Things I Might Have Tweeted (April, part 1)

 Accept you child for who they are, not for who they say they are.

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Christianity offers forgiveness to promote social change. CRT imposes guilt to coerce social change. In that, CRT is decidedly anti-Christian.

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You can be anti-racist and still be racist.

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Dear Sir:

You have been identified as an individual who poses a potential risk to public health-safety. In order to fulfill our mission of maintaining safe and healthy spaces, you are no longer permitted access to WELL Certified sites.

Thank you for your cooperation.

International WELL Building Institute

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Sneaking up on a kid playing Oculus is going to take a long time to get old. 

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I don't understand what I'm reading. It must be hate speech.

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@mmeJen asks, "When does politeness become deception?"

@MTMehan replies, "When you lie."

My thoughts: I think Matt is right, as long as we are clear what we mean by "lie." It's not as simple as falsehood, because we tolerate a lot of falsehoods in everyday interactions, from irony to hyperbole to metaphor to fiction.

One might say politeness is deception when it is manipulative. But manners are "social grease," perfunctory words and deeds to smooth interactions. We often say we will "butter him up" to effect a desired response. This links politeness more to flattery than deception. 

To be sure, flattering falsehoods are generally intended to invoke a modest effect. When they are used to elicit a more consequential response, it seems more likely that the lies are genuine deceit. That's how we might spot it in others. What about ourselves? 

I suggest politeness becomes deception where using falsehoods becomes being false. That is, when one knows the other is not "in on it" yet persists. It is the difference between showing someone you like them verses making them think you like them when you do not.

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50 years ago, racism was known to be racial prejudice.

Then someone decided power + prejudice = racism.

But that was deceit.

Because next it was declared that whiteness = power.

Then it was announced that whiteness = prejudice.

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Remember the first few months of Trump's presidency, when everyone was freaked out over racist graffiti and vandalized cemeteries instead of mass shootings? Ah, to go back such simpler times!

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The GOP is fighting the rhetorical battle all wrong. States like Colorado are suppressing the vote through confusion by creating too many options. Apparent fraud is really just the result of people not knowing they can only vote once despite being so many ways to vote.

States like Georgia, on the other hand, are trying to keep things as simple as possible, so that voters are sure to understand how to vote, when to vote, and most importantly, that their vote matters.

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The Bible is a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book.

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My new nickname for Hunter Biden is "Squirtle" and you can't stop me.

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Hunter Biden's laptop actually makes Joe look good, especially the texts about paying for his granddaughter's dentist visits. 

What doesn't look good is that, during the campaign, Joe accused Russia of fabricating things he knew to be true.

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“If Black people started buying guns, Republicans would pass gun control overnight!”

 

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Hunter Biden's laptop actually makes Joe look good, especially the texts about paying for his granddaughter's dentist visits.

What doesn't look good is that, during the campaign, Joe accused Russia of fabricating things he knew to be true.

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Monuments are tombs without bodies  

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Why are these migrants being so hard on poor Joe?

 

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What was your most life changing drastic shift in the way you think about something?

Sounds silly, but in 6th grade, to be cool, you HAD to have Nikes. My parents would only spring for Payless shoes. So I BEGGED for Nikes for Xmas. First day back from break, I’m so proud of my new shoes, only to learn: they’re the WRONG Nikes. Haven’t cared about fashion since.

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It’s only a culture war if someone fights back.

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Unilateral de-escalation is better known as surrender.

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Funny, true story: Some 20 years ago, by gf dragged me into some hippie shop downtown. I spotted some hemp stationary, which interested me. (I am a nerd for paper goods.) I might have actually bought some, but for what followed.

The clerk, a very in-your-face walking tattoo, accosted me with the wonders of hemp. I remained silent throughout.

"Do you know how long it takes to grow trees for paper?" it suddenly challenged.

"About seven years," I confidently replied.

And that was that.

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As I see it, the political division in this country stems from blue areas being actually plagued by bigotry, but the people in blue areas want national solutions to local problems, because local solutions would admit that the blue approach is the problem.

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"Eternal September" has some nice imagery that goes well beyond Usenet. September means Autumn, the season of harvest, but also the decline into deathly Winter. It evokes a plague of locusts, but poetically, from the locusts' point of view.

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The human condition is the work of overcoming mimetic desire (covetousness). Democrats simply promise results without work, as they do in all other domains.

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Voter ID is infrastructure.