I’ve never met a well-adjusted homeschooled kid.

— former homeschooled kid

I do stuff that involves quite a lot of printing, scanning, and copying.

My goofy lil Canon Pixma MG3620 printer has held strong throughout the years.

I will scream if it ever dies, as I have zero desire to peruse the hellscape of current-day printers.

itemlabel!

I have (almost) all their plushes & a bunch of their hoodies, too.

Search “Big Shirt” and you’ll find it.

I mean, yeah, that’s how I deal with it.

But even some non-church-going folks with drop off their kids at “youth group” essentially for free childcare and debatable “moral development.”

Exploiting people: making them feel that they have no choice under the threat of poverty if they don’t comply, often resulting in accepting less than favorable pay/them paying more to get something they need.

Monetizing people: “We already play video games for fun, so why don’t we turn it into a thing where we get paid to play video games by streaming it and possibly doing ads or accepting audience donations?”

Basically, exploitation is taking advantage of people’s possible desperation. Monetization is just taking something people might want and changing/making money off of it.

Monetization can lead to exploitation, but they are not intrinsically the same at its base.

P×dophiles are flocking to churches because they’re unregulated by the government. They’re becoming a safe haven for these sick fucks because they often attempt to handle conflict and scandals within their own walls. Also, due to a high need for childcare, often no background check is needed!

A “scandal” is bad for business attendance numbers, so they like to keep it quiet, if they can.

My family has gone to so many churches throughout the years, and at least 5 or 6 have had the sexual abuse of a child come to light within church leadership.

I am dead serious about this: KEEP YOUR KIDS OUT OF CHURCHES!!!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that most clergy are not bound by laws that would make them mandated reporters for child abuse.

I’m sorry, but I hate this argument… because it’s crock.

Attackers generally do not telegraph their intentions. They often come on suddenly and unexpectedly. I’ve been assaulted before and could not have defended myself even if I wanted to. I was caught too off-guard. Having a gun would not have helped me in any of those situations.

It’s a “I am very badass!”-solution often from folks that have never been in that vulnerable kind of position before, because if they have, they would know that it cannot be reliably executed.

Thank you. Maybe one day.

Because when I do what I want, I get called a “retard” or asked “what the fuck are you doing?” by the people around me. I make a point to try to do things quietly (stopping to observe a cool bug, making chalk drawings on the sidewalk, saying “wheee!” on the swings, etc.), but it really doesn’t matter.

I’ve caught glimpses of people filming me before, so I now only do what I want in privacy.

Also doesn’t help that I’ve been accused of “doing it for attention.” Nah, my dude, pretty sure I’m just fckin’ autistic.

I only want people to leave me alone now. I don’t like having to justify my actions when I’m just trying to enjoy myself.

I genuinely can’t tell if this is trolling or genuine ignorance.

Either way, I’m disappointed.

Have you ever been pregnant before? I can assure you, it’s absolutely not a lighter weight alternative.

I sew. Specifically, I love sewing stuffed animals.

As a kid, I always wanted those giant stuffed animals, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Now I can make pretty much whatever I want!

I love the colors, the feel of the fabrics… but my favorite part is seeing my 2D drawings get turning into a tangible 3D object! Plus, it makes kids go “WHOOOOAAA” or smile or laugh when they see what I make. That really can’t be beat!

They want to know if your views will mesh well with the community they are trying to curate before they let you in.

I browsed Beehaw for a bit before deciding that it did, and mentioned it in my application.

I think they’re a bit more choosy now, as I used to see folks spouting things like “can you not use the word ‘minorities’? It shows a bias. You need to address everyone, not give preferential treatment,” or some other dumb horseshit.

Honestly, I think they just don’t want to have to deal with people saying stupid shit and they’re tired of trying to argue with people who A). genuinely hold stupid, shitty beliefs, or B). are trolling/pretending to be stupid in order to get a reaction.

More power to them, if that’s the case.

That’s fair. Still, though, something is needed.

I wrote 3 - 4 sentences and got in.

They want people to join who will make an effort to contribute to their community.

So their “”“essay”“” requirement is working if it keeps out people who think that writing a couple lines is “mental”.

Oh, absolutely. The internet adds the layer of anonymity, too, so that certainly doesn’t help.

I agree. 15 years is hardly “life” in prison, though. I think it’s more than fair.

That’s fair, and I get it. To me, that’s absolutely radical, especially if it was my child who was harmed.

I personally have just learned from experience that people who get off easy are likely to continue on the path of destructive behavior.

I’m not necessarily calling for her death or anything… but the punishment needs to fit the crime. Two lives are permanently gone from this world because of the careless and stupid choices she made.

I’m not sure you know what the word “reactionary” means if you think that my comments and opinions were “reactionary”.

The family can grieve, and my opinion has no bearing on the outcome of whatever happens. My point was, in the end, no matter what the reason, there needs to be consequences for someone who killed people, regardless of what the grieving parties think. I don’t think that’s particularly radical.

It’s a sad and awful situation al around. I can see why those poor families just want to move on.

That’s fine, but she still made a conscious decision to do it. If she was one year older, would that make any kind of difference?

And let me be clear: mental illness can make some behaviors more understandable, but not murder– if the blame is put solely on mental illness, all that does is put more stigma on it. Not every shitty decision people make is because of “mental illness”.