Tedesche

We do differ then. I don’t throw the term “evil” around that loosely. Most of the suffering in the world is caused by well-intentioned people or people who feel justified in causing the harm they do. The very reason people try to justify the harm they cause is because they see themselves as a good person. True evil is thankfully hard to come by, and is typically the stuff of psychopaths and malignant narcissists. You do encounter it outside of that, like in extreme racists, but that’s also thankfully fairly rare.

But I’ll give you an example: I work in a community mental health clinic, and some of my patients have some pretty hardcore criminal histories. Just about all of them also have some pretty hardcore trauma and abuse histories. They’re, at least in some senses, “the product of their environment.” This is such a truism that there’s even a saying in social work: hurt people hurt people. Are they evil?

Good people see what is right, know what is right, and do what is right regardless of what others try to instill or coerce into them.

No, I would argue you’re describing intelligent people. Good people are defined by their intentions. My relatives are good people because they want what they believe is best for others. The fact that their beliefs are wrong is a testament to their stupidity. Plenty of harmful things have been done by good people.

Edit: Take their votes for Trump. They voted for him because they genuinely believe he has their welfare at heart. They’re wrong, because they’re stupid, but that’s not the same as the KKK Trump voters who voted for him because they’re evil.

It’s worth pointing out that empathy is different from sympathy and compassion.

Empathy is basically just understanding someone else. It doesn’t mean agreement or acceptance. Empathy is usually necessary in order to manipulate someone effectively.

That being said there is a component to empathy—sometimes called affective or emotional empathy—that reflects the phenomenon of emotional contagion, or how empathizing with someone else’s feelings can sometimes cause you to feel the same emotion on a lesser level.

Sympathy is understanding another person through shared or similar experiences.

Compassion is caring about someone.

What these Christians are talking about is the way there’s a trail from simple empathy to compassion that can cause some people to get over the bigotry and intolerance they have worked so hard to instill in them.

I have some of these Christians in my family. They are good people who have been taught rotten beliefs, and to avoid any critical thinking about said beliefs. I avoid associating with them as much as possible. Religion is a mind virus and these folks have one of the worst strains.

Yeah, some porn influencers (e.g. Belle Delphine) sold their “bath water” for, like, $500 a pop. They sold out in minutes. Desperate people are very easy to manipulate.

I mean, oldest profession and all that. Shouldn’t be surprising. When you can just fill mason jars with tap water and let the imaginations of some horny others do the rest, what’s not to like?

Imagine doing shit like this and thinking history will remember you fondly.

“Are we the baddies?”

Co-opting CPS a weapon in the “war on drugs” was a very intentional choice with extremely predictable outcomes.

That’s a nice sentiment until you look at the actual data. Drug-addicted parents are horrible for their children. Even if you want to make the argument that it was some intentional class warfare shit—and I’m not actually disputing that point here—it’s still a fact that SA parents tend to be shit parents. Every case should be evaluated on its own merits, that’s the point. And that doesn’t happen, and it sucks. But that doesn’t mean that drug testing pregnant mothers is a bad policy inherently. In fact, it’s a good policy, with sub-par implementation following it.

Hospitals have no business testing for drugs without cause, which they do in the US per the article: “Hospitals across the country routinely drug test people coming in to give birth.” Screening people routinely for drugs is some police state shit.

Yes, they do. You can’t trust the self-reporting of patients when it comes to drugs, especially when it comes to the life of a yet-to-be-born child, who may be affected by said drugs. It’s a totally rational thing to do for the sake of a newborn. It’s not some “police state shit,” it’s completely rational medical care.

However, I just cannot imagine a scenario, where someone would be consenting to a drug test without coercion, can you?

LOL, I absolutely can. If you believe you haven’t ingested any drugs, what’s the harm in having yourself tested? If anything, the outcome you expect to happen simply adds credence to you. Where do you live that people who aren’t on drugs would categorically refuse to be tested? Because their “privacy” rights are being tested? Who cares about being tested for a crime when you know you’re in the clear? The test literally becomes evidence in your favor.

Add to that, that these tests are not good enough for random testing.

I’ll concede I don’t know enough about these tests to comment on their validity. But that’s a separate argument to be made in court, regardless of the result.

In the U.S. all healthcare professionals are “mandated reporters.” That means, if they find out about any form of child abuse while they’re on the job, they’re legally required to report it. Failing to do so can result in the loss of their professional license. Doing so is always considered an exception to confidentiality rights.

I suspect the hospital in question has a strict policy about reporting any pregnant mother who tests positive for drugs to CPS as a means of avoiding lawsuits. The problem is really with CPS systems in the U.S. They’re supposed to investigate reported instances of abuse and if it turns out there’s no cause for concern, close the case in short order; but CPS workers aren’t all of equal quality, and in my experience (I work in mental health), there’s a real problem with people who were abused as children becoming CPS workers and having a bias towards being overly suspicious of all parents. So, cases sometimes get dragged out, which ironically results in psychological harm to the children the CPS workers are supposed to be protecting.

Did you even read the article? She wasn’t tested without her consent. She just didn’t think the test would come back positive for opiates. The U.S. is no different from other countries: we don’t drug test people without their consent.

Jesus Christ, the caliber of commenter on this platform is seriously questionable.

It would be if the above post was about something related to bad actions by the U.S., but it’s not. People talking shit about America here are just using this post as a way to vent their anger about other issues, which is childish.

And before anyone accuses me of anything, I’m no Trump supporter and I understand why people are angry at America right now. Still, that’s no reason to disparage the entire country as a “shithole.”

Oh, I remember you. You like baiting people into arguments and shit-talking America. LOL. Get some therapy, man. Rage-baiting online is a pathetic way to deal with your feelings.

Because if a pregnant woman is on something chemically addictive, the baby is too, and that’s important to know when delivering a baby.

And so it begins….

No, please don’t give him that much credit. If you saw him run a casino, you’d swear he was doing it on purpose, but he isn’t. He really just is that dumb.

I’m not saying he’s not also in Putin’s pocket, but don’t try to convince me that he has the brains necessary to make sabotage look like incompetence. He’s nowhere near that clever.

Social conservatives are a hateful people. Bitter and hateful. They’re the bad guys of the world.

The irony is that the MAGA slogan “America First” actually puts America behind other nations consistently. The irony behind the MAGA belief that Trump puts American workers first is that all his policies prioritize the interests of the very people they hate and want him to dismantle: the uber-rich “Elite.” MAGA voters are some of the dumbest, most gullible Americans in the country, and I personally think they simply vote for the politicians they do because said politicians fly the same bigotry flags they support: anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-racial-equality, etc. In other words, MAGA is basically just America’s bigots rallying under an “America First” banner, which is code for”straight, white Americans first.” So sad I know people who support this crap and don’t realize they’re falling in with the worst America has to offer.

Hopefully, Texas police realize they’re being given an unlawful order and arrest the dickweed who issued it.

LOL. Texas police don’t have brains.

No, that’s a fact.

Xenogears. Just off the top of my head.