BertramDitore

This comes across as an extremely heavy-handed way of controlling the conversation. I get wanting to keep things civil, but taking a massive world-changing subject completely off the table, a subject that many many many of us clearly want to talk through, is not a reasonable response in my opinion.

Who's to say some random comment in a random post on the presidential election doesn't come up with some incredible idea or solution? It's highly unlikely, but you know we're real people here, with real thoughts and ideas. You never know where that one good idea will come from, but it definitely won't be coming from here if you shut down the whole conversation. I understand this is your instance, and you can do what you want with it, but this is a disappointing response to a very live issue.

I think she’s partly right, but also, if she was the one who ultimately succeeded in getting Biden to drop out when he did, then isn’t it reasonable to expect that he would have dropped out earlier if she had pushed him out earlier? Which would make it her fault. Fuck, I don’t even know anymore. I don’t have a lot of confidence that the Democratic party will learn the right lessons from this loss.

I appreciate the question, and like many Jews I love questions like this. It is never hateful to be curious.

Like many/most identities, being Jewish doesn't mean just one thing to everyone. First and foremost, Judaism is a religion that is passed down through the matriarchal side of the family. So if your mother is Jewish, you're Jewish. You're Jewish particularly to other Jews in this instance, even if you don't necessarily consider yourself Jewish.

Judaism is not a race, full stop. Just like Christianity is not a race. There are white Jews, black Jews, Latino Jews, South Asian Jews, East Asian Jews etc. There aren't a lot of us as a whole, but we do exist in most racial groups. But Judaism is often correctly linked to ethnicity, which is a set of shared traditions, culture, language, and norms.

There is a huuuuge range of 'orthodoxy' under the umbrella of Judaism. Different 'sects' holds fundamentally similar values (for example: you won't find very many anti-abortion Jews), but people inside these different groups will observe their traditions at differently levels/extremes or not at all. Most Jews in America don't keep Kosher, for example, but most Orthodox Jews do.

Judaism also has a rich tradition of questioning everything (which is why we usually love these kinds of questions). It is not considered heresy to question beliefs or authority, in fact it’s usually encouraged. You’ll find many Jews who openly identify as atheists, and yet most still fully consider themselves to be Jewish. This usually doesn’t bother anyone, Rabbis included. Atheists even hold a place of honor in some Jewish communities, because atheists get their morality from their own values or other people, not from a fear of god or some external force. This is part of why it is pretty common to find Jews (observant or not) who consider themselves atheist.

All of that is to say you don't necessarily need to believe in god to be considered Jewish.

Have fun: https://variety.com/2024/film/news/will-smith-farted-men-in-black-set-evacuated-three-hours-1236166286/

Atheist Jew here. They really hate me.

Me too! I saw it in theaters and cracked up the whole time. Haven’t watched it again since then, but I did listen to an interview with the director who essentially disowned the movie. He said something to the effect of: “the couple of moments that were cute were not worth the overall quality of the film.” He said Klein and Smith had no chemistry. He also basically confirmed the Will Smith MIB fart rumor in the same interview.

Having a device that can be used for surveillance is not the same thing as someone actively choosing to report their neighbor.

Been having similar thoughts. We’ll very soon be back in the age of internment camps, reporting on neighbors’ behavior, and minorities looking over their shoulders even more than usual. I am ashamed of us.

I actually don’t think there’s any uncertainty. He’s been quite clear about what he’ll do. He’ll kill all federal cases and ongoing federal investigations, pardon himself for everything he can pardon himself for, and all of the state proceedings will be paused until after his term. In the meantime he’ll “investigate,” threaten, and bully anyone involved in the various state cases, and given his age it is incredibly unlikely that legal proceedings will ever result in justice for his myriad crimes.

Thanks! I was afraid you were going to say that…but it makes sense. Think I’ll go for it. Also means I can wait a while to buy Veilguard while I play Inquisition.

I’ve been needing a new big game to sink my teeth into, but I haven’t played any of the other Dragon Age games. I watched the glowing euro gamer review for Veilguard and it looks amazing to me (the slightly stylized look doesn’t bother me at all). Do you think I’ll enjoy it without much context? I don’t usually buy full-priced, but I make the occasional exception for games I know I’ll play for a while…Baldurs Gate, for example.

Terry Pratchett was one of a kind.