Hey love, calm down. I was referring to gerrymandering and vote suppression not the inability to vote for the lesser evil.

I did vote and in fact a surprising number of my peers voted blue despite the fact they typically hard line republican. It made no difference because our state is an all or nothing state, so as long as you can gerrymander well enough around cities and convince rural areas to vote red out of fear, ta da the red party gets all the marbles as if the entire state voted unanimously.

That’s what I meant by not having democracy.

1. We didn’t really have a democratic choice
2. Most of my countrymen are stupid and proud of it
3. Most of the people who are aware of how bad it is are not willing to break the law or upset the status quo to fight it
4. Reform and revolution take organization but that takes time and effort that most can’t afford.
5. People who were aware of how bad things were and are getting have become exhausted and constantly feel powerless to the point they can’t find the strength to keep trying

Those with the time/wealth/power to do anything are too blind or unsympathetic to do anything real. Those without time and resources lack the resources to do anything influential without organization which they also lack the time and resources to create as well.

We’re already in a dictatorship. But you likely have time to stop your country from following suit. Make sure there are good guys left to beat the shit out of us in the end

Edit: to clarify, by “we didn’t have a democratic choice” I was referring to gerrymandering, vote suppression, and other things like winner take all states. I voted and I know there were a surprising number of people who voted blue despite being lifelong republicans. It didn’t do anything because we don’t have democracy.

“Is this to be an empathy test?”

Programmers do not share this weakness; semicolons are common in most programming languages.

My family members have joked about being ADHD for my whole life since our conversations often go all over the place and we have focus/memory issues.

So, not really an ah hah moment when I got diagnosed, but after getting medicated and realizing normal people can actually pay attention to and learn from lectures without needing to put in constant effort? Yeah that was a bit of an eye opening experience

I also learned that there is a significant difference between laziness (not doing something because you don’t want to) and executive dysfunction (not doing something because your brain won’t let you even if you want to do it).

The meds are a godsend, but I should note they don’t get rid of the ADHD they mostly just make it easier to manage.

Oh yeah one other thing that was an ah hah moment was being able to make plans and lists and things and then just do them and remember I’ve made them. Honestly that’s probably the ability that’s changed my life most since I got medicated

Ha chocolate is the only thing I’d say I’m addicted to too lol. I have to force myself to take a supposedly addictive drug every morning, but the only thing I’d rather not go a day without is chocolate lol

And yeah it’s a pretty broad spectrum. I’m a super quiet, reserved person in public, not really the type of person most think of when someone says ADHD.

I didn’t get diagnosed until a year or two ago when I noticed that after drinking an energy drink I got all the tasks done I’d been putting off for months and was able to take a nap during the day lol

Ditto to the dentists and the weed. And I’ve not done any opiates that I can remember but my cousin, who is similar to me, said morphine did nothing for his broken leg but make him feel sick to his stomach so he just wouldn’t take it.

I am ADHD. Methylphenidate (Ritalin) helped my focus but made me like physically anxious and sick to my stomach, amphetamine (adderall) typically feels like nothing though it helps with executive dysfunction and sometimes I feel cold or sleepy.

The reason I asked is because some of the others who shared my sentiment about alcohol mentioned the same thing about weed and painkillers and had ADHD. Some of them also mentioned having red hair, but I don’t really fit that category.

Not feeling the “high” of drugs does sound like it would be related to adhd since it would imply abnormalities in reward pathways in the brain, and from what I can tell, the weed and painkiller issues seem more like dysfunctional opioid receptors. Then again I’m not a doctor lol

If I drink a lot I’ll also get slightly dizzy and like feel like my vision is slightly delayed, but I’m still able to keep my balance and focus. I’ll also sometimes get sick to my stomach, but food helps with that.

But yeah I don’t get any positive effects either. No buzz, no happiness, no reduced inhibitions.

Also turns out you and I aren’t the only people like this. Everytime I bring it up on lemmy some other person seems to comment that they feel the same.

Do other drugs like weed or stimulants not work too? and are you ADHD?

Some people I know call anything 5% or below “bitch beers” because it’s a slight amount of alcohol.

Another thing that is relevant to my opinions on this topic: I don’t get drunk.

My watch confirms that my heart rate and breathing are affected, but apart from the burn going down (and a headache if I drink more than a few shots), I feel no other effects. So unlike most people I don’t have the same source of positive associations with the taste.

That being said, from a strictly flavor perspective, Jin isn’t horrible. Juniper is one of the few flavors that doesn’t clash with ethanol as much as others. Grapefruit also fits with the taste of alcohol pretty well, but apart from those… I think I’d rather a capri sun than a cocktail lol

White claw is a drink that comes in vaguely energy-drink looking cans, tastes bad (if it has any flavor at all), and has a slight alcohol content.

In fairness, my opinion of flavor should be taken with a grain of salt (lol) because I really dislike the taste of alcohol and am honestly surprised anyone could drink even a low percentage without recognizing ethanol’s horrible flavor.

Remember folks: being willing and able to admit when you are wrong is much more important and powerful than simply being right

True, but in those cases you don’t want them to stop, unless of course, you are getting distracted by them and would like to stop in which case: suffering. Context is more important than raw qualia.

Everything but the second row because I distract myself from work, can’t nap, have an aversion to wearing “dirty” clothes, don’t cry anymore (thanks childhood), and also feel a compulsive need to shower everyday.

Plus in the shower I can pretend the world doesn’t exist as I destroy my skin because the water is hot enough to melt lead lol

I do love that Aotearoa has incredible avian diversity.

On one hand, we have Kea parrots who are smarter than most of the human tourists they like pranking and stealing from.

And on the other side of the spectrum we have the kakapo: literally the dumbest bird in existence.

Such amazing biodiversity lol

Putting off finding a new apartment for the 50th day because I have an idea I want to test out. Not like the semester starts and my old lease ends in less than a month…

I’ve come to the conclusion that suffering is really just anything that invades your focus without your desire for it to happen.

Thinking about anything you would rather not think about is suffering. You get cut and your brain constantly reminds you of it because evolution is a bitch. Hatred, envy, anger, intrusive thoughts, headaches, itchy clothes, annoying noises in your environment, etc. Anything that steals your attention without your consent is suffering.

So if you’re so focused on avoiding suffering you aren’t able to focus on doing what you want then yep, suffering.

I’m a mechanical engineering student with a math minor and I’m a switch so yeah, I’d take either side of this

You could always make a gigantic super absorbent polymer bead and wear that to a similar affect

I’m just so tired of squinting…