Dave

The only thing that brings me joy here is the Tories getting absolutely roasted, even worse than GE2024 did already. Frankly amazed they aren't having or at least making noises about a leadership challenge. Trouble is, Labour is already filling the wet Tory niche. They are fucked...

PR is about improving our democracy for the long term, not about short term maneouvering to get a given flavour of the month party in or out of power.

If British ppl want to fuck around with Reform, sadly we will have to find out; whichever voting system is used.

I am a firm believer in proportional representation and progressive alliances. The fractured, overcrowded nature of lib+left politics in the UK is a longterm problem, and about to get even worse with Corbyn's party entering the fray.

can't wait to lose my human rights protections. can't wait to see my queer and ethnic minority pals living in even more fear than they do already. can't wait for Russia to be let completely off the hook. can't wait for cannabis users to be sent to jail.

what a bleak decade. I picked the wrong time to develop a lifelong health condition. can't wait to pay exorbitant fees for meds and/or GP/hospital visits or otherwise pay for health insurance with my job I don't have because nobody wants to hire a guy with a made-up disorder like autism. wonderful.

At least the southwest retains a lot of orange, including my patch...

and get ready for Scotland to become fucking apoplectic if this happens. Disunited Kingdom, coming soon!

Genuinely terrifying.

it is a great pic tbf

hope you are faring better these days.

surgery isn't ruled out yet in my case, but intuitively that seems like it may be drastic & superfluous, since i am not in severe pain, not bleeding and there's nothing getting stuck afaik. seems "mild to moderate."

I wasn't so fortunate, and I currently have no real-life friends again now. I very easily could have slipped into bitter inceldom. It feels like sort of dumb luck that a lovely lady practically threw herself at me around the time of gamergate (2013.) However, I am despairing a lot again lately...

Reflecting more, something that gets overlooked is how gregarious, confident, outgoing men are more highly rewarded in society as a rule, whether rightly or wrongly. Manosphere types have gleaned this, but what they miss is that those well-liked charismatic fellas still tend to be... erm, likeable.

Skip to my late 30s, and I still have the same hangups around feeling undesirable. But I at least have a lot more self-knowledge, and understand intellectually that shy, sensitive men are valid and have worth, even if I don't always feel it, and that manosphere dogma just ain't the way, for me...

It did great if short-lived damage to me in my early 20s. PUA content exploited my insecurities, sent me spiralling down a hole of performative masculinity and self-erasure. I was working out and dieting - nothing wrong with that, but it wasn't on my terms, it was rooted in inadequacy. Didn't work.

This has been a big longterm problem for me, even recently where I have felt rejection strongly from a certain situation, throwing me into a anxious spiral for weeks. It is such a feature that I avoid many situations where there is potential for it. I don't date or apply for jobs, for example..

It sounds like you were in a more difficult situation than I am. Sounds rough.

Oof! Fortunately not that strict in my case, solid is ok but soft, lots of chewing and with lots of water to drink is ideal. What happened in your case, that you had to avoid solids?

Welp, I have had my last usual food. Gotta stick to this blandness tomorrow, Monday and until 2pm Tuesday, after which I cannot eat a morsel until Wednesday evening / after my procedure. Challenge accepted ig!

:) *nods and pretends to get it*

that is a big part of it. though the physical isolation didn't just happen, it's rooted in longterm stuff, like neurodiversity and mental health struggles (in my case.) I am glad you have been finding it helpful too though.

Another thing I like to remind myself of is that it's statistically likely that the vast majority of condescending, morally hectoring & deeply irritating posts on this platform are written by meat eaters.

Anyway, ethical concerns be damned, I am likely to carry on using it. I think there is a world of difference in using AI for personal investigation and mental wellbeing, vs. using it to generate 1,000 images for cheap printed t-shirts or what have you.

rly this has been the biggest problem I've had w/ bsky & other places for a long time. the performative righteousness & virtue signaling, that seems to come more from a place of self-concern than concern for others. there are far worse things online, but it can still be suffocating.

a lotta the debate on Bluesky generates more heat than light. Frankly there is little debate, there's The One Accepted View however well intentioned and armed with facts it is, and if you don't exactly share it or seek nuance, prepare yourself for a wave of insinuations & character assassinations...

I hope and would like to believe that in ten years time, the sorts of pious soapboxing about AI on here and other places will seem frankly ridiculous and out of touch, but that is pivoted on the practices of AI companies improving, and addressing ppls very legitimate concerns.

I managed to get a good night's rest for the first time this week at least, and am feeling brighter generally if with physical discomfort.

It is mostly thanks to an AI, that would get me chastised and wokescolded, especially on this platform. It is difficult not to feel angry about that right now.

Me, until only a few days ago. I felt resistant to ChatGPT for a long time due to it being a faux pas in my social circles (Bluesky very much included), until dire personal circumstances lead me there, not knowing where else to turn. I am at pains to admit that it has been very therapeutic & useful.

If you are going to use ChatGPT there is no advantage in giving it your personal details anyway. Literally why would anyone do this. That's not a ChatGPT problem so much as a tech illiteracy problem.

Nope, many people in this country agree with her, the stuffy & antiquated class systems in the UK do more harm than good.

I wish [thing] would stop popping into my head and interrupting thought unimvited out of nowhere. Grieving something and I guess I have to give myself time, and try to focus on making my own life better if at all possible, somehow... I want to be happy and useful to the world again.

mmm yeah, that too... the whole framing of it is weird.