I am not doxxing myself because the paranoia will likely continue in such a scenario.
And what’s next? Suspecting US citizens of being foreign agents and then sicking the FBI on them?
Unlike you, I’m not going to be cheerleading the return of McCarthyism.
Thanks for your response and engagement. I appreciated hearing your perspective as a German/European in contrast to my perspective as an American.
I think we both feel that it’s desirable for everybody to generally contribute to society to make the world a better place.
I think it would incredibly more desirable for society to have a firm social safety net (housing, food, healthcare). We have the technology and means to do so without breaking a sweat.
If we try it and society stagnates, we can always tweak it to incentivize certain types of work. Myself, I believe society would see vast improvements when people aren’t surviving and living in shambles. I believe many of our current issues would be quickly solved once we are broadly able to slow down and think for a moment.
Deserving or not deserving doesn’t really factor into the equation. We need to create and build a world worth living in. I want to live in a world where people are more free, healthy, and safe - where work is directly benefiting our communities instead of people being forced to slave in hostile work environments to barely make it.
Why are people mostly silent about this shit?
Please, please, please start spreading this awareness with everybody you know!
From the article:
The agency also announced plans to relax a rule requiring companies to report all products containing PFAS and has proposed weakening drinking water standards for the chemicals.
So they are deliberately trying to cover up the pollution crisis in the US.
https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/pfas_contamination/map/
We test for, regulate, and monitor about 100 chemicals in our water. There are many, many thousands of chemicals that could be present in our water and harming our health.
Related:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/18/california-pfas-forever-chemicals
This will end up releasing private info in some form, right?
I was going to specifically argue this point to them, thank you.
Personally, I believe that everybody is neurodivergent and feel that the concept of anybody being neurotypical as having the potential of extreme harm. Difference is normal, but some people need extra help and support. That’s where diagnosis comes in, with very specific criteria and identification of support needs and impairment levels.
I believe that one can resonate with autistic traits validly and feel that is extremely desirable to accept and support, but I don’t believe that everybody is autistic, is on the autism spectrum, or identifies with autistic traits.
I believe that one can easily say they are “neurodivergent with autistic traits” or say that they have an “autistic neurotype” and that be seen as completely valid (with or without diagnosis). I believe the level of impairment is what speaks to the functional differences specifically found in autism, in addition to meeting the specific diagnostic criteria (which I feel is extremely accurate - as evidenced by many studies, meta-analyses, and so forth).
I’m pretty sure that 1-2% of people worldwide are recognized to have autism or are seen as being on the autism spectrum. This may not account for misdiagnosis, inaccessibility of diagnosis, or barriers to diagnosis, but I don’t believe it’s 100% of people. “Level 0” does not exist in any diagnostic system; and clinically, if someone does not meet diagnostic criteria and are not functionally impaired in specific ways, that means they do not have autism.
Keyword being “clinically”. I believe in self-diagnosis or identifying with an autistic neurotype or autistic traits for a number of reasons. My intimate knowledge of the barriers to proper support and diagnosis are at the forefront of why I feel this way, but ultimately, it boils down to me not wishing to invalidate or reject anybody’s experience or gatekeep people resonating with the autistic neurotype or autistic traits. Everybody deserves help and support and to have validation, acceptance, and understanding directed to them.
I did not insult you. Your tone does not read as friendly or anything close to it. I’m recognizing that I may be too sensitive here, so I’m refraining from reporting you.
I responded because you were being arguably hostile to the other commenter in tone throughout your response, and you’re being uncharitable and hostile to me here too, from my perspective. Maybe I’m too sensitive, but it doesn’t seem like civil behavior.
With respect to you, I can’t engage further in this conversation.
Thanks for engaging and thanks for answering my question! Have a nice rest of your day!
I value your response and feedback, but I’d like to raise a point in response -
Even if there are common themes, I argue that autism generally presents differently in every individual and is likely an umbrella term describing a multitude of differences, as recent research is showing.
From my understanding, there’s a lot of facets to determining where somebody is on the spectrum - support needs required, social ability, verbal ability, overall functioning, (and even if I disagree that it’s particularly enlightening) IQ tests and scoring, and so forth.
I’d speculate that in you and your family’s case, there is likely a strong indicator that the mechanisms causing the differences is inherited and/or possibly to some degree environmental. The mechanisms causing the differences are likely complex, but shared in some respects between you and your family members who are also autistic and are quite similar in presentation.
I’m sure there are many on the spectrum that consider themselves to be challenged intellectually, at least in some respects. I’m one of those people. I don’t see myself as “smart” and I do my best to not think of myself as “dumb”. The challenges are definitely present though and I’m slow in certain areas. I’m not being overly harsh on myself, but it takes me an inordinate amount of time to digest information and complete tasks in certain domains. I believe I have a spiky skills profile.
We get distracted easily when bored, but we can hyperfocus on one thing for 16 hours while forgetting to eat, sleep, and piss.
Have you considered that you and your family may be AuDHD? Research is showing that there is a lot of overlap between autism and ADHD. Given what I’ve read online, I’ve been considering being evaluated for ADHD as well. No need to answer, but I’m curious because of my own personal situation and resonance with you and your family’s specific experience.
I feel that you are being unfairly hostile to the person you responded to, while ignoring the content of what the initial commenter said and why the person you responded to pushed back on that.
I’m not disagreeing with you that there aren’t differences, but do you have autism or are you a mental health professional versed in or specialized in autism? If neither, I would like to respectfully ask that you refrain from commenting about the differences and distinctions of autism.
Our science and understanding of autism is still evolving steadily, and e.g. in regards to what you specifically stated about IQ scores, I don’t feel that they fully capture and measure intelligence in autistic individuals (wherever they are on the spectrum) for a variety of reasons.
Thanks for engaging, I largely agree with you and really appreciate your responses. I’m glad we finally had the opportunity to talk.
Critical thinking is necessary, but that’s not really something we socialists have any power over in the broad populace.
I believe that we all have the power to educate others to think for themselves and to think critically. It may not be as substantive and impactful as we’d like from a single interaction, but it’s nothing to write off. I feel that there is a lot of untapped potential for all of us to realize, especially with the use of modern technology.
The internet is an truly an amazing thing for humanity. I just have to point out the work r/LateStageCapitalism has done to educate and inform others over the years. Many people have likely been radicalized due to their work (i.e. encouraged to think for themselves and see beyond mainstream narratives) and I’m pretty sure it’s a ML space, as well.
It’s easy to see that traditional institutions are losing trust broadly and that mainstream media is falling off. The narrative seems very difficult for those currently in power to both spread and control the perception of.
I try to do my best to explain that I want a better world, but that also requires being honest and forthright with me being a communist, and explaining exactly what that means and why.
I value your example and honesty. I have witnessed many interactions between you and other people on the fediverse and I applaud your efforts and diplomacy.
As for Marxism-Leninism, I’d argue its controversy mostly stems from it being the branch with the most actual existence in the real world.
Most people here on the fediverse loosely agree on what needs to change, but most of the disagreement I feel comes from the methodology of bringing about that change. I’d say there is a time and place to discuss methodology or introduce people into specific ideology, but getting people to realize a better world is possible is something we can all work broadly work towards and I feel there is a lot of value in that sort of action.
I argue that the first steps to creating broad coherence with others involves encouraging independent thought/critical thinking, emphasizing our shared humanity and desire for a better world for everyone, and subtly working to reduce polarization (such as conditioned fear/hate/dehumanization of others) in any way possible.
I understand this is a ML space and I respect your ideology, but I have to point out that it isn’t the only socialist ideology - and it’s a fairly polarizing one at that. What could be done to help bridge the gap among socialists, even just here on the fediverse?
These propagandized individuals are emotionally manipulated to hate communists and see them as dangerous by capitalist institutions, but they are in no way, shape, or form exposed to the ideas that communists express in an impartial manner.
I’d argue that it is rare that understanding is properly conveyed through labels. People attach their own understanding to labels - and these propagandized individuals are conditioned to believe they understand communists, but in reality they are just trained to dehumanize and hate communists. They don’t understand.
So, how does this dynamic shift?
And forgiveness for an eye destroys society as we know it.
There are alternative systems to facilitate justice just waiting to be explored that don’t involve blame or forgiveness on a societal level.
Blame and forgiveness are personal matters, but societally we can hold people who e.g. commit violent acts to account and allow them the chance to rehabilitate and participate in society when they are deemed capable of doing so.
Punitive measures are not an effective deterrent to disincentivize crime.
The chances of really anybody being able to successfully defend themselves against an organized armed threat targeting them individually is nil. More guns in circulation and money to gun manufacturers just perpetuates this reality.
What do the radicalized people who tune into the far-right media pipeline think when they see this headline? They likely see the “radical left” arming - the very people they have been propagandized to see as violent terrorists. It doesn’t calm anything down, it only further inflames the situation - while the people who make and sell guns rejoice.
If I could get a candle that smelled like the purple kush hemp strain I got back in the day, that’d be great. It had such an amazing fruity pebbles smell.
one of thousands of people experimented on as part of the CIA’s top-secret research into mind control
The image shows a character wearing a Nazi uniform, a black SS officer’s hat, with a perplexed and concerned facial expression. This is from a scene in the comedy TV series “Look Around You”, where the character humorously questions, “Are we the baddies?” — a reflection on his realization of the moral implications of his actions.
This seems like anti-competitive/monopoly behavior. Third-party sellers were already at a disadvantage selling on Amazon to the best of my knowledge.