Gonna have to second this. We decided that, despite everything, none of it was a dealbreaker.

It’s definitely tough to accept that 72 million Americans made that choice, and even more than that didn’t even give enough of a shit to turn up to vote.

It’s disappointing and embarrassing.

Ah, rural Colorado. So beautiful. So concerning. Lol.

So, way back in the day, when Borat was released, basically my whole household loved it. Then, Bruno was announced! Another movie from the same guy, excellent!

Wrong.

I took my mom to go see it. In theaters. I don’t think I can really put into words the awkwardness of sitting through that film.

This reply is really late, but just wanted to thank you for the really good write up on this post.

Oh, no. You misunderstood. I absolutely acknowledge that. It’s a pretty spicy issue in my area. It would pretty rad to choose where my taxes go, though. I’d much rather fund schools and national parks. I think that’s dragging things a bit off-topic, though.

It’s not a justification for genocide, it’s a call for empathy. Give what I wrote another read with that in mind.

As for your questions… I think our soldiers are victims. I was there, so I think I’ve got at least a somewhat informed perspective on things. It’s not something you can prepare for. In my experience, forgiveness and understanding come with time, but it will never be the majority.

It absolutely could, and should. I’m not saying that the crimes should be forgiven, but it is not a purely black and white area. It is very grey. To ignore the fact that they were ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, just because it’s uncomfortable to think about, would be a disservice towards efforts to prevent things like this in the future. People are complex.

Posted this in another thread, gonna post it here, too.

“Looking another human being in the eye, making an independent decision to kill him, and watching as he dies due to your action combine to form one of the most basic, important, primal, and potentially traumatic occurrences of war.”

It’s an unpopular take, but I recommend everyone read the book “On Killing” by Dave Grossman. It’s obvious that what Israel is doing is very much a genocide, but I stand firm in my opinion that their boots-on-the-ground infantryman are also victims of the Israeli political machine.

I feel that. Getting the official steam working, plus dealing with blackouts is a nightmare. I usually just listen to the game on the radio and check the box score every period on my phone. It’s unbelievable how much the official stream costs compared to the low quality of the app. And still being subject to blackouts at that price is insane.

Not to mention that my team is basically a factory of sadness anyways, so once regular season is over there’s not much for me to keep up with.