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AernaLingus [any]

@ AernaLingus @hexbear.net

Posts
28
Comments
1154
Joined
4 yr. ago

  • Well, I'll at least blame them for forcibly infecting kids with COVID over and over again without lifting a finger to reduce airborne transmission

    There are definitely some reasonable arguments in the article, including a few grim data points:

    In 2005, a study showed that preschoolers were frequently being expelled for misbehavior, and at rates more than three times that of school-age children.

    Before the 1980s, American children usually had recess breaks throughout the day. By 2016, only eight states required daily recess in elementary schools. And when researchers studied what had become of lunchtime, they learned that children often had just 20 minutes to not only eat but stop to use the bathroom after class, walk to the cafeteria and wait in line for food.

    However, the fact that it barely mentions alternative hypotheses outside of two handwavy paragraphs (one of which is paraphrasing RFK's plan) is absurd. I mean, look at this:

    Some parents may see children who simply need to toughen up. The world that awaits is not easy either. What they may not realize is how much children have begun to see school as an endless chore to be endured — the means to some promised end on the other side of childhood. This makes it only harder for them to learn the very skills they need most as adults.

    Anxiety and depression seem inevitable when school is a field in a game for economic survival, played by children hoping to secure enough stability to last the rest of their lives. In a 2020 paper, Yale researchers found that nearly 80 percent of high schoolers said they were stressed; almost 70 percent reported being bored.

    Sounds to me like the problem is the economic system which molds the schools to become worse and puts ever more pressure on the students, but you won't find any harsh words about capitalism in this article. The dynamic would be pretty different in a world where both jobs and basic necessities of life were guaranteed. And that's to say nothing of the stress of imagining a future when the world is careening into fascism and climate disaster as people struggle to put food on the table. Even if the schools were better, how can you expect most children to be optimistic when staring down the barrel of that gun?

    Also, at the very beginning of the article it drops this statistic without any qualifications or further explanation:

    The numbers on autism are so shocking that they are worth repeating. In the early 1980s, one in 2,500 children had an autism diagnosis. That figure is now one in 31.

    Wow, it's almost like we've learned more about autism and also have more screening in place so that more people can get diagnosed! It'd be laughable that a statistical argument which wouldn't pass muster in a high school class could make it past editing if this weren't in the paper of record and people didn't take it seriously.

    edit: almost forgot the casual anti-union snipe at the end, which appears in an incomplete sentence because editing is dead:

    The chief defender of that project, the Democratic Party, is ill-suited to addressing this crisis. Not only must it navigate teachers unions who may be skeptical of still more grandiose ideas on how to fix schools. The party has also become the political home of the meritocratic elite, the people perhaps least likely to see flaws in the system that crowned them as winners.

  • I just saw the wildest aside on Twitter from a Zionist:

    Yeah if China had been terrorized and a October 7th event happened (wouldn’t bc China isn’t free so no festivals) China would tell you to shut the fuck up and you would.

    (wouldn’t bc China isn’t free so no festivals)

    China isn’t free so no festivals

  • Mega mega THREAD THREAD

  • Damn...seven characters in the word イブプロフェン and they still fucked it up

  • Aqua jumpscare

  • In reality you're lucky if it can actually find every file with dog in the name, I have an extra program for that lol

    Everything Search my beloved

  • The whole thing is a lovefest, I'm cackling. Loved this bit 2125 where Trump defends Mamdani from a pretty flimsy gotcha question:

    REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. I have a question for you, but a very quick one for the mayor: why did you fly here? Aren't trains greener?MAMDANI: [laughing] I will use every form of transit and I want to make sure that they're all affordable in New York City and that's why making buses fast and free is a centerpiece of our campaign.TRUMP: [to reporter] Did you—REPORTER: There is a bus that goes—TRUMP: Well, but—I know but if he flew, that's a lot quicker, too. You know, I mean, he's—he's working very hard. For him to be—that's a long—that's a very that's a very long drive. [looking at Mamdani] I'll stick up for you [both smile, Mamdani nods]. You know, the plane takes you 30 minutes and driving takes you a long— [cut off by reporter's next question]

    Among many other things, I think Trump feels some genuine camaraderie for someone who has been treated very unfairly by the media.


    edit: another good bit 2519

    TRUMP: I tell you, the press has eaten this thing up. You know, I've had a lot of meetings with the heads of major countries. Nobody cared. This meeting that you people have gone cra—you know, outside you have hundreds of people waiting [briefly looks at Mamdani]. This is just a small little group. For some reason, the press has found this to be a very interesting meeting. The biggest people in the world, they come over from countries—nobody cares. But—[gestures at Mamdani] they did care about this meeting. And it was a great meeting.

    Another great way to ingratiate yourself with Trump—get him a bunch of press! Dude was eating it up.

  • Ah yes, US President Eden Trump and French President Paul Smith

  • I really need to look into COVID safer events in my area. I wasn't exactly a social butterfly before the pandemic, and other than going to the occasional movie by myself I basically relied on friends and family to invite me to things. But now that those things are no longer viable, other than a few concerts I went to in that sweet spot where vaccines were rolling out and venues were still taking precautions, I really haven't gone to any events. Would be nice to feel safe and feel good about my mask with like-minded people instead of getting dirty looks.

  • I saw people making this claim on Twitter, but the study itself doesn't make that claim—I think people are just looking at one table and going off half-cocked.

    First off, it's not mentioned in the "Public Significance Statement" (which seems to be what they want laypeople to take away from the article):

    Short-form video platforms such as TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are now a major part of daily life for many people. Our synthesis of 71 studies revealed that greater engagement with these platforms is associated with poorer cognitive and mental health in both youths and adults. For some health domains (such as body image and self-esteem), these associations may depend on the type of content encountered, highlighting the need for further research to inform public health strategies and platform design.

    Here's the relevant portion of the discussion that talks about which platforms are used, which is in a subsection entitled "Moderators of SFV Engagement and Health" (emphasis mine):

    SFV type emerged as a significant moderator of the association between SFV use and mental health, with general SFV use demonstrating stronger negative associations than TikTok-specific use. A potential explanation for this finding is that general SFV use often reflects engagement across multiple platforms, which has been associated with elevated mental health risks. For example, Primack et al. (2017) found that individuals using 7–11 social media platforms had over three times the risk of depression and anxiety compared to those using only 0–2. Accordingly, general SFV use likely reflects more diverse and frequent exposure to short-form content, including across platforms that integrate SFV features (e.g., Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts). This broader pattern of general SFV use highlights the need to conceptualize SFV engagement beyond TikTok alone, particularly as users commonly migrate between platforms. The recent (temporary) banning of TikTok in the United States, for instance, prompted a surge of “TikTok refugees” shifting to alternatives like RedNote and Lemon8 (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2025). Yet “general SFV use” may also refer to a single platform, raising concerns about measurement precision. It is therefore important for research to clearly specify which platforms participants use and whether engagement spans multiple apps. As SFV features become increasingly integrated across the social media landscape, research and public health efforts should consider cumulative SFV exposure rather than focusing on individual platforms in isolation.

    and just to be clear, here's what they say about the makeup of the studies:

    Most studies focused on general SFV use (no specific app mentioned; 52%), with TikTok being the only specific SFV platform explored in the studies included in this review (48%)

    So basically, it's saying that the "general use" measures being worse could be a result of using multiple platforms simultaneously OR that use of specific non-Tik-Tok platforms could genuinely be worse, but it doesn't sound like the general SFV studies they looked at (since this is a meta-analysis) were specific enough about app usage to draw any conclusions.

  • Huh, I'd heard of this happening in Taiwan (among other places) but I didn't realize it happened in the PRC as well. Rather than linking to that rag, here's the source they pulled all their info from:

    https://web.archive.org/web/20180221203723/http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1089905.shtml

    China vows to crack down on rural custom of hiring strippers for funerals

    By Hu Yuwei Source:Globaltimes.cn Published: 2018/2/20 9:18:09

    Scantily clad women in sexy lingerie and revealing clothes showing off their bodies in front an electronic screen displaying a black-and-white headshot of the deceased with text reading "We offer profound condolences for the death of this man" are now a modern part of funerals in some rural areas of China.

    The crowd is pushed to climax, roaring with laughter, whistling, applauding and cursing. As the performers saunter into the audience to giggle their breasts and rub men's crotches, a reminder of "no photographs allowed" can occasionally be heard.

    China's Ministry of Culture announced in January it will launch a new campaign targeting Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu and Hebei provinces for their obscene and vulgar performances at weddings, funerals and temple fairs, in order to welcome Spring Festival and the upcoming two sessions in March. A special "hotline" for the public to report any "funeral misdeeds" in exchange for a monetary reward was provided as well.

    It has been a long tradition for Chinese rural residents to hire local opera performers for funerals to allure mourners and show respect to the deceased. By hiring performers, people can ensure a higher turnout at the deceased's funeral as a way of honoring the dead and showing "filial piety."

    In recent decades, Chinese rural households are more inclined to show off their disposable incomes by paying out several times their annual income for actors, singers, comedians, and - most recently, strippers - to comfort the bereaved and entertain the mourners.

    A journalist from the China Society Journal investigated erotic funerals in eastern Anhui Province in 2006, finding that some clever merchants had started to recruit young, sexy girls as funeral entertainment. Opera singers soon lost their market as more and more locals became fascinated with striptease and shibamo (eighteen touches), a traditional Chinese folk song that is flirtatious, bawdy and erotic in nature.

    CCTV news program Jiaodian Fangtan (Focus) in that year also exposed the existence of obscene performing groups in Donghai county, Jiangsu Province, which in turn led to the leaders of five striptease troupes involved in a farmer's funeral being detained.

    In 2015, villages of Hebei and Jiangsu provinces made headlines on Chinese social media with viral photos showing strippers at funerals inviting "grieving" men to come on stage and undress them. Seniors and children are seen standing nearby watching attentively.

    Fully corroded

    In 2015, the Ministry of Culture had announced their plan to eliminate such "bizarre and increasingly popular" performances for "corrupting the social atmosphere."

    Authorities inscribe such performances as "uncivilized" and announce crackdowns from time to time to remind residents that public eroticism is illegal in China; anyone who hires a stripper to entice people for a turnout will be "severely punished."

    On social media, many critics say the current countryside is fully corroded and was invaded by low culture and vulgar elements.

    But the villagers themselves do not seem guilt-ridden about the erotic events. According to one netizen, it all comes down to one thing: "as long as everyone's happy, its all good!"

    The Xinhua News Agency commented: "Having erotic performances of this nature at funerals highlights the trappings of modern life in China, whereby vanity and snobbery prevail over traditions."

    Historical origins

    As early as the Qing Dynasty, China has had a tradition of entertaining mourners at funerals. Especially among certain ethnic minorities, such as the Tujia people, there is a tradition of "being happy at the funeral but sad at the wedding."

    But the striptease was only added to the funeral entertainment menu in the 1990s. Experts partly attribute such a phenomenon to fertility worship. "In some local cultures, dancing with erotic elements can be used to convey the deceased's wishes of being blessed with many children," Huang Jianxing, professor of Fujian Normal University Sociology and History Department, told the Global Times.

    "According to the interpretation of cultural anthropology, the fete is originated from the worship of reproduction. Therefore the erotic performance at the funeral is just a cultural atavism," media professor Kuang Haiyan interprets.

    "From the perspective of folklore, festivals and rituals such as the Chinese New Year are the critical time for people to lay down their life and embrace the death. That's the moment for them to release their passion at the funeral," Kuang said.

    Compared with urban areas where residents can fulfill both their physiological and spiritual needs, rural residents normally have few places to go to express their sexuality due to the relative seclusion and backwardness of the countryside.

    The question of whether China's grass-roots culture can satisfy its targets - peasants with limited level of education - has become a concern for experts.

    "Entertainment facilities provided by the public sector are not fairly adaptive for rural residents. Such deficiency leave farmers' spiritual life hollow and give rise to porn and striptease," professor Wei at Central University of Finance and Economics Culture and Media department, told the Global Times.

    Cultural products needed

    It was reported that the Chinese government invested 20 billion yuan for the construction of 600,000 "rural bookstores" across the country, but its efficacy has yet to be determined. The deputy director of the national library, Chen Li, found during his fieldwork some of the books assigned to these rural bookstores were completely disconnected from the real needs of villagers. He listed several titles that appear to be irrelevant to farmers, including Philosophy of Business Banquets and Tertiary Training about Windows XP BIOS.

    Professor Wei told the Global Times that many rural bookstores serve more like "a recycling bin of unqualified books left without any interest in the market," used by the publishing industry for de-stocking unsold books.

    "Among the rural bookstores I visited, they are either completely closed or have very few books inside that are suitable and readable for villagers. I would say I was disappointed about their utilization," he added.

    While casually accepted by villagers, striptease is assailed by experts as a low culture and toxin for public morality. State media have also attacked the new custom, and a vocal minority are calling on the government to enrich the rural population with more spiritual products.

    "I don't take the performances as 'trash of traditional rural culture.' It has an inheritance of local civilization. Rather than simply decrying them, it is more important for the authorities to provide the rural people with finer cultural products," professor Huang to the Global Times.

  • I also used to have the em dash on my bookmarks bar for the longest time! Couple of easier options for a (Windows) PC, if you're interested: if you have a numpad, you can use the Alt code (hold Alt and type 0151 on numpad with Num Lock enabled), or you can install a compose key utility like WinCompose. Rather then holding, you hit the compose key, then a sequence of keys (I think the em dash is simply --- but I'm not at my computer atm and that Alt code is burned into my brain so I end up using it without thinking). You can also define whatever custom sequences you want in order to produce arbitrary text (e.g. I can type [Right Alt, traa] and get "traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns").

  • fucking grim

  • Mega mega THREAD THREAD

  • These past few months have been a little rough for me...lots of small stressors all stacked up on each other and I ended up going off course and backsliding a lot, and I've just generally been feeling depressed and enervated as a result. But, these past few days, I've been feeling like I'm making meaningful, durable progress to get back on track, and my mood has been notably improved! Thank you, Hexbear, for giving me a cozy place to shelter while I waited for the storm to pass

  • Okay, this one actually makes sense, and I feel kind of silly for not seeing it. I must go into the mountains and hone my racism ESP to improve my comprehension of Trump tweets

  • I mean, I know he is, but...you don't use quotation marks for that! Put in in capital letters or something, dear god! I mean, the fact that you're including it is already emphasis enough, since it's not usually included when people talk about him. We get what you're doing!!

    I don't know why I'm so fixated on this but it really irks me. I mean, Trump's appeared in WWE events and his main shtick is insult comedy! Surely he should know that the quotation marks are for nicknames, like Jesse "The Body" Ventura or Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. I guess it's just the boomer thing where they use quotes for emphasis. But like...AAAAAA