11/16 of an inch

I’ve lived in several authoritarian countries in which surveillance was constant and intense. I told my family and friends many years ago that I was using Signal and they could find me there. It’s literally the signature of my email. Then I proceeded to slow walk all personal non-Signal communications. I’ve found that starting various friend and family groups really helps people get immersed in the app. So does encouraging group video calls to hang out online.

For many years now I’ve had my entire family as well as dozens of friends on Signal. It’s not a quick process, but it can be done.

Even for professionals like lawyers, accountants, tradespeople, real estate agents, whatever. They’re all on Signal if they want to work with me.

Everyone can choose not to use the app. No guilt trips from me. I just use Signal daily, so if someone wants to finds me quickly, they always have the option to do so.

Great post. Thanks a lot.

I’m not from the US, but I’ve had similar experiences in half a dozen or so countries all over the world. I couldn’t even imagine my life if I’d never moved away from where I was raised, nor do I ever wish to go back to that time or place. The world is so goddamn full of excitement and opportunities. I never tire of new experiences.

I may get responses to this post saying “must be nice to be rich,” but I was raised poor. I literally just got on a plane after giving away whatever was in my apartment. A day later I was working a job making the equivalent of 300 usd a month and having a fucking blast. I met my future life partner quite literally the next day.

I have so many good friends from my childhood who are drowning in money or stress issues, yet when I try to entice them to make a significant change, each of them finds reasons why it’s “impossible” while continuing to complain about their lives. What I’ve come to realize is actually impossible is convincing anyone to step outside their comfort zone.

Edit: a word

Whenever it’s drawings of children, no, I don’t think it’s odd at all to worry about that. I just called it creepy, which I think it is.

No one’s getting hurt, and I’m very open to whatever people want to do to feel pleasure, but I’m also entitled to find it creepy, especially if the girls being drawn are clearly young.

It’s specifically because I get out much, and am in a very long-term relationship with an actual woman that I find the idea of sexualizing cartoon images rather odd, especially when they’re very often images of children, even if not in this specific case.

I mean, there’s a discussion above of jerking off to cartoons, but I’m the one who doesn’t get out much. Keep jerkin’ it homie.

I find the Reddit/Lemmy/Etc fascination with cartoons of young girls deeply creepy. They’re everywhere. How many pathetic pedo virgins are actually out there? Apparently many.

Lay off 100% and be done with it. Fuck Zuck and his employee stooges.

Also… https://annas-archive.gl/

Support them with donations if possible. An outstanding resource.

Exactly. What’s new here is not the anti-democratic imperialism, that’s for sure.

Thank goodness the Nepalese and Iranians who protested within the last year were all rich and faced no potential for harm.

How is this not the top comment?

I guess US citizens are then in a financial situation similar to what US foreign policy has encouraged in several regions of the world.

Anyone can downvote all they want, but US interventionism has had terrible consequences that most US citizens are not even aware of, yet people push back, they resist, despite much greater poverty than most people in the US have to suffer.

I’m confident that US citizens can eventually do something concrete against their most recent criminal regime, of which there have been many. We haven’t even yet seen the level of pushback that was mounted during the war on Vietnam, and armed thugs are out there killing your citizens and kidnapping people off the streets.

I just hope that pushback comes sooner than later because history shows us that people outside the US tend to suffer much more due to US policy than people inside the US.

Thankfully, I’m not from the USA nor will I ever travel there again.

I will, however, work against the interests of its long-running bloody empire.

EXACTLY. People in the USA need to stop thinking their country was angelic until Trump came along. It’s always been a murderous menace since before its founding. Latin America is an excellent example of this, though sadly, not the only one.

The trend line has been clear for a long long time. That country is a cancer on the world. Patriots can get touchy about it, and they will because patriots don’t tend to be all that bright in general, but their feelings aren’t worth as much as the world’s blood.

People in the USA need to know what their country truly stands for, and has always stood for—domination.

I agree, but if given the choice between error and fascism, I’ll take error.

Still waiting for US citizens to organize a nationwide strike that doesn’t end until ICE terror ends. What’s it gonna take?

I’ve never seen an online discussion about privacy without some version of this comment. Never gets old. Is there an Android keyboard with an apathy button that I’m unaware of?

Perfect response. Record someone without consent, it should be the last time those glasses are wearable.

All good. Just thought the “doesn’t help” might mean you didn’t appreciate the boycott. Good work on your own boycott.

Boycotts and a general strike by US citizens are the only things that might get through to the White House.

I disagree. I think it’s helping punish the USA, which is exactly what it deserves for threatening not only much of the world, but also Canada directly. It seems like the perfect response that they boycott Las Vegas, and the entire country and its products.