@RogerRoger you’re probably bang on then. Really surprises me I don’t remember getting Syphon Filter though, perhaps I just opened it, thought “hell no!” and deleted it!
I’ll leave it on my PS5 and try and give it a fair shake in the future.
mumble mumble thought I got free games bursting my bubble mumble mumble.
@LN78 Yeah, from what I understand, he said they’d be going after contraception, same-sex marriage and sodomy laws next. These are fundamental human rights and you wonder if Amnesty and other organisations listing the US alongside less ‘civilised’ countries for their human rights record will be a wake-up call.
@nessisonett An activist supreme court packed with conservatives is undoing every major civil rights advancement in the last century. One of our major political parties is full of fascist theocrats who want to kill everyone who's not a heterosexual white male, and actively ousts anyone who isn't full-on christian nationalist. That same party tried to orchestrate a coup back in 2021, and has openly signaled its intention to do so again in 2024. Elections are being rigged via partisan redistricting efforts and voter suppression schemes, which prominently target ethnic minorities. Hate crimes and open bigotry are on the rise. Our society is so crippled by tribalism that we can't even accomplish basic infrastructure spending. Dark money and corporate meddling have permanently corrupted our ability to regulate monied interests. Basic social safety nets and programs go underfunded as our defense spending balloons infinitely. Inflation is ballooning. Rent is skyrocketing nationwide, making it difficult for underprivileged people to even live on their own.
I really don't see how this ends without wide-scale, organized, and destabilizing levels of political violence. Otherwise, the world's wealthiest nation is going to become an openly fascist state.
@Ralizah I think this is the point where it goes beyond ‘politics’. It’s now impossible to switch off or take a neutral stance when millions of people, whether pregnant or not, have had their bodily autonomy revoked overnight. You know it’s bad when even bloody Boris over here is condemning it, it’s genuinely unfathomable for every single political party in this country. Hopefully there’s a path forwards but I can’t deny that it’s looking grim.
@nessisonett It went well beyond "politics" years ago, frankly. Don't forget the numerous people in our government who plotted a coup haven't been punished in any capacity to date.
At this point, I don't think much of anything is going to motivate people in this country to push back against our slide into theocratic fascism. I mean, we'll have protests, but those don't mean anything. Wide-scale political change only happens at the ballot box or through the use of violence, and access to the former, frankly, is being systematically stripped from us.
Roe vs. Wade being overturned at Federal level means it gets pushed back to the state legislator. It doesn't mean abortion is illegal outright only that it's up to the states to decide.
Even if it was people can still use contraception. If what Clarence Thomas said was true then yeah that is terrible about wanting to ban contraception but there will be very little public want for that.
There is a massive difference between preventing a human life coming to term and just preventing one being formed via contraception.
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. – Seneca
@The_Moose A number of those new laws states have "decided" on restrict a resident's ability to seek abortions in states where it's legal, btw. Now that R v W is gone, the right will eventually start pushing for a nationwide abortion ban.
You can't really have a functioning society where different states can't even agree on what basic human rights are. When half the states are semi-modern and half are speedrunning the transition process to becoming mini-Saudi Arabias, conflict is inevitable.
Currently Playing: The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy (PC)
@Ralizah Despite what many believe, this is a very nuanced debate though.
If you fundamentally believe that the child growing inside a woman is a human with as much protection under the law as you or me, which isn't a wild assertion (just think anyone of us could have been aborted and you wouldn't be alive today), it does not mean they are theocratic fascists.
The USA like most western countries has its problems but still remains one of the best places in the world to live because again for the most part its society functions pretty well, especially in comparison to elsewhere in the world.
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. – Seneca
@The_Moose I'm not interested in debating the abortion issue. Regardless of how you feel about it, the supreme court's willingness to casually overturn a long-established half-century old ruling is alarming (especially considering the two most recent Trump nominees openly and flagrantly lied about their willingness to overturn it during their confirmation hearings), and will have ramifications far beyond giving the green light for red states to violate the reproductive rights of their citizens. They've already signaled they're going after rulings that protected the right to same-sex marriage and access to contraceptives as well.
Most of the same people who who have worked tirelessly for this outcome are the same types that generally want to limit voting rights, reinstate sodomy laws, and impose their Christian beliefs on the rest of the nation. Much of this same right-wing bloc also openly promotes the use of violence against political enemies and questions the outcomes of national elections. They're absolutely theocratic fascists.
If you think our society is going to remain a welcoming or stable one in this environment, you're profoundly short-sighted.
When it comes to public opinion on abortions in the USA I honestly don't know what they would be (if there was a referendum for example).
However it's a much hotter topic (even more than abortion) when it comes to banning the use of contraception. You hear a lot more about the pro-choice/pro-life debate than whether contraception is right because it's not even entertained.
Also many of those who are pro-life from what I've seen don't have an issue with contraception, their issue is the abortion of the baby which has already been formed and is a life. Contraception prevents the baby even taking form therefore there is no life there to begin with (not saying you don't know this just laying out their position).
Anyone concerned about this in the meantime still and rightfully have the choice to use contraception.
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. – Seneca
@Ralizah Though I take issue with what I would consider hyperbole in your post, if you choose not to debate this issue further then I will certainly respect that.
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. – Seneca
@Jimmer-jammer My deepest condolences to your friend and his wife. I hope they're okay under the circumstances.
To the debate at hand, I do understand what you're saying. I think given the scenario as above it would be the right decision to let the parents decide when the child is basically not going to survive as that is a medical opinion carried out by professional experts to the best of their knowledge.
To not carry to term a child however when both the mother and baby are healthy is another matter entirely. I'm not saying that these things are easy, life isn't but we need to understand that there are two people in this question.
I've seen arguments on the pro-choice side who advocate abortion because the parents/s would struggle financially or because it has a cleft lip (something easily fixed by surgery nowadays). To me this a terrifying prospect and a slippery slope.
Do people not have the right to be born and live because of economics? Because they have a physical or mental disability? If we can get rid of them in the womb then why is it any different when they're born? The same rules apply in the end.
I know people will respond to this by saying "well a baby not yet born is not really human" then what makes you human?
They may also say "it's not a full human as it can't function outside of the support system of the womb". That seems quite a relative position to take, premature birth survival rate is increasing as are the earlier premature births, it seems more a question of what we can do technologically to keep premature babies alive. It also raises the question of what to do with those in long term comas, after all they can't survive without life support systems, why are they different to the unborn?
I don't think it is a horrible position to take that the child has as much right at a chance to live as the rest of us.
There can be difficult questions absolutely as you cited above, but I think the life of the child has to be considered.
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. – Seneca
Apologies for butting into a conversation with nothing pertinent or unique to add on the matter but... Just got back and hearing this news and the fallout on the BBC news channel and it's making me sad. I feel bad for all those affected and for our those of American friends who are gonna be living in a place they no longer agree with. Part of me thinks we should be standing in solidarity with them like we all did with others on recent causes. Let's just hope that enough people and organisations continue to speak out and keep this a subject of debate.
“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
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