zorg wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 3:54 pm Yeah, that kind of thinking went out with JFK’s frontal lobe.

If only there was a pink Chanel suit we could each pick a little bit of civic duty from and start anew. [sigh]

Eight pages and nobody's said "like a bull in a China shop" yet.

dontfeartheringo wrote: Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:09 am

Kniferide wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 3:02 pm My grandpa used to call me " Half a bubble off" which I like.

Just parenthetically, did you know he was referring to a builders' level with this phrase?

Damn, that's obscure. Love it. Prefer to call them "spirit level," though.

enframed wrote:

dontfeartheringo wrote: Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:09 am

Kniferide wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 3:02 pm My grandpa used to call me " Half a bubble off" which I like.

Just parenthetically, did you know he was referring to a builders' level with this phrase?

Damn, that's obscure. Love it. Prefer to call them "spirit level," though.

That's a good one.

I have a friend who liked to use "...they're a few maniples short of a legion." to describe someone a bit off.

I'm sure I would have got 100x more out of university (the actual study part) if I'd gone there at 30 instead of 19.

I like that "half a bubble off"

Geiginni wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 3:43 pm So the idea of mandatory civic service during the formative years of adulthood is anathema to you?

What civic obligations does any citizen owe their society anymore?

Has the lack of trust in public institutions and notions of liberty that are nothing but self-serving obviated any individual accountability or responsibility under the Social Compact?

How can a society bear any responsibility to its citizens when those individual citizens refuse to be obliged to serve that society in a selfless meaningful way?

Don't get your manifesto in a bunch. I don't think civic service should be an odd thing at any stage of life. Mandatory service depends quite a bit on what form it takes. Military, fuck no. Don't tie it to making college affordable either or you'll just service-tax low income students the way the military currently cons them.

Making college out to be some selfish indulgence or an excuse to party is shitty. It does function that way for plenty of people, I guess. I don't know. I worked against a lot of shit to go to college, to gtfo of the shit I grew up in, and get access to really important things I couldn't get back home. When I got there I worked my ass off to afford to stay. That was when it was all 30% cheaper than it is today. And look, there's a lot fucked up about higher ed. I can get into that all day. There are ways to address these issues that don't side with making it less accessible.

And I do think college should be a perfectly fine thing to do at ages other than right out of highschool.

I don't get what is so nuts about what I'm saying. Political feasibility? Maybe I shouldn't suggest affordable health care either.

“All bent up” as in, you’re all out of sorts about something. Not like, you’ve got a boner for it.

You guys are all bent up about deciding the entire future of vocational training by yourselves.

“Doesn’t know if she/he/they needs a pie or a shite” in reference to someone who appears to be stupid

Geiginni wrote: Thu Oct 13, 2022 3:43 pmWhat civic obligations does any citizen owe their society anymore?

Has the lack of trust in public institutions and notions of liberty that are nothing but self-serving obviated any individual accountability or responsibility under the Social Compact?

How can a society bear any responsibility to its citizens when those individual citizens refuse to be obliged to serve that society in a selfless meaningful way?

The citizens are going to be working their entire lives. I think that's enough.

(I do however entertain a utopian thought of a kind of military service in which you would be taught survival skills, self-defense, cooperation, keeping it together in stressful situtations etc., which could then be used to call up a citizen's disaster relief and similar when needed, where the members are then more cued in to the routines of what should be done. It could work to build trust between people as well as confidence in the individual that they would have what it takes if misfortune strikes.)

"Walking like a cat shitting out tacks."

Sorta like walking on eggshells. But better!