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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • I would much rather pay for a missile that Ukraine fires against a Russian tank in Ukraine, than pay for a missile I have to fire against the Russian tank myself after it rolled through Ukraine and to my doorstep.

    I would also much rather pay to educate the world (using Russia as an example) that the international community isn’t putting up with wars of aggression and won’t let you get away with them, than have the world thrown into disarray when the next country decides to disrupt global supply chains with their war of aggression.

    Supporting Ukraine is a smart thing regardless of what you think of Ukraine. It’s also the morally right thing, but if you don’t care about that, egoism should drive you to the same decision.












  • I think there is a huge psychological difference between “spending on public good” and “here is some money”, and especially where the latter happens, it should be very clear that the money is coming from the state/nation, not the individual leading it.

    That may be obvious to you, so the message doesn’t look like a problem, but I bet at least 1% of Americans think Trump personally gave them some of his personal cash out of generosity, effectively turning it into a bribe with public money. Which is exactly why Trump insisted that his name would be placed on the check. (The letter that came with it was surprisingly reasonable and clear, which is why I estimated 1% and not 5%).


  • I don’t think the sound itself is freaky (i.e. I don’t think it’d be perceived as freaky by people not familiar with it or similar messages at all).

    It’s the implication. At least I (as a non-American) associate the sound not with “generic public safety message” but firmly with “the president will now say goodbye to the nation and tell everyone to hug their loved ones one last time before the 3000 nukes/an asteroid/hostile aliens wipe out all life on Earth”.

    I think some movies also used the sound for submarine Emergency Action Messages (aka the thing that makes those 3000 nukes fly).