as some of you know, I was raised in a fundamentalist proto-maga environment, and so I have extensive first hand experience with cognitive dissonance and cult tactics

I wanted to point out that if someone wildly disagrees with you: they’re not lying. No matter how stupid or obviously wrong you think their take is, they’re not lying to you about what they believe; almost no-one does that.

To be clear, I’m not talking about national politicians or billionaires or obvious influence campaign bots. I’m talking about real, normal people that you know perfectly well are real, normal people but their take is so ridiculous or extreme to you that you feel tempted to conclude they’re lying.

There are real, actual reasons they believe those things and real, actual reasons they feel the need to tell you about it. If you can’t engage with that, you’ve not only already lost any chance of convincing them, but you’re setting yourself up to believe patently untrue things yourself, because you have taught yourself to shut down contrary thoughts with “they’re lying.”

accepting that the people I was told were agents of Satan *weren’t lying about their beliefs just to hurt me* is a big part of how I got out of fundamentalism.

BBC: Japan reveals new name for 40C-and-hotter days after blistering summer

Japan has unveiled a new name for days that reach 40C (104F) or above, after the country experienced its hottest summer on record last year.

The term - kokushobi - has been translated as "cruelly hot", "brutally hot" or "severely hot"

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr185nx0n9o

#heatwaves #extremeheat #Japan

It has been brought to my attention that I've used the vulgar and offensive term "motherfuckers" in two recent posts to describe various classes of people.

And that is, of course, because I'm a stickler for both clarity and precision when referring to techbros and transphobes.

Which means I should acknowledge that usage count is now three posts.

And to further clarify, while I'm sorry if someone told you there wouldn't be any math today, I am not sorry for anything else.

Thank you.

Did you know that pound cake is primarily an American dish?

In the rest of the world, people eat kilograham crackers instead.