When the bombs stop, then profits drop, and this is not acceptable to the capitalist class. When we stopped spending $60bln in Afghanistan, we instantly started spending $60bln in Ukraine. Now Ukraine is winding down, we will spend it on Venezuela. After that, Panama? Greenland? Cuba? Mexico? This cycle will continue until the military industrial complex is dismantled. That is unlikely to happen in our lifetimes.

You are on the ethically correct side, and that matters. I find inspiration in the many generations of people who fought against slavery in the US. So many people, so many generations fought to end slavery, and most did not live to see the successful end. We must continue to fight, even if we do not see success in our lifetimes, we lay the groundwork for future generation’s success. We owe it to them.

And if you do choose to end yourself, I respect your bodily autonomy, but please make sure you are of sound mind when you make that very serious decision. And consider following in the holy footsteps of Saint Luigi of Baltimore.

We can agree that there will most likely not be a mass popular uprising for Maduro and Chavism.

I believe there will be a mass popular uprising against Trump and the puppet government of Machado.

Polls: 91% of Venezuelans Hold Unfavorable Views of Opposition Leader María Corina Machado

You’re really begging for downvotes with this comment, but I’m curious: how do you see this situation playing out? Do you think a couple steps ahead, or just react?

My guess is that is going to go like this:

1. Trump admin tries to install Machado as US puppet government in Venezuela.
2. Mass popular uprising from the Venezuelan people, significant violence, attempts at deposing or assassinating Machado.
3. US boots on the ground to prop up Machado regime. -or-
4. US abandons Venezuela project, leaving devastation and chaos behind.
5. Inevitable blowback, Americans killed.

MBFC

Do you have a less biased or more credible source for this fact check?

The Grayzone is worthy of valid criticism, but MBFC does not provide valid criticism, it is rightwing propaganda.

I think most billionaires are not paying either of those taxes in any significant amounts.

Most follow the buy borrow die method. Then their children just have to pay estate tax.

Advanced tax cheats like Bill Gates take it one step further by creating their own charities. You give all your money to the “charity” and give your kids full control of the “charity”. This way you can avoid paying estate tax, and you only need to give away a tiny percentage of your wealth to actual charities and PR firms to save face.

The leaders of the New Atheist movement are not heroes; they are certainly imperfect. I agree with all of your criticisms, but you say nothing of the bulk of their work.

Hitchens’ God is Not Great will stand the test of time; his Islamophobia will not.

Dawkins’ The God Delusion is still correct, despite his late-in-life transphobia and “cultural Christianity”.

Here’s a better link where you can download the full PDF Drug harms in the UK: A multi-criterion decision analysis

Sorry to hear about your father.

I believe the study considered everything you mentioned, you can see the categories in this graph:

PDF of the study is available: Drug harms in the UK: A multi-criterion decision analysis

Studies in the UK show that there are three classes of ‘hard’ drugs - alcohol, amphetamines, and opioids.

All three roughly follow the ‘10% rule’: 10% of people who try these drugs become addicted, and 10% of addicts die from their addiction.

Meth, heroin, and alcohol each kill about 1% of the people who try them.

Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis

There have been many studies on this subject (none in the US, since we are under strict prohibition). They calculate both harm to user and harm to society.

Almost all these studies are in agreement that there are three classes of ‘hard’ drugs that are significantly worse than the rest- opioids, amphetamines, and alcohol. Many rate alcohol as slightly more destructive than the other two.

Tobacco is rated significantly less harmful, mostly because of the amount of tobacco it takes to do harm. No one dies from a single night of heavy smoking; many people die from a single night of alcohol, amphetamines, or opiates. Second-hand smoke is dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as a drunk driver.

Personally I think these studies underrate benzodiazipines, they should be considered the fourth class of hard drugs imo.

When Luigi killed that UHC oligarch, the company responded by lowering their claims denial rate by 1-2%. UHC processes hundreds of millions of claims every year.

Do the math- the slaying of Brian Thompson meant that millions of claims that would have otherwise been denied were approved.

By killing one oligarch, hundreds of lives were saved. Perhaps even thousands.

We know this because Investors Are Pressing UnitedHealth Group to Deny More Care

There is currently widespread violence. It is the structural violence of poverty. Hundreds are being socially murdered everyday.

Killing an oligarch is a certainly a violent act, but it reduces the overall violence in the system.

You are asking an interesting philosophical question, I feel a little out of my depth trying to answer.

But yes, I believe every meme is an idea, every idea is a meme, and there is a 1:1 relationship. The word “meme” is just an idea that is viewed through the lens of evolution.

Now as for the second question- should a screenshot of Twitter be allowed on this “meme” sub? - I don’t have a strong opinion, but I lean towards no

My apologies, I confused you with the other commenter Sonotsugipaa, and I spelled your name wrong. :(

deleted by creator

Your insist that memes must change or recontextualize at every step, but this is your personal interpretation and is not supported by any definition. This is analogous to saying “genes are only genes when they mutate, otherwise it’s just a bunch of amino acids”.

An exact copy of a gene is a gene. An exact copy of a meme is a meme.

It is not worthless at all. Studying cultural changes through the lens of evolution is very useful and enlightening. That’s why I referenced the books that go into this in depth.

I would argue your narrow definition of “meme” is worthless because we already have a term for what you are describing - they are called “image macros”.

Well the definition is correct, it is Antagonistic’s narrow interpretation of that definition that is incorrect.

The key is evolution. For something to evolve, it must have the ability to be transferred, to be changed/mutated, and to be stored. Both genes and memes have these properties.

Literally any idea is a meme. If you can think it, it’s a meme.

If you break a gene in two, the result is two genes. If you break a meme in two, the result is two memes.

The name “Antagonistic” is a meme. The letter ‘A’ is a meme. The sound you make when you say ‘A’ is a meme. The idea of air vibrating to make sound is a meme.

In one sense this is very true- the wealth of the American worker has been stolen over time by capitalists.

But the truth is that one person supporting a family of five has never been sustainable. It was only possible in an era when the American lifestyle was heavily subsidized by the rest of the world through post-WWII economic domination.

As worker productivity continues to rise, we can hope for a future where 1 person’s work can support 5. But, at least for the near future, the math simply doesn’t work out.