I've lived in America for almost my entire life and I've never once heard an American say "Happy Christmas". "Happy Holidays", sure, but that's mostly reserved for the days leading up to Christmas. On Christmas Day it's always just "Merry Christmas".
I think some people (usually right wing Americans who watched too much Fox News back in the 2000s) are opposed to "happy holidays" because they don't want to acknowledge other religions.
And then there are snobby Europeans who hate and avoid the phrase because it sounds "too American".
I'm not conflating anything. Just posting well-sourced and unbiased, objective historical record. Kind of odd how riled up that made you... (Remember, you're entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.)
Frankly I'm not really interested in your interpretation of that history, especially since you don't seem to have a very good or nuanced grasp of it in the first place. There are plenty of smart, informed and qualified people who have written on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. No offense but I'll probably check out what they have to say before I check in with you.
On one hand, Kissinger was undoubtedly effective at achieving America's foreign policy goals and was undoubtedly one of the most influential Secretaries of State in US history. Unfortunately on the other hand, his brand of "realpolitik"--working pragmatically towards concrete policy objectives without concern for ethics or ideology--meant doing things that prolonged and worsened wars, knowingly propped up autocrats and dictators, etc.
Objectively speaking, Kissinger was a powerful diplomat who accomplished a lot of what he set out to do. At the same time, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, and a lot of us can only look back and judge him harshly for the long term effects of his decisions. Kissinger is the perfect example of a person who is highly intelligent and objectively effective at what they do, but because he had so little concern for simple human concepts like right and wrong, it's hard to look back at any of his "achievements" today with anything other than harsh judgement and disdain for the soulless husk of a man.
These are the exact type of people that sit at home watching Fox News all day, every day. Getting outraged at ridiculous made up controversies and big lies that are designed to convince them that the only way to "save this country" and solve all of their obvious problems is to vote Republican. And when the Republicans get in power of all three branches, like Trump for example, now it's the "deep state" and the Democrats that are holding him back and the answer is yet again, more Republicans.
That's why I personally will never understand the people who intentionally don't vote. The dumbest, most brainwashed motherfuckers in the entire country are going to show up and help put their corrupt overlords in place, and y'all are just gonna let them pull the rope? That's something i'll never understand.
Having 2 dominant political parties is a reflection of how our political systems have been designed at almost every level (federal, state, local). American politics is very much based on first-past-the-post, winner-takes-all elections. These kinds of election systems are terrible for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the very real problem of vote splitting and the spoiler effect--leading to "third parties" which are almost all unserious, nonviable, and potentially backed by people with ulterior motives. The vast majority of the time, voting for a third party candidate in America is simply throwing your vote away and is effectively the same as not voting. (Even as a "protest", it's not a very good one, because it's never clear what can be interpreted from why people vote the way they do.)
The solution to this problem is changing how we run elections so that the most popular candidates are more likely to win, and so that people's individual votes are less likely to become nullified in various ways (like by voting for a statistically nonviable candidate, for one). I like Ranked Choice Voting and STAR voting, but just about anything is better than the way that most American elections currently work.
Even in a hypothetical future where we have 10 viable parties (and more democratic voting systems), no political party is going to "give a fuck about you" as an individual. Republicans, Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, Vegetarians, Librarians, and whatever other parties spring up. The truth is, they all only give a fuck about getting your vote, so that they can get in a position of political power to do the things that they and their influential backers want (all the while reaping the benefits of doing so). There is no political party on Earth that is in it for the benefit of all of mankind--they all have some kind of agenda and ideology that they want to put in place.
In that way American politics is like a tug of war, we current have 2 viable parties, one pulling the rope to the left and another pulling the rope to the right. You can spend as much time as you want lamenting where the rope currently is compared to where you would like it to be. But if you want the rope to move left, it makes sense to join the left side. And if you want the rope to move right, it makes sense to join the right side. Sitting out just makes it easier for the "other side" to make "progress". Having more parties doesn't really change that, it just turns a 1-dimensional battle into an n-dimensional battle.
The biggest benefit that comes from having multiple (viable) political parties is increased competition of ideas. But again, America truly require huge systemic changes to how we run elections to make that a reality.
I'm going to be voting for the party that more closely aligns with the direction that I want the country to move in. It's the only smart move in the game of American politics.
You should try to talk to a doctor or psychiatrist about this habit, especially if it's beginning to bother you and affect your life in other ways.
As for things you can do right away, how about sticking bandaids on your sores, this will help them heal and it'll also keep you away from the area. And don't wait until it gets bad, but even put bandaids on prematurely if it'll get you to stop compulsively messing with your skin.
Another thing is to buy some basic skin care tools. As someone who has the habit of biting my nails, sometimes until they bleed or are painful, I know that biting them can lead to making them rough, which just leads to making me even more compelled to bite the rough bits. For me it can really become a cyclical problem that's also likely driven by anxiety and depression. But by clipping and filling my nails with proper tools I can quickly break the cycle, because my nails will start to generally feel better. So maybe you can do something similar with your skin by exfoliating and using lotion! It's worth a try!
Finally I want to say that cannabis has been good for my personal type/level of anxiety, though I hesitate to recommend it because when though I don't find it addictive I think it maybe isn't great to recommend to someone who is experiencing addictive or compulsive behavior.
In the end I think some combination of therapy, behavior pattern breaking and maybe drugs if necessary, might be able to help you get away from self-harming compulsive behavior. Good luck!
Self-judgement; it sucks and is useless and generally bad for you.
Maybe you're judging yourself for not cooking, but a lot of otherwise functional people can't cook or simply don't want to after a busy or tiring day. Enjoy your easy dinner!
Maybe you're judging yourself for eating a cheap meal on your own, but not every day can be a big party or expensive feast. Don't compare yourself to other people, especially when so much of what people depict on social media is misleading or exaggerated. It's fine to eat on your own (loneliness is a separate issue) and it's good to save money or live within your means.
Maybe you're judging yourself for eating something that you know is low quality or unhealthy, but health and fitness are much more about long term behavior patterns than any single day. As long as we're trying to be active and eat healthy on a regular basis there's nothing wrong with occasional junk food.
Anyway, the point is this: if you feel bad or depressed about something as small as what you're eating for dinner, it might be a sign of deeper problems with depression and self-judgment. And if you find yourself judging yourself, it can be very helpful in my experience to really think about why you're doing it, whether it's a reasonable critique, and whether you'd judge someone else for doing the same thing in your shoes.
You probably wouldn't judge someone else for eating a microwave dinner, so why judge yourself?
This can't be right. They must have something off with their method.
You can even see murky, starchy white water drain out of the bowl the first couple of times you rinse and stir the uncooked rice. If that's not starch then what is it? The water will come out visibly cleaner with each round of rinsing and stirring.
Sure it could be placebo but I definitely feel that I can tell the difference between unwashed and washed rice.
Looking at the two big news publishers in my country. One isn’t reporting about the current bombings at all, while the other one is phrasing their words mostly anti-Palestinian....
Today's Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back thousands of years and combines politics, religion, race, war, and territory all in one.
If you really want to understand this from a non- biased point of view, your best bet is probably wikipedia, where different people with different viewpoints can debate the facts and non-biased writing is somewhat enforced.
The truth is that it's a very complex conflict with innocent people and some very shitty people, on both sides.
Today, for the first time, I couldn’t use iplayer. As usual, I switched country to UK, cleared browsing data, deleted everything from temp app data file before going there. Was using Firefox. Tried same procedure with Epic browser. Same result. Chatted with Nord support. They wanted screenshots of results from dnsleaktest dot...
Assuming it's not seriously illegal where you live, substitute alcohol for cannabis, have a great night and wake up rested and refreshed the next morning.
Seems to be less damaging to the body long term too, but that's neither here nor there.
Many hostages released by Hamas still being treated for trauma (www.theguardian.com)
Head of psychiatry at Tel Aviv medical centre says hostages have undergone worst abuse she has witnessed
Dropbox is sharing users' files with OpenAI, here's how to opt out (boingboing.net)
Edit 1 :...
Why does America say 'merry christmas'?
while it seems everyone else says ‘happy christmas’...
deleted_by_author
So Kissinger must have had use to someone? What did he do right and for who?
It stands to reason he must have been doing something right to have stayed so close to the halls of power....
Not if the lack of grammar and education gets you first... (lemmy.ca)
Two Party System. Why. (lemmy.zip)
EDIT: To the people downvoting this post because democrats > republicans: you’re missing the point.
how to break an addiction?
hey i’m not sure the title is accurate but i couldn’t think of anything better...
Why does eating a frozen ready meal alone feel depressing even tho it's objectively good that I can have nice warm food easily
very kirk van houten coded...
Do You Need To Wash Rice Before Cooking? Here’s The Science (www.iflscience.com)
I found this article pretty interesting… it seems to contradict the current cooking zeitgeist
Where can I NEUTRALLY keep up to date about the Palestina/Israel situation?
Looking at the two big news publishers in my country. One isn’t reporting about the current bombings at all, while the other one is phrasing their words mostly anti-Palestinian....
New anti-VPN measures at BBC
Today, for the first time, I couldn’t use iplayer. As usual, I switched country to UK, cleared browsing data, deleted everything from temp app data file before going there. Was using Firefox. Tried same procedure with Epic browser. Same result. Chatted with Nord support. They wanted screenshots of results from dnsleaktest dot...
She speaks from the fart (lemmy.ml)
Is the cure to male loneliness the Third Impact? (lemmy.ml)
What do you do when you're hungover?
Had a bit too much last night and now I’m on my usual routine of water, ibuprofen, and waiting. Was curious if anyone has a better go to?
History lives in the present (lemmy.zip)
Context (for those who don’t know): Israel and Palestine
What's the benefit of using Kbin over Lemmy?
I see a very small minority of people using Kbin, but I don’t understand why....