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Rossall
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15 Mar 2025, 11:44 am

I would sort the UK economy out by:

1 Scrapping the pensions triple lock and just raising them with CPI inflation.

2 Raising the national minimum wage by inflation rather than the 6.7% proposed.

3 Scrapping the employers NI rise.

4 Putting up employees NI and Income tax by 2% each.


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Aspiegaming
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15 Mar 2025, 3:16 pm

Billionaires who stood by Trump have lost a combined total of over 200 billion dollars since Trump's inauguration.

I still have almost 400 dollars in my wallet since three weeks ago.


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funeralxempire
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15 Mar 2025, 3:21 pm

While I've always been in favour of Canada adopting the F-35, I believe given the current political climate that it would be in Canada's best interest to adopt the SAAB Gripen instead.

https://apnews.com/article/f35-canada-t ... 475ff2c3a6


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Aspiegaming
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15 Mar 2025, 3:40 pm

Speaking of US & Canada relations, It's obvious that Canada isn't going to give in to Trump's annexation nonsense so he'll have to take it by military action. The question is who the hell is willing to fight this war? America is no longer a hero of freedom anymore. It's all about Might and Money. America wants more land and more resources. This is just to give our economy an adrenaline shot so that billionaires and shareholders can be happy. If Canada became a state, it would be a bigger blue state than California which would mean a lot of electoral points going to democrat elections. Does Trump really want that? Worst case scenario, Canada is forced to adopt our healthcare system and drop their own while also getting a share of our debt, societal, and political problems. Back to war, who's willing to go to Canada to fight it? Nobody. Army recruitment in America will be at an all time low. The MAGAs will fight, certainly. Trump may have to reinstate mandatory recruitment for all citizens age 18 and over and make everyone regardless of physical or mental problems or even lack of fitness. He'll want Canada at any cost. A whole new era of draft dodging is sure to follow.


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I am sick, and in so being I am the healthy one.
If my darkness or eccentricity offends you, I don't really care.
I will not apologize for being me.

There is no such thing as perfect. We are beautiful as we are. With all our imperfections, we can do anything.


belijojo
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15 Mar 2025, 4:01 pm

It's 4:50 in the morning now and I'm a little sleepless, so I plan to translate and spread some interesting things

Recently, a theory called "Germanic Pseudotriumphalism" has appeared on the Chinese Internet. Its core theory is very absurd, but it explains many things in real life that Chinese people used to think were incredible, such as why Indians are popular in Britain and the United States, why Hong Kong people are eager to despise mainlanders, why Russia is powerful but repeatedly surrenders, and why Trump posts "I won again" on the homepage of the White House website every day.

This theory is self-consistent and unfalsifiable, so I don't completely believe in it, but just treat it as an interesting conjecture.


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TwilightPrincess
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Yesterday, 3:38 pm

Putting crosses in a baby’s room or children’s nursery is a bit disturbing to me. It’s like having little model electric chairs as a decoration.


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blitzkrieg
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Yesterday, 4:26 pm

TwilightPrincess wrote:
Putting crosses in a baby’s room or children’s nursery is a bit disturbing to me. It’s like having little model electric chairs as a decoration.


Is that what you really think?

The cross of Christ in Christianity is supposed to be symbolic of Jesus and his sacrifice for the sins of humanity. The price of redemption. It is supposed to be symbolic, not just to be taken literally.

Whereas a small model of an electric chair doesn't really symbolise anything in particular and would more likely be taken literally, i.e, as a tool of death.



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Yesterday, 4:29 pm

Yes, it is what I really think which is why I posted it. I find the symbolism disturbing. Other symbols are less (or not at all) disturbing to me - fish, for example, because they don’t involve torture and death.


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funeralxempire
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Yesterday, 5:42 pm

blitzkrieg wrote:
TwilightPrincess wrote:
Putting crosses in a baby’s room or children’s nursery is a bit disturbing to me. It’s like having little model electric chairs as a decoration.


Is that what you really think?

The cross of Christ in Christianity is supposed to be symbolic of Jesus and his sacrifice for the sins of humanity. The price of redemption. It is supposed to be symbolic, not just to be taken literally.

Whereas a small model of an electric chair doesn't really symbolise anything in particular and would more likely be taken literally, i.e, as a tool of death.


The problem is that ultimately Christianity has never entirely outgrown being a millennialist and apocalyptic doomsday cult.

The fact that the end of the world as prophesied by the early cult leaders (like in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18) never occurred didn't cause Christianity to lose all credibility, but even as it evolved it never really abandoned the apocalyptic premise, it just became much less certain of when this event would occur.

It's kinda like if Heaven's Gate were still claiming the alien spaceship would come for them, but moved the goalposts from March 22, 1997 to some unknowable time in the future.

I'm not sure the cross is meant to be as symbolic as you're insisting, since ultimately Jesus' literal death via torture on the cross is what Christians believe redeemed them, not a mere symbolic death. Christianity is pretty big on scorning the material world, even after centuries of influence from followers who don't buy into the death cult aspect wholeheartedly.


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blitzkrieg
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Yesterday, 6:16 pm

The Christian cross is supposed to symbolise a very real, literal death in terms of it being a historical event that is supposed to be of religious significance for Christians who have faith. It is a reminder of humanity and its reconciliation with God, as well as something that on its own represents the sacrifice of a physical death for the purpose of the spiritual advancement of humanity in terms of humanity being able to be redeemed. Christians typically think of hope or salvation as being associated with the cross and appreciate that Jesus was willing to suffer for humanity and for its sins, both past, present and future humans, at that time.

I would say that the symbolism/the meaning behind why Jesus died on the cross is more important than the crucifixion itself, especially as a long lasting, religious message, as opposed to the intensity of a real world, first hand experience of crucifixion.

I mean, you can see that by the fact that the two thieves who died alongside Jesus who were crucified are not really remembered in the same way. People, particularly Christians, typically think about Jesus dying on the cross, not the thieves or any other crucified persons, if they see a cross of Christianity and that is because of what his death is supposed to have meant symbolically.



TwilightPrincess
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Yesterday, 6:41 pm

I always found the idea of the crucifixion disturbing, even when I was a Christian. The idea of an innocent person suffering to redeem sins didn’t make much sense to me and didn’t seem particularly just. It just seems completely unnecessary. Someone doesn’t need to suffer/die (temporarily) in order for people to be redeemable. They just are. If one believes that Jesus is God and not a separate entity (i.e. his son), it’s a bit less problematic IMO although it makes God look masochistic.

Whether it’s a symbol or not, it was still an implement that was used to torture and kill people. The images in churches with an emaciated Jesus are even worse IMO, especially as far as some children are concerned. I was bothered by such depictions in religious publications. My church never venerated the cross and considered doing so idolatrous. They probably would’ve felt differently if there were Bible scriptures endorsing the practice.

With all that being said, people can like what they like. I was just getting something off my chest. I think about this stuff sometimes, perhaps, in part, because I remember being disturbed by it when I was a kid.


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funeralxempire
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Yesterday, 7:11 pm

blitzkrieg wrote:
The Christian cross is supposed to symbolise a very real, literal death in terms of it being a historical event that is supposed to be of religious significance for Christians who have faith. It is a reminder of humanity and its reconciliation with God, as well as something that on its own represents the sacrifice of a physical death for the purpose of the spiritual advancement of humanity in terms of humanity being able to be redeemed. Christians typically think of hope or salvation as being associated with the cross and appreciate that Jesus was willing to suffer for humanity and for its sins, both past, present and future humans, at that time.

I would say that the symbolism/the meaning behind why Jesus died on the cross is more important than the crucifixion itself, especially as a long lasting, religious message, as opposed to the intensity of a real world, first hand experience of crucifixion.

I mean, you can see that by the fact that the two thieves who died alongside Jesus who were crucified are not really remembered in the same way. People, particularly Christians, typically think about Jesus dying on the cross, not the thieves or any other crucified persons, if they see a cross of Christianity and that is because of what his death is supposed to have meant symbolically.


I understand the goal is to reinforce indoctrination and that if one looks at it through the lens of Christian indoctrination one will likely see it in the way you're describing.

That said, I'm not sure TP's conclusions about it are unreasonable. If you tell a bunch of kids that they're indebted to a dead guy who was tortured to death and make a point of constantly reminding them with a symbolic representation of the torture device used, at least some of them are going to fixate on how disturbing it is that they're constantly being reminded of a torture killing and the implement used to carry out that torture killing.

Being disturbed seems like a reasonable conclusion once one engages with the story with even a degree of critical thinking.

The more one learns about the character ascribed to YHWH, the less deserving of worship he becomes. The cross and it's backstory is only one of many reminders of this. I don't think it's unreasonable to be disturbed by disturbing legends.


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Yesterday, 7:47 pm

i feel unsafe in this country
also if jesus rose from the dead and saw all the crosses around him, would he get ptsd flashbacks? idk, death of self is a very traumatic expreience


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funeralxempire
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30 minutes ago

"Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods and they are unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones." —Marcus Aurelius


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TwilightPrincess
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16 minutes ago

^ That quote was very meaningful to me when I was thinking about leaving religion and needed to overcome the fear associated with that. This was back in the early days when I was just starting to allow myself to research and critically examine the Bible and the organization I was raised in. Good times. :lol:


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