RCali

Does the bible really say that? That's very interesting. I've got to read it some time in the future. I'm going through the Quran, right now.

Sure thing. My opinion is the same as yours. Edit: was referring to dsayers' comment.

Quite a few days since he last posted. Hope he's doing well.

Welcome, Jayden. You'll find quite the bunch of very inteligent people in this board.

Mathematics aren't leftists' strength.

If we assume FDR podcasts have the same value as books (very good books, for that matter), why would you want to not listen? No, I do believe the problem aren't the podcasts or video games. And I say this because of two reasons. The first being: it makes no sense, according to what you've told, and it would make no sense, either way, since most addictions are related to underlying issues, not the addicting behavior itself. The second reason being: I've done the same thing extensively, myself. And I can safely say I've played more than you have. I've went through a phase thinking "I must be addicted to video games. I do nothing else all day long. I'll stop". And I do. And then I return, because I had nothing else I could find at the time to spend my time on. Bullied at home, bullied at school, lived relatively far from my friends (definitely no walking to where they lived). So I played, and played, and played some more. Eventually, not many years ago, I understood the problem. After much introspection - all of my life, basically, as I've always been one prone to intelectuality - I understood the problems. My childhood and teenage had greatly scarred me. Likely, open wounds, still, those which could never heal. It still hurt, everything that had been done to me, and I then understood that I used videogames both as a coping mechanism, and that I was just naturally attracted to them, especially strategy games. No, drugs aren't the problem, it's the past, and present way of living. Think and act on your problems, and you'll be whomever you wish.

Exactly. This exactly what I observe. Comfort is stronger than logic, for those intelectually challenged, or those who have been indocrinated. I've spoken to very smart people who just won't budge on this topic. I've presented very good arguments, went right to the fundament of morality, and there's no response. The usual nonsense about police, law, infrastructure comes up. Other people, who I also considered to be smart, are either super Rs, or super indocrinated. They can't even understand what the term capitalism means. All of this to say - this isn't the path. Stefan has said many, many times: the reason he doesn't persue politics, be it as career, as a youtuber, as a writer, is that it's extremelly unefficient. It would take all his lifetime to get somewhere, but most likely wouldn't have any sucess. No, the path is another. It is to show people the wrong of child abuse. Show people the virtue of peaceful parenting, of unconditional love towards your children. Teach them negotiation, teach them to breastfeed for years, teach them to stay the whole day with them and school them. Can you even imagine this as your childhood? How much more successful in life you could have been. How much I could have been. And if this were the reality for the majority of people, violence would diminish incredibly. Bullying gone, wars gone, and, eventually, governments would be gone. People would be confident on their own abilities to rule over themselves. They would be confident of their neighbors. They would trust that everyone could own private companies, that there would be no need for coercion. They would see the virtue of peace, and would despise anyone who would offer violence. This is the more efficient way, and with that said, it will possibly take longer than our lifetime. But we can definitely change the lives of millions, and that has all the value it ever needs for me to get off my ass and spread the message.

They say fat sex is the best sex.

I'm sorry you went through this, and still are. What I feel like you're doing is trying to pass a needle through a brick wall. If your mother is anything like mine, there's no hope for reason. My mother is too emotional inteligence deficient to see the error of her own speach. When I provide an arguement, she immediately follows with something to dismiss this arguement as valid, and, of course, with complete absurdity, such as you said "I've seen kids that weren't spanked and they are all spoiled brats." Or even more insulting - skipping right into another topic. I actually got her to apologize for beating me, the other day. But that wasn't a sincere apologize, at all, she did it, and without even pause for breath, she proceed to ask something else, which was related to my responsabilities. There's always this aggressive deflecting, and there has always been. But anyway, back to you. Know that you owe your family nothing. They took the responsability to bring you to the world and tend to you. You didn't take the responsability to follow their education and to make them happy. That's never a son's responsability. You may decide to it, but it's never an inherent thing. If you would show them studies backing your words, do so. But do it for yourself, and maybe her, with clear conscience. You owe her nothing. With this, though, I must say I disagree - it wouldn't be a study of behavior that you would show, but a case in morality. It doesn't matter the effects of such, the basis matters. She could be right, and violence could have a positive effect in behavior for children, but it would be promptly invalidated, for its fundament is evil, and nothing resulting from it can be an excuse to practice such.

^ Totally agree with this. Every time I play videogames I'm listening to someone smart at the same time. Though, I don't think that's what this is about at all. It's not that videogames are bad, it's his weakness on turning them off and doing something else, when he knows he should. I can tell you of me: I experienced the same exact thing in the past, and I'm back to that shithole, right now, after having completely climbed out of it. And I do not have an incredibly inteligent way of climbing out of it. It's a matter of sheer willpower and continued strength to do those other activities you wish to participate in, and to turn away from the procrastination. Videogames are absolutely fine. After all, everyone needs something to waste their time with. The other thing which helped me turn away from sloth was physical exercise. Which, again, requires a lot of willpower to continue doing regularly, but the reward of free natural drugs giving you a permanent high makes everything so much easier. Running would probably be the best for this. I've both read about and felt the results of a strong cardiovascular system in my energy.

Telling a severelly depressed person to get up and exercise is like asking a man in a trench with only one leg to stand up and jump out of his trench. Yes, exercising works. All those hormones work like drugs, but not immediately. Not in the short run. It's a long run investment of time and energy, those which a severelly depressed person has not. And for the love of the empty sky, do not recommend an animal to such a person. I can't imagine how someone with no energy would enjoy taking care of someone else, while not being able to take care of himself. OP: as you might have understood, the best you have to do is resolve the core problem. Alleviating the pain, or total numbness, which is probably worse, may be impossible for a while. Figure out what the problem is, where it originated, and how to solve it. I'll speak to you via Skype, if you so wish.