lifegoesonbrah

Thanks Kevin, that means a lot. I am sorry if myself or the video offended you.

Did you start a new thread to manipulate others to agree with you about the "anonymous" user by taking his question out of context of the original discussion? lulz

Okay, so you admit you were wrong and people have been calling me names? Or are you just going to deflect again onto another accusation? It looks like the latter.

Just taking a quick glance I was called a weirdo, a liar, and a concern troll, not to mention many insinuations. I could probably find more. You must be very angry with me to not see that.

Insulted was a bad word choice, maybe "make light of" or "emulate in a funny manner". How am I a liar when I stated that I wanted to bring laughter, and expected many more people to find it funny? How is that an unrealistic intention?

As I stated, I expected that there would be a negative response, but I thought it would be more balanced and not overwhelmingly negative.

I feel like I am under attack, I have been called several names and I have apologized several times. The South Park reference was for the mob-like mentality which I perceive is present in this thread, you are again claiming to know what I "really meant" by posting the South Park picture and don't really give a shit about my responses. You know better than me my dark, vindictive, evil intentions, lol. I feel as though you are being judgmental, I love FDR and think it offers wonderful ideas. I am not out to hurt anyone, just wanted to share a video that I though was funny after listening to many podcasts I thought it was a good parody. Thank you, my intent was to share laughter, but I knew that anything insulting Stefan may cause an uprising. I was hoping that it would be more balanced. I am pretty sure Stefan would laugh at this

I didn't make the video, but my interpretation of the video is that it was making fun of Stefan and his funny quirks about him, not so much the caller. I'm sorry my intentions weren't to insult you. How passive aggressive, check my previous posts if you think I am a "concern troll". Thanks for all of the insults everyone.

I used the word "funnies", not sure how you interpreted that as "too serious of a response". Then you tell me I need to relax as if I am some irate madman defending a hand puppet. Then the next sentence you tell me I am a weirdo for not taking confrontations serious enough? Do I need to relax or be more serious? it seems I lose either way. I just wanted to share the funny hand puppet video... hitting kids is horrible and wrong. The guy who made the video said the same thing in the comments. I don't think he intended to undermine that, he was making fun of Stefans personality. I didn't make the video, but my interpretation of the video is that it was making fun of Stefan and his funny quirks about him, not so much the caller. I'm sorry my intentions weren't to insult you. I didn't make the video, but my interpretation of the video is that it was making fun of Stefan and his funny quirks about him, not so much the caller. I'm sorry my intentions weren't to insult you.

I think that is correct, it is unhealthy to not take confrontation seriously when there is a serious issue at hand and a person is vulnerable, but I didn't see this video as causing emotional harm to anyone. Maybe I am wrong? Yes, I assumed a lot of the community members may have found it offensive because they put Stefan on such a high pedestal, which I don't think is healthy. I genuinely enjoyed the video, it made me laugh, I thought others could enjoy the same sensation. I can see now how my prerequisite of "don't get worked up" may have been offensive and I apologize for that. That's true, but people started questioning whether or not I have empathy and claiming they knew my true intentions of posting the video, I felt I needed to clarify and defend myself.

Confrontation is not a synonym of seriousness, you are doing it wrong. Also one does not have to choose between 100% confrontation all of the time or 100% funnies all of the time. You are looking into this too much.

I don't think there is anything wrong with confrontation, I think it livens up the forums and encourages honesty. I also didn't think that this video was offensive to the callers because it focused on Stefan being over-the-top and not the caller, so I am sorry if it came off that way. I just think it is important to not take the world too seriously all of the time.

It is making fun of Stefan, not the caller. The caller is made out to be the level headed one throughout the entire conversation. It's a joke, thanks for trying to make me feel bad though.

No, I didn't make the video, I thought it was funny. I also don't think Steph would discount someones statement based on their childhood experiences. It is an exaggerated version of Steph which I thought made it funny. This has got to be the most serious forums ever concocted.

Its a joke, for the lulz, don't get all worked up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFZrM5GRX2c

Maybe I could offer some general advice about anxiety. Exercise at the beginning of the day always helps me have a calmer day, it helps release tensions. Also when you are feeling anxious, try some common exercises like taking deep breaths, relaxing your body, and pulling over if things get too overwhelming. Semi's scared me at first too, especially the big tanker trucks. Good luck, I'm sure you will do great!

It's inefficient to just give people money with no regard to their contributions, this is the very basis as to why socialism doesn't work.

I worked as a policy advocate for a year at a food bank council, a dark time in my life. My job was to advocate for policies that promoted various social food programs, SNAP, WIC, TEFAP, etc etc etc... It was such a huge relief to leave this job behind as it was morally repulsive to me. I want to offer some advice when donating to food banks. A large majority of food banks pursue several federal grants which are granted to those organizations that wish to promote and advocate for federal food assistance programs, which always seemed silly to me to promote government services that essentially make food banks irrelevant. It is the same as a private sector company promoting it's competitions superior products. The reason that food banks do this is because these grants provide huge funding resources that pay for staffing, equipment, marketing, and basically any aspect of the organization that any competent employee can justify in the grant application. These grants are usually matching grants, meaning that the organization would match the federal funds applied for. At my organization, the grants would always be matched by donors or private sector grants. The private sector grants always came from large grocers, particularly Wal-Mart. I probably don't have to explain here why Wal-Mart would be interested in helping to support and promote programs like WIC and SNAP (food stamps). So basically when you donate to food banks, your money is going towards promoting federal programs. There is also TEFAP grants, which are also federal grants. To simplify a little, these grants are through the USDA in which the feds by large quantities of produce. They buy this produce where they deem necessary to adjust market prices. By purchasing large quantities of a produce, they are price setters because they are increasing demand in a particular market. Anyways, this bulk produce is given, or sold at a low rate, to food banks.The food banks then take this product and sell them to food pantries (usually churches) at a higher rate so the food bank can cover organization costs. So, if you want to donate to feed the needy and want to get the biggest bang for your buck, it is best to donate to food pantries at the lowest level. These organizations are generally small, more efficient, made up of volunteers, and the money donated actually goes towards purchasing food from the food banks to be supplied directly at food drives. I will not be donating any money to the charity food sector because of all of the government feeding programs. Food banks cannot release full listings of food drives to clients because a lot of them take advantage and will hit several food drives per week. They will get all of the food they need from the food pantries and sell their government benefits. This doesn't go for all people of course, some are generally in need. I Just thought I would share my thoughts and point out that food banks have been taken over by the government. These are not free market entities as they are portrayed. thanks for reading!

I am facing the same thing with my cousin. I have wrote him how I felt recently, which he has ignored, and I plan to end contact with him. I think this might be the best approach in this situation, it isn't fair to you to continue chasing an abusive relationship, he may one day come to terms with his behavior if you let him know why you are cutting him out of your life and do so accordingly. It is not fair to you or the people that actually care for you to waste any more of your time with him, spend your energy on those who care about you. I recently injured myself rollerblading like a dumbass, I broke several ankle and foot bones and I had to have surgery and am looking at serious recovery time. Laying here in bed has given me a lot of time to reflect on myself and my relationships. My cousin, which I always thought to be very close as we spent a lot of time together, hasn't shown any concern to my situation. I told him I was going in for surgery on facebook and he sent me pictures of his jeep that he's been working on. His behavior has revealed to me a pattern, whenever I am on hard times he abandons me. 2 years ago my mother was dying of cancer and he shut me out as well. He used to stay at my house several nights a week because it was a shorter drive to his work, I moved my mom in to care for her and he didn't come around for 5 months until she had passed. He completely abandoned me at the hardest time of my life. Shortly after my mom passed his girlfriend broke up with him and rightfully so, he was always verbally abusive and cheated on her. I stood by him and listened to his bullshit anyway for some reason without confronting him with his behavior and how he treated her. It was always one sided, he always moped around and wanted to talk about his problems and never showed any interest in me and how I felt. Anyways I regret all the time I wasted with him and I should've written him off long ago. I guess I felt bad because he comes from an extremely fucked up family and I had hope for him. I guess the life lesson is that all of the time I wasted with him I could've spent with people that have always been there for me.

Blaming people for their actions is important in holding people responsible for their own actions. The moment you dismiss responsibility for behavior you are claiming that people do not have the ability of free will and therefore cannot survive without rule of law. Go ahead, go hug a crackhead that abuses their children because their main priority in life is getting high, poor them.

I agree with Thomas, looking at all addicts as if they are victims denies self responsibility. People are not victims of drugs, because drugs are not to blame to for peoples behavior. This is similar to the belief that people are the victims of guns, not other people. You cannot blame an object for a bad decision but you can blame the person. With that being said, clearly locking people in cages and destroying their future is not the solution to addiction. A person has to come to a self realization of the detriment of their addiction and all of the problems that it causes and really have the desire to overcome. Counseling and rehabilitation centers can certainly help, but from experience it is ultimately up to the individual to change their lives of course! "I got drunk and ran over some children because I had a bad childhood" would be a statement of a madman. c'mon Steph

Hello, I think your argument seems to be faulty, in that you are neglecting the truth that individuals are free to make up their own mind. If I am injecting a pint of heroin into my asshole every morning and then lounging around all day nodding in and out of consciousness, my friends have the choice of whether or not to join me in this endeavor. My actions are not forcing them to do the same. My actions would have an impact on anyone that I dealt with regularly as it would change my personality, but people are free to associate with whoever they like. You also assume that all drug use is bad. I smoke weed daily because it is enjoyable and beneficial to my mental well being. I smoke after work, then go on my daily dog walk and gym visit. I also take medicinal mushrooms once or twice a year by myself as a tool for self reflection which is a mentally healthy experience. It is the decisions that you make when you are on drugs, not the drugs themselves that are the problem. You can also demonize other decisions that may affect those around you. For example, someone that eats a lot of unhealthy foods (sugar and salt is more dangerous than a lot of drugs IMO) may be a bad influence for those around them, but it is ultimately each individuals decision as to whether or not they want to poison their bodies with these types of foods. I agree your decisions may influence those around you, but you cannot force others into behaviors.

Hello, I would love to hear your idea! I separated from the military at my 4 year mark, and felt compelled to take advantage of the GI Bill to get a free education. I got a degree in economics and have found the the job opportunities disgustingly boring and full of state loving non sense.... I have thought a lot about my escape to freedom... and have decided to save my money and buy a big rig in a few years. I want to travel the country, just me and my dogs, in my own truck, live by my own rules, and haul stuffs for money

Hello, I am not a therapist blah blah blah but here is what I think I used to be very similar, never looking people in the eye, mumbling, getting nervous, etc... in my late teens. I was so socially awkward that I even questioned whether I was a human being, or some lesser creature. I never really got over this until I moved out of my moms apartment and went off on my own. Living with my mom seemed to allow me to be dependent on her for providing external social interactions on my behalf. She was responsible for negotiating with service providers, family, etc... and I was not involved in these social interactions. Also, more importantly, there was something about being around her and her apartment that made me more socially reserved. What really changed me was getting out into the world on my own and joining the military. Though I wouldn't suggest joining the armed forces, I would suggest making a significant change in your life to make yourself more socially independent. Joining the military completely broke my social and financial dependence on my parents, I then needed to be a part of a team and rely on others and have others rely on me. I needed to negotiate my skills for others skills in order to survive in that environment. Once I saw that I could be successful on my own, it was an enormous boost to my self confidence. You are only making the problem worse by hiding away in your Mom's house and contemplating whether or not you should follow her vision for your life. Fuck that. Get out into the world and figure out what you want to do. Do something extreme that will make you independent. Completely forget about what your parents think you should do, go out on your own, take some time to learn about yourself and what you want, travel, try different careers, take freedom to the extreme, enjoy life. It may seem impossible, but it is not. You are a good communicator, intelligent enough to post on FDR forums, you will do great! Your ability to write a well organized, coherent post shows that you can make a connection with people, you can have relationships, you just need to get over the anxiety, a problem which people overcome everyday. You don't need a pill, you need freedom!

Hello, Clearly if you don't like your roommates you would need to move, but that may not be economically feasible at the moment. By being elusive and staying in your room, you are probably not participating in the normal chores that it takes to run a house. I would make a cleaning schedule to avoid being commanded to clean randomly. This would probably relieve a lot of anxiety. Forgive me if I am making assumptions, but it is somewhat inevitable on a forum. It sounds like you do not have a lot of self confidence, you should be able to negotiate a cleaning schedule with your roommates but it sounds like you just avoid the situation all together.