But the alternative mentioned doesn’t exactly work. Even if your intention is to save your own children they will still be exposed, whether you k Like it or not.

There are a lot of different things people can do, locally or otherwise:

• Demand accountability from platforms by way of pressure on your representatives. And no I don’t mean age verification, I mean using some of their profits to better moderate content online.
• Support politicians who push for responsible social media.
• Get involved in your school’s PTA or equivalent, and raise the issue, form a group with parents and teachers to learn about the issue and work on ways to tackle it.
• Reach out to organisations that are fighting against this problem and ask how you can support/get more involved.
• If appropriate, empower your kids, especially boys, to speak up and stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. Teach your kids what behaviours are not ok and if they see those behaviours to act (whether that means speaking up or reaching out to adults to intervene).
• Stop giving money to irresponsible organisations who perpetuate the problem and instead start supporting companies that use ethical practices (though I acknowledge that’s usually not simple nor cheap).
• If you’re a man, support and/or get involved men’s groups that are working to address the problem, especially through outreach programmes to young and vulnerable boys and men. If there isn’t one, look to start one in your community.

Those are just some I could think of off the top of my head. Change doesn’t happen overnight, it takes action from multiple people. But throwing our arms up and putting the responsibility on the victims alone (which doesn’t even work) is not it.

I don’t think telling women and girls to stay off social media is going to fix the issue. She also talks about this kind of language and views being parroted in real life. You can tell your kids to stay off social media but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be immune from this if other people don’t do the same. The bigger problem is boys are being radicalised online, and no one is coming down on social media platforms that profit off of this happening.

I once heard the following which struck a chord for me and I always keep it in mind when it comes to work:

“20 years from now, the only people who will remember you stayed late at work are your kids”

Obviously this doesn’t apply if you have to work late to survive. If you have the choice though, don’t give these companies more time than they really deserve. You won’t be remembered or rewarded for it.

Gives a whole new meaning to looking for tits.

I agree though I’m gonna level with you - to me, a lot of people who climb Everest are like a lot of marathon runners, only with too much money to burn: they’re in it for the kudos and social media points.

I get people’s need for external validation, that’s just a human thing. Having said that, the big difference is in the environmental destruction, human exploitation and waste of resources involved in climbing Everest and rescuing people.

Let’s just wander mindlessly

Just like some climbers on Everest…

Another off topic Everest movie recommendation - The Summit of the Gods. It’s a phenomenal movie, go watch it!

Synopsis shamelessly stolen from ScreenRant: The Summit of the Gods follows a photojournalist’s relentless pursuit of the truth surrounding the first expedition to Mount Everest. His investigation leads him to seek out a revered climber who vanished during the journey, uncovering mysteries within the perilous world of high-altitude mountaineering.

Netflix is training AI on the work of the artists in the animation department. They’re absolutely not the least bad, they’re all equally terrible.

We can point fingers at governments and companies all day long, but unless something motivates them to change they’re not going to. Right now the only real mechanisms we have at our disposal are our votes and our wallets. If people throw up their hands and can’t even be arsed to leverage either of those things, nothing will change. Telling ourselves it’s someone else’s fault and doing nothing is the pinnacle of being part of the problem.

I’m looking forward to your tales of the young upstart bringing a new flavour of chaos to The Council!

No wonder she was scarfing down two cans in one go, she’s eating for multiples! Good luck resisting the temptation to keep a kitten… or two…

Underwater hockey is also a thing

Was your grandma allowed to vote, and how many times did she vote? I kid ;)

Oh yeah for sure. I keep telling people the best part of being an adult is doing whatever the fuck you want as long as it’s not hurting anyone else. In a way I think part of what people miss about field trips is someone else organising these kinds of trips and “paying” for them. As an adult, you have to deal with all that yourself, on top of finding the time to do it.

If you work in the right job, ‘field trips’ can be a pretty common thing. Site auditors and inspectors, procurement officers, investigative journalists, surveyors, etc

It’s only expensive if you care about prisoners’ human rights

Fair, but on the off chance it does help, you might as well take that precaution.

Hey man, you do what you have to do. Good luck either way!

I’m sorry, it mega sucks and unfortunately you can only pick from the other two remaining options. If you’re not part of the targeted minorities or vocally a part of the opposition, here are some tips on assimilation:

• Keep your head down and keep a low profile
• Stay out of any media attention at all costs
• Be VERY careful with who you trust - denunciations are a common tool used by fascist governments to find targets. Avoid pissing off anyone who could throw you to the wolves.
• Button up any communications that could ever be construed as a slight against the ruling party. That means getting off social media, browsing and communicating on the internet completely anonymously, stop using devices and software that can spy on you. Wipe anything that can be interpreted as criticism of the ruling party that can be connected to you.
• Keep any documents with proof of citizenship on you at all times
• Start sounding like you’ve always supported the party and their ideas, or that you’ve suddenly “seen the way” and agree with them now.
• This one is riskier in the long term as fascists eventually start eating one another, but if you can, try to get a low level position in the party. Something inconsequential like cleaning, paperwork, etc.

Essentially, start studying what other people did to survive under similarly oppressive regimes. The change won’t happen overnight, but if this is going the way I think it’s going, your access to options will become increasingly limited so do what you can now to get ready.

Alternatively, wait until it becomes clear that you’re a political target, travel somewhere where you can get refugee status and claim asylum once you’re there. You don’t want to leave this until it’s too late, and it’ll get increasingly harder to do, but there’s no way to tell yet what the trigger could be.

Ding ding ding! This is the right answer folks. US citizens will be lucky to get fair elections (if at all) for the foreseeable future. There is no counterweight to what lies ahead, the doors to hell have been opened and no one is coming to save you. If you are in the US, you have the following choices: leave, survive (read: assimilate or hide), or fight.