EsteeBestee's recent activity
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
EsteeBestee Link ParentWhen this came out, I was so disappointed and I haven't even played it yet. At this point I'm waiting for a deep, deep sale and for all the DLC and updates to come out. I still want to experience...When this came out, I was so disappointed and I haven't even played it yet. At this point I'm waiting for a deep, deep sale and for all the DLC and updates to come out. I still want to experience it at some point, but like you said, the game is much too safe and much too "okay" for full price.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
EsteeBestee Link ParentI'm envious of you! I started playing it a while back and enjoyed it for about 10 hours and then just entirely fell off and never got the drive back to finish. Glad to hear you enjoyed it though!!I'm envious of you! I started playing it a while back and enjoyed it for about 10 hours and then just entirely fell off and never got the drive back to finish. Glad to hear you enjoyed it though!!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
EsteeBestee LinkStill mostly playing Black Ops 6. The new season started, so it's nice to have a few new maps, weapons, and perks, with more coming through an in-season event. This is comfortably my "I just wanna...Still mostly playing Black Ops 6. The new season started, so it's nice to have a few new maps, weapons, and perks, with more coming through an in-season event. This is comfortably my "I just wanna play a game, but not start something thick" game and I still love it. I'm already prestige 3, though, and need help, I have played waaaaay too much. I finally started the campaign as well. I'm only three missions in, but I like it so far. Also, this game has pretty much replaced Destiny 2 in my rotation now. I keep going back to D2 for new content drops, but it's hard for me to stay interested in that as a daily or even weekly game. I've kind of just been there done that. I'll probably still keep up with the game since it is my favorite franchise right now all together (the lore is just ridiculously good), but I don't think I'll be sinking in hundreds of hours a year anymore.
I finally booted up UFO 50! I've only played about 6 of the games so far, but it's super charming and genuinely does feel like you're playing old NES games. I don't have that much to share yet because so far it's not super deep, but it's a great collection of games that give you a nostalgic feeling, are simple to play, but some are up to date with modern gameplay standards and are surprisingly deep for only having two buttons and a d-pad.
Otherwise, both Flight Simulator 2024 and Stalker 2 come out this week! I'm looking forward to both! I'm going to wait to see if FS2024 is stable on launch before buying, since I likely will be buying the $130 premium deluxe and want to make sure the darn thing works first. With Stalker, I'm probably buying it either way since the devs have been through hell, but I think I'll also thoroughly enjoy it as long as it doesn't turn out to be a dud or something.
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Comment on TV Tuesdays Free Talk in ~tv
EsteeBestee LinkI just finished watching Deep Space Nine for the first time after starting it in March. Holy hell, what a show. DS9 All Spoilers I'm at a complete loss of words for how excellent the entire run of...- Exemplary
I just finished watching Deep Space Nine for the first time after starting it in March. Holy hell, what a show.
DS9 All Spoilers
I'm at a complete loss of words for how excellent the entire run of the show was, from start to finish, with very few truly bad moments and a lifetime's worth of great moments. My original plan was to start Voyager (have also never watched before) right after this, but considering I was still crying for an hour after I finished the last episode, I think I need to let DS9 live in my brain for a while first. The last handful of episodes were just spectacular and the ending left the perfect taste of bittersweet.When I first started watching a few months ago, I expected the show to just be some campy 90's TV fun. I really didn't expect how touching this show would be and how meaningful it's been to me this year. I feel like a kid again watching this show, yet it has the emotional complexity I want as an adult, it's just truly wonderous. This show is going to live with me forever and I'm glad I got to share so much time with Sisko, Jake, Kira, Odo, Jadzia, Ezri, Julian, Miles, Worf, everyone else, and even Quark.
I loved the storytelling structure of the show, it made it extremely easy to watch, but you still got tons of "OH FUCK" moments when it really ramped up. Pretty much every character, even single episode characters, are written and acted so well that everything feels in-universe and extremely immersive. You feel like you're living in the show with the characters as you watch and that's part of what made this so compelling of a watch for me. I'm not "watching" a group of people "do stuff", I'm sitting there with them as they live their lives. The dominion war spans years and it's not like any character is realistically fighting that whole time and this show does a fantastic job of showing the characters going back to their "normal" lives in between whenever they're called to combat.
I really don't have anything negative to say about the show, it was such a thoroughly enjoyable experience, even the "bad" episodes, and I've never really watched anything that's hitting this same set of feelings, not even TNG.
As for favorite episodes:
I think Badda-Bing Badda-Bang is my favorite feel good/off beat episode.
It's Only A Paper Moon is probably my favorite single character centric episode.
In Purgatory's Shadow was the most shocking moment for me (I audibly gasped when it was revealed that Bashir had been replaced by a changeling).
The Visitor is the episode that made me cry the most.
My favorite overall was probably In The Pale Moonlight. It was ballsy storytelling having your heroes of the show straight up tricking an entire race of people into a war that could decimate them, and that story telling really worked. It showed how flawed many of the characters are, they aren't superheroes.
There really were dozens of excellent episodes, though, like Duet, Far Beyond The Stars, Trials And Tribble-ations, The Way Of The Warrior, Waltz, and a lot more. It's near impossible to pick favorites.
If you haven't watched DS9 or any Star Trek, I thoroughly recommend it. It's a lot of episodes (173 episodes at 45 minutes each, with a few being 90 minutes), but it's an easy show to watch and doesn't require that much investment even though the show invests heavily back in you, if that makes sense. You don't have to remember a bunch of characters or very intricate politics, but the show has such smart writing and emotional depth that you get well more out of it than you put in. It is now my favorite show, no questions about it.
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Comment on Follow up on the username thread: What Tildes users do you recognize when browsing and, without being rude or inflammatory, what is your impression of them? in ~tildes
EsteeBestee LinkI see @phoenixrises, @smoontjes, and @notcoffeetable around quite a bit and they all seem friendly! Smoontjes was kind enough to help me out before with something a bit more personal, thanks for...I see @phoenixrises, @smoontjes, and @notcoffeetable around quite a bit and they all seem friendly! Smoontjes was kind enough to help me out before with something a bit more personal, thanks for that! Sorry to those I'm forgetting that usually pop up in the weekly gaming thread, I just have a shit memory, but you're all lovely!
Mostly I just really like how casual tildes is and that you can see and interact with some of the same people on a regular basis. It really is a great community here.
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Comment on Where does your username come from? (Following up on last year's thread) in ~tildes
EsteeBestee Link ParentIt was a shame when I found that out, I don't like Ocon that much.It was a shame when I found that out, I don't like Ocon that much.
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Comment on Where does your username come from? (Following up on last year's thread) in ~tildes
EsteeBestee Link ParentSo when I was in high school, I played a lot of halo, gears of war, and call of duty with my friends and we had our own "clan" and always made sure to have matching gamertags and some of them were...So when I was in high school, I played a lot of halo, gears of war, and call of duty with my friends and we had our own "clan" and always made sure to have matching gamertags and some of them were so freaking cringe, but that's also what made gaming in the 2005-2010 era special. I think I've shut many of them out of my memory at this point, but I do remember at one point my friend group all had "xX [gamertag] Xx" gamertags and we later switched to "II [gamertag] II" because "xX" was "so cringe now". So yeah, if I was completely stuck with my 2000's gamertags I would just melt into a puddle.
I do remember at some point that I was just rolling as "Aspercream" too because at the time, there were those catchy "you bet your sweet aspercream" commercials and I thought they were funny.
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Comment on Where does your username come from? (Following up on last year's thread) in ~tildes
EsteeBestee (edited )Link ParentI'm in the same boat where I've moved to a new username elsewhere (and am even thinking of ditching that one too) and don't wanna start a new account on tildes so that people don't think I died or...I'm in the same boat where I've moved to a new username elsewhere (and am even thinking of ditching that one too) and don't wanna start a new account on tildes so that people don't think I died or something, ha. FWIW I like both your usernames!
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Comment on Where does your username come from? (Following up on last year's thread) in ~tildes
EsteeBestee (edited )LinkThe username on this account is just phonetically my initials with “bestee” after because it rhymes. I have started using sudo_sara in other places, which I kind of only picked because I was doing...The username on this account is just phonetically my initials with “bestee” after because it rhymes. I have started using sudo_sara in other places, which I kind of only picked because I was doing a bunch of Linux work when I got sick of my now old handle and was typing sudo a lot and I guess I liked the way it sounded with my name. I haven’t switched to that on tildes though since I’d have to make a new account. I guess I don’t really have much of an attachment to that either, I’ve changed handles a lot since I was a kid and I never really had one that lasted me more than a few years or one that I’ve been particularly attached to. It's a bit silly, but I'm actually kind of envious of people who have used the same handle for 10+ years and aren't really sick of it. I have yet to find one that's truly satisfying, like "yeah, that's the one" when I make one.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
EsteeBestee LinkI'm still playing nothing but Black Ops 6, that game thoroughly has its hooks in me and season 1 is coming this week. At least it's been a good distraction from the uh... situation... in the US. I...I'm still playing nothing but Black Ops 6, that game thoroughly has its hooks in me and season 1 is coming this week. At least it's been a good distraction from the uh... situation... in the US.
I do have a bit of a list of things I want to play soon. The E3 2003 demo for Halo 2 released as a mod for the master chief collection on steam and I'm excited to try out this piece of gaming history: https://steamcommunity.com/workshop/filedetails/?id=3360515088
Additionally, I still have yet to start UFO 50 after buying it just before Black Ops 6 came out, oops! I still haven't picked up Star Wars Outlaws (waiting for deep sale), Space Marine 2 (kinda want to wait for a sale but also kinda want to play while the multiplayer is still populous), Dragon Age is on my radar, but reviews have been so divisive about it that I'm still trying to decide if I think I would like it, and then Flight Sim 2024 and Stalker 2 are both coming out very soon.
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Comment on Who is allowed to practice identity politics? in ~society
EsteeBestee Link ParentIt is super interesting and I’m unsure if that makes me feel better or worse. Better maybe because this issue isn’t unique to the US right now, though we will likely have the most severe...It is super interesting and I’m unsure if that makes me feel better or worse. Better maybe because this issue isn’t unique to the US right now, though we will likely have the most severe consequences of this trend. Worse because if this phenomenon holds water, that means we as a species kind of just hivemind voted out our incumbents this year (no matter their political affiliation) without paying attention to actual policy.
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Comment on Understanding the leftist that didn't vote: "Everybody else gets one, but not me" in ~society
EsteeBestee (edited )LinkI empathize with you, but I disagree on voting strategy quite a bit. I'm in the US and I'm desperate for true progressive candidates. However, in the US, our system pretty advertantly encourages a...I empathize with you, but I disagree on voting strategy quite a bit. I'm in the US and I'm desperate for true progressive candidates. However, in the US, our system pretty advertantly encourages a two party system instead of a many party system. It's possible for a third party to get a movement going like we saw with Perot in the 90's, but it requires an absurd amount of organization to do that (though possible). Because of this, we essentially have two choices each election. One choice is often, at worst, the status quo, but otherwise usually has options to move us forward over time. The other option is rarely the status quo and frequently sends us backwards. In my mind, if left leaning people are not willing to organize a movement behind a third party progressive candidate, or not willing to sway a democratic candidate to be more progressive in policy, we should all be voting for the candidate that gives us the most progress, especially when the alternative is a literal fascist who wants to take voting away and take away the rights of over half the country if he's allowed to.
In 2024's case, Harris offered first time homebuyer credits, higher taxes for the rich, getting abortion rights back, expanding child tax credits, raising tax on stock buybacks, gun control, a voting rights act, passing the equality act, cap the price of insulin, imposing term limits on the supreme court, raising minimum wage, paid family and medical leave, legalize weed, reviving the federal affordable connectivity program, and more.
The truth is that even if this isn't the perfect platform that a lot of left leaning people want, for example Harris would not be taking steps to get us towards universal healthcare, her platform would have progressed us towards a better future and she is one of the more progressive candidates we've had in the US for president (sad but true). Trump on the other hand wants to walk civil liberties back 150 years, impose tariffs to hurt everyone except the rich, and get rid of voting if he is legally able to.
In my mind, when democracy is actually on the line due to how much trump wants to fuck us up, everyone needed to vote. I know a number of left leaning people stayed home and refused to vote for Harris over whatever issue, but not only is Harris likely better on whatever issue that might be over the alternative, these same people didn't bother to vote in local, state, or senate/congress races either, they just didn't vote at all. I'm inclined to think many of these people just don't give a shit about what happens and are hiding behind a moral high ground of "I didn't vote for Harris because she's not progressive enough with x issue" while we allow trump to win and be worse on x issue. Additionally, many of the abstainers could have organized to vote for a third party that did excite them. In the US, if your party gets over 5% of the popular vote, you secure federal campaign funding for the next election. It can help a ton with picking up momentum, but these stay homers didn't even do that, which is part of the reason I feel that either the number of these people is either really small or it's large, but they don't give a single fuck and would rather just complain online.
I'm not trying to make this sound like an attack or a lecture. I think it's a mindset difference that I can't understand and vice versa. Frankly, I don't understand the act of choosing not to vote at all, it's one of the few times we as a people have a direct and powerful voice to directly change policy and representation, but 30% of our country doesn't use that (enough people where if they banded up, they could nearly get any candidate they wanted into viable contention (of course that 30% aren't all on the same page, but you get my meaning)). I don't understand refusing to vote for a candidate based on an issue where the other candidate is worse. For example, I'm unhappy with what's going on in Palestine, but even if I don't think Harris will solve the problem or even make it better, I know Trump is going to allow the genocide to happen no matter what and possibly accelerate it. I gladly voted Harris this election, not because she closely matches me on every view, but because she was going to give this country genuine progress towards my views, if she were able to enact her plans. That doesn't mean I'm happy with her on every issue, but I was confident voting anyways because I know if I'm not voting for her and if no third parties are viable at the moment, that trump is winning and is making millions of lives worse.
To me, left leaning non-voters seem to be doing a trolley problem. Their options are to pull the lever (vote) for a candidate who is going to overall be better in pretty much every way. That candidate might not be perfect or even good on every issue, but overall represents steady progress in a country that's been slow to progress. If they don't pull the level, a much worse candidate is then allowed to take power, causing suffering for tens of millions or more, but because they didn't pull the lever, they feel they can't be "guilty" for what happens. The way I view it, abstaining is saying that you're okay with the results no matter how they happen. That means you're okay with Trump being in power if he does win, which he did. I don't think left leaning people are okay with Trump being in power, so why did they not then turn up to vote?
I get it, I am also incredibly frustrated with our two party system here. I'm envious of countries that allow you more and better choices. But we don't change this system for the better by sitting around and doing nothing, we change it by voting for as much progress as we can, voting to keep the fascism at bay, and then both pressuring the more progressive party to adopt more progressive policy without alienating their largest voter bases or left leaning people organize to put up a progressive candidate of their own that can then possibly take the reigns from the establishment party. In no case, however, should people sit back and allow fascism to take over.
Secondly, to address the elephant of the room that is Palestine, since it seems that is the #1 issue left leaning non-voters chose to not vote on, at least in online spaces: some view Harris as complicit in the genocide in Palestine. It is true that our current government administration is sending aid and weapons to Israel. It is also true Israel is performing a genocide. It is also true that our current government is not pressuring Israel enough. Some will look at these factors and say that our government is complicit in the genocide. I somewhat disagree, but I think the situation is very complex and I don't agree with the people that think it's a good idea for our country to cold turkey stop aid or to actively work against Israel, I don't agree with the people thinking that our country "just can" end the conflict, and I have some reasons why I think that.
For example, if we stopped sending aid to Israel, I think that would have a few negative consequences not being thought about: we lose a voice at the negotiating table with Netanyahu. Right now, we can at least try to mitigate damage, even if he doesn't listen. If we cut aid, he's not going to listen to a damn word we say. Secondly, this gives Iran a chance to enact a genocide of their own on Israel and while Israel may or may not have the means to currently defend themselves, they would very much have a leg to stand on when arguing that we're allowing an ally to be attacked. This might also piss off a number of Israeli and Jewish voters back home and then we're back to square one of some demographic being mad towards the US about the conflict. Lastly, even if these steps happened, I do not believe that would be enough for the non-voters to go out and vote. They're already not voting for anything, not just abstaining from president. I have little reason to believe they'd go for someone like Harris even if she stopped sending Israel aid. I think these same people would just move on to the next reason why they're staying home.
Like I said earlier, I wish this conflict wasn't going on. I wish the US could find some way to more positively influence the conflict. However, I think a lot of it is out of our control as a country. Even if we have the means to forcefully end the conflict, it can potentially cause further issues. I don't personally think Harris or Biden are complicit in genocide. I think it's true that they could be doing more, but I won't pretend to know what that more is, I'm not an expert on this conflict. Lastly, I think non-voters are not as informed as they think they are and are allowing our democracy to crumble because they can't bring themselves to vote for any candidate, even one that more closely fits their views than we've had an option for in a long time.
I didn't intend for this to be this long, but I did want to get all of my thoughts out on it, since I've had a number of negative feelings towards non-voters this week. I think this election in particular was not the time to be protesting, when the alternative option is literal fascism. In this case, "This is not the time to be having these arguments. It's a time for unity" is actually true, even if this has been a talking point in the past when the consequences are not as dire as this election. Mostly, I'm incredibly disappointed in the millions of people that couldn't even be bothered to vote for local elections, school board, state amendments, state elections, and even congress and senate, or who couldn't be bothered to band together behind a candidate that does represent them, and instead complain online about their choices, complain online about the outcome, and then continue to do absolutely nothing.
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Comment on How Donald Trump won, and how Kamala Harris lost in ~society
EsteeBestee Link ParentTo me, the people that care about social policies are going to be on average more informed than those who don't care about social policies. Because of this, maybe it's a good idea for future...To me, the people that care about social policies are going to be on average more informed than those who don't care about social policies. Because of this, maybe it's a good idea for future democratic candidates to mention nothing about social policy on TV and save it for their website and other interviews, where the people who do care will find it and the people who don't care won't think there's some sort of "culture war" or "race replacement" or "dei" or whatever the fuck they always whine about. To me, this election highlighted how uninformed the average american voter is, and to me that means that any progressive platforms need to be dumbed down, too.
Also, the first time I had to sit through the "Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you" commercial, I think I kind of knew we were fucked. I'm almost not surprised at how many points the campaign swung from that and other ads, the line admittedly goes hard even though I fucking hate it. It turns out your average voter wants slogans and buzz words instead of policy.
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Comment on Thoughts on Donald Trump, America and what this all means in ~society
EsteeBestee LinkI'm still trying to form my thoughts and it keeps shifting. I keep changing from anger to empathy to sadness to betrayal and back, around and around my brain goes looking for answers because what...- Exemplary
I'm still trying to form my thoughts and it keeps shifting. I keep changing from anger to empathy to sadness to betrayal and back, around and around my brain goes looking for answers because what just happened on Tuesday betrays everything I thought I knew of this world. I typed up a novel of a comment and deleted it and started over, I'm just not sure what to write.
In 2016, I didn't think trump would be that bad. I didn't like him, but I thought he'd just make a fool out of himself and get nothing done. I guess I was right about the first part, but I was very wrong about the second part. Not long after inauguration, I went from being relatively unbothered and thinking this wouldn't be too bad, to full on believing he was bringing fascist ideologies to the table and being applauded for it. It was a radical shift that happened in my world view in part because I just saw something happen that very much betrayed my views and also in part that I was transitioning at the time and learning to accept that I'm now a minority and I'm extremely vulnerable to people like trump. I always got up to bat for minorities before that, but it's a bit different when you then have to bat for yourself.
Trump's first term was hell for me, having to wake up every day wondering if I lost my rights as a woman or as a transgender person. I started to see the cracks that have always been there in America, how we were built on fear and paranoia, how we were built not to love thy neighbor like many parrot, but to ignore thy neighbor and think only of yourself. It's disgusting and it's clear that it started a long time ago, it didn't start in 2016. I started to see how much of a machine politics are. It wasn't usual for someone like Obama to have a somewhat grass roots and hopeful campaign. It was usual for someone like Hillary Clinton to be the nom, someone who was participating in the machine for a long time. I was full on the Bernie train in 2016 and was hurt when he didn't get the nomination. I think many of the trump voters in 2016 felt the same way or felt frustrated at only getting establishment candidates and wanted something new, even if they didn't realize how awful that something new would be.
2020 gave me some hope back that democracy was still there and that most americans are good and well informed people. It was a huge blow to maga and I thought for sure that maga doing a coup would be the nail in the coffin and that the American people would wake up from the brain fog and realize how close we were to ruining ourselves. Boy was I wrong.
I didn't expect people to go back to establishment voting in the long term, but I at least expected the average person to recognize a fascist. Many americans lived through the cold war or know someone who lived through WW2. It's ingrained in us to hate anything remotely approaching fascism, but half our voters are now actively voting for it, many of them being the same people that despise Nazi Germany or Russia for what they are.
I think this week showed me a lot of things. Firstly, it showed me how poor our civics education is becoming in the US. 30% of our eligible voters didn't vote or didn't even register this time. While there are barriers that are designed to make voting harder in certain states, voting is for the most part incredibly simple. It's also incredibly simple to look up a candidate's platform and get a good idea on what their stances are. For me to find out how I'm voting down the entire card, it takes maybe 3-5 hours of research online, and that's for the entire card, including school board and local races, researching a presidential race only takes like 20 minutes if you just want the bullet points. It's very easy to find what people's platforms are. However, between the 30% of the country that didn't vote and then all the ones that voted to trump, it's clear that I'm abnormal. Spending time paying attention to politics, spending time researching platforms, and spending time to cast informed votes is clearly not the norm. People don't realize the power they have in voting, it's one of the few times we the people have direct power to make change. 30% of the country stayed home because they thought their vote didn't matter or they didn't want to vote for Harris over one or two issues, even though she's better for everyone on every issue compared to trump. And if that 30% didn't want to vote for either, they would have had the power to get multiple third parties over the 5% line to get federal campaign funding for next election, but they stayed home instead.
Then the trump voters... the fucking trump voters... I accept there are some who legitimately are filled with hate and like how hateful trump is. However, many (most?) of his voters are ordinary average people who want the promise of a better future. Based on the fact trump won the popular vote, it's clear that the average american is hurting right now and knows something is wrong with the country. However, instead of spending even 10 minutes researching candidates, they let social media and cable news tell them who to vote for and seemingly would prefer to hear buzzwords and slogans instead of an actual stable platform and policy that will help them. It's insane to me that Harris openly talked about her economic plans and how she would directly be helping lower income earners vs trump's "concept of a plan" and it just didn't fucking matter because nothing she could come up with competes with "make america great again" even if her platform, not trump's, might have actually made america great again.
My world view was pretty okay up until this week. I already recognized some massive issues we already had, like wealth inequality, us poisoning our own planet, unjustness existing nearly everywhere, but it felt like we were relatively stable. When RvW was repealed, there was massive outcry and it was and still is and extremely unpopular move. But then this week, 70 million people voted for someone who compares himself to hitler. Many of them did it despite how he acts, because they know something is wrong, don't know how to articulate it, and vote against the establishment even if it's against everyone's best interest.
Here's where I'm starting to run out of steam after all this typing. I'm just tired. I'm angry that people can be so uninformed, yet so confident about politics. I'm angry that I might lose all of my rights now as both a woman and a transgender person. I'm angry at those who stayed home because their vote didn't matter or because they didn't want to vote for Harris over Gaza even though Trump will let it turn into a crater. I'm angry at the trump voters who should take 20 minutes of their time to realize Harris likely would have improved their lives more. I'm angry at the republican party for being so full of hate, I just cannot relate with having a complete lack of empathy. I'm just angry at everything. I think I would feel better if this were a uniquely US issue, but the UK, France, Germany, and Canada are all just a few years behind the US and are having problems of their own with extremists starting to gain popularity. Looking back in history, this sort of thing has happened many times, but I thought we could break the cycle. The people welcome in the rich, powerful, and evil on empty promises, because their current leaders aren't doing enough for them in their minds. The rich, powerful, and evil take over and cause massive suffering. The people revolt and then rebuild. Progress is made, then progress slows down, then the establishment becomes boring and slow, then the rich, powerful, and evil are welcomed in again... I think I thought we could escape from that cycle, that modern civilization with all of our information and technology could avoid it. I think I'm pretty wrong on that.
In the US, we have a chance to right the ship in 2026 and 2028 if Trump isn't able to take away voting like he wants to. I do think a position like that is too extreme for even many republicans (I don't think someone like Romney would go for it, for example). I think unless swiftly handled before anybody gets to cast another vote, anything like that might piss off a fuckton of voters. So I think the next few years really depends on how stupid and ineffective the Trump admin is. I can only hope for ineptness and infighting so that the rest of us get another chance to end this... But based on history, I could also see us falling into full on fascism and having untold suffering for a very long time.
I am angry and sad and jaded and disappointed in my fellow americans. I'm scared and don't know what will happen to my friends, family, or myself in the next four years. I don't know how many rights I might lose, and I don't know if we'll wake up from this in time to stop it or not.
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Comment on American election mental health thread in ~health.mental
EsteeBestee Link ParentFrom a few I’ve talked to, it seems to me they’d rather take a moral high ground of “not voting for genocide” because they’ll feel “guilty” if they vote Harris and then the Gaza situation doesn’t...From a few I’ve talked to, it seems to me they’d rather take a moral high ground of “not voting for genocide” because they’ll feel “guilty” if they vote Harris and then the Gaza situation doesn’t improve. What these people don’t get is that not voting is a choice and in my mind, if someone willingly abstained from voting, knowing trump would be worse, just so they don’t have to say they checked the box for Harris, then they’re partly to blame for what happens under trump.
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Comment on American election mental health thread in ~health.mental
EsteeBestee Link ParentHuh, I did not expect such a knowledgeable reply to the TMI stuff, I was kind of just accepting I was venting. Thank you! And I already do work in tech, I know I could find jobs out there, but...Huh, I did not expect such a knowledgeable reply to the TMI stuff, I was kind of just accepting I was venting. Thank you! And I already do work in tech, I know I could find jobs out there, but from what I know, home ownership (anywhere near a city) would be disproportionately more expensive to my income there than here. I could be mistaken on that, but that’s what I found last time I was looking into it.
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Comment on American election mental health thread in ~health.mental
EsteeBestee Link ParentThank you for the information. Cali was something I was already considering before this election. I do want to be a home owner someday and I likely wouldn't ever be able to in Cali, but I've been...Thank you for the information. Cali was something I was already considering before this election. I do want to be a home owner someday and I likely wouldn't ever be able to in Cali, but I've been debating if I want to give that up for what may be an even safer state and one where I can lean into my sports car hobby more (we do get a solid 7 months of sports car weather in MN, but it's sad to put them away for the winter, even if I have a fun winter car too). Pros and cons, my current income will go a lot further in MN than Cali, but having beaches and warm weather all year sounds kind of nice, as well as a stronger guarantee that my rights are safe, but then there is the impending climate doom that will likely affect Cali before MN...
I do love Minnesota and we tend to fly under the radar, so I'm hoping we don't get noticed as a safe haven, but if we do, we probably can't resist as effectively as Cali can, given Cali's economic sway. I think my likely plan is to use the next few months to work out if Minnesota will be safe enough for me for the next 4 years (and hopefully only 4 years, maybe even just 2 if the house and senate can flip back to blue in 2026...) and if I don't think that will be the case, start thinking about other countries where it would be realistic for me to find a job and live there. I was feeling almost entirely hopeless this morning when trump won and the senate went red, but knowing the house might go blue, but now I'm pretty utterly hopeless knowing the house might stay red on top of a red senate and presidency. To know they could make me illegal with one bill and will probably try to do so is utterly terrifying.
Trans stuff, maybe slightly TMI: I was still undecided on bottom surgery, but now I feel forced to get an orchiectomy in case my meds are taken away, even though it might later tank my chances of success on vaginoplasty. I shouldn't have to be making these decisions based on who's controlling the government, I just want to live my life, dammit.
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Comment on American election mental health thread in ~health.mental
EsteeBestee Link ParentLike I said, I'm in probably the safest state and have the most chance. We've enshrined LGBT rights here. Inauguration isn't until January and trump's first goal is mass deportation and tariffs. I...Like I said, I'm in probably the safest state and have the most chance. We've enshrined LGBT rights here. Inauguration isn't until January and trump's first goal is mass deportation and tariffs. I figure I have at least a year to figure out and execute a plan + whatever time I get from my state protecting me. One thing I'm not certain about is how long I can continue getting my necessary medication. My birth certificate and all documentation has been updated years ago with my gender, so I may be safe on that front too (as far as the government is concerned, I've always been a woman), but I'm not counting on it.
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Comment on American election mental health thread in ~health.mental
EsteeBestee Link ParentYou being aware of what's going on makes you different from those you're describing. Those that voted for trump are not "your people" and you don't have to live with that.You being aware of what's going on makes you different from those you're describing. Those that voted for trump are not "your people" and you don't have to live with that.
I might have to check out OpenSudoku, I love sudoku, but haven't played in a bit.