I don’t think “friends” works well as a binary yes/no. There are many different kinds of friends, Some people are like cacti and only need to be watered once a year. Other people are like… I’m not a gardener, but some other kind of plant that needs frequent watering. Some are weeds that will take over your entire home. This metaphor got away from me a little.

Personally, I follow a strategy of “when you have the energy, demonstrate the behavior you want to see.” So if you have the juice to handle an unsatisfying outcome, reach out to them like you’d want to be reached out to. Invite them to a party. Send them a funny meme. Whatever. They might flake. They might not respond. But you only do this when you can handle that disappointment. If someone’s been real flakey and you just can’t deal with it, you don’t have to go the extra mile for them.

I already felt pretty good about not eating meat*. I think this would have have been a big motivator if I wasn’t already on board

*Ok, I’m kind of a half assed vegetarian. I generally don’t buy meat but if I’m at like a dinner someone else planned I might have some they cooked. It’s easier than going all the way to 100%, and has reduced my meat consumption by like 95%.

Natural consequence of capitalism.

I should look into matrix. I have a small group of nerds in my group. need video, voice, text, and image sharing. A dice bot is nice, too.

Haha get fucked DoorDash. I’ll pick up my own food before using them.

I would make cautious alliance with someone if that was their principle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth%2C_and_I_Must_Scream

It’s short and you can find a copy at your library, or on the seas.

Sales number is the only language they speak.

They also speak violence, but historically that’s in the form of the rich and/or the state attacking labor.

Oh god concerts are so stupid right now. Can’t see anything because there’s always some idiot holding a phone up in front of your face.

I get annoyed when people hold the phone up high during the show. If you hold it in front of your face, no one behind you can see it. Don’t block people’s view.

Microsoft should be broken up. They never should have been allowed to get so big in the first place.

The Republicans cause more abortions because they don’t do anything to fix the problem sooner. No sex Ed. No contraception. Nothing to allow labor to have stable home lives with financial security. Voting Republican to minimize abortion is counter productive.

Computers often do what you said, not what you meant.

Honestly more experience with that might help some people who are habitually unclear in their thinking and communication

No. Don’t feel strongly about hats. Wouldn’t want to live someplace where wearing a hat is expected. I’m a band T-shirt and jeans kind of guy though.

and on her way to work every single leftist that she knew irl punched her in the face every single day.

But no there’s no corresponding “leftists are doing something like punching her in the face” in real life. Certainly not “every single” one. I agree that people are emotionally driven ( https://theoatmeal.com/comics/believe is a good comic about it ).

There are extremists in any sect - the christian fanatics, animal rights ecoterrorists, whatever. But it’s not “the left” as a whole, or even a majority.

Unless, I guess, you consider a scenario like

“I just think gay people shouldn’t be so visible. It’s confusing to my children”

“That’s a messed up thing to say. Gay people are a part of life. Shunting them into the closet so you can avoid a mildly uncomfortable conversation is unjust”

to be punching someone in the face.

Sure, but “you were mean to me so now I’m joining maga” is pretty silly.

Some people are like that, I guess, but if someone rudely explains how racism is deeply entrenched in the US that doesn’t mean they’re wrong. Rejecting their message because they were mean is childish.

Evokes this comic https://thenib.com/fault-right/

I mean, not everyone wants to discuss politics all the time, and that should be an acceptable position to have.

This is probably true. I mean, if I started going off about how the workers are entitled to what they produce and fucking Joanne doesn’t do shit, so why does she get a fat salary while we don’t even get paid for thanksgiving, I’d be fired. Wouldn’t even move the needle.

I live in a red state, and I’d definitely say something similar if a magat tried to strike up a conversation about politics. Most of the time I just don’t have the mental energy to get into a discussion about it.

But sometimes the smaller conversations can change people. It takes a lot, and it can be infuriating when they just don’t get it, or relapse after another bender on fox news, but interactions with people they see as in-group change minds.

I had a coworker way back that was a big homophobe, and over the months we worked together I got him from “we should just kill the gays” to “i guess they’re not hurting anyone i just think it’s gross”. I understand that there’s not always energy in the budget for that, though.

I think there’s a difference between “I affirmatively do not care” and “there’s no purely way to be ethical, and that horror has fallen under my personal bar for attention right now”

I can maybe cut a little slack for someone who’s like “I don’t really understand politics or know history, so I don’t feel confident having a strong opinion” if they were curious and honest. We all start ignorant and not everyone had the good fortune to get a quality education.

But the aggressively ignorant and apathetic can fuck right off.

Thus, by a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism