Good article.

As an aside I wonder how common it would’ve been to be communist without being an official member. A lot of people would’ve had a lot to lose of they were proven to be communist and felt safer without a paper trail.

Not saying that Rosa Parks was necessarily a communist, just as likely she just held common cause.

You’re probably talking about the Chinese social credit score, not a replacement for currency but is up and working.

Despite their traitorous turn towards neiliberalism in the 80s the ALP remains a competent liberal party, whereas the Liberals are an incompetent boys club only interested in protecting the class interests of their corporate masters.

I think this is true and until we have easily accessible and free mental health services it is the next best option and far more likely to do good than harm.

I don’t think the downvotes are because you’re misgendering them. It’s just baffling why you’ve gendered them at all. It’s unfunny and out of place.

I keep seeing commentary saying that we shouldn’t use the ADF for disaster relief.

We have an organisation full of people with exactly the skills and organisation required that we maintain at great expense and barely use. Can someone give me a sensible explanation why it’s not a good idea to use them for disaster response.

On a second note I know for a fact that small scale politics and wasteful spending are endemic in volunteer emergency services. I’m not sure what reform is needed but something certainly is. I’m about to re-enter a volunteer fire brigade for the first time in years so I’m sure I’ll be full of opinions in a few months.

Modern guns a extremely precisely engineered devices that are incredibly easy to use, for better or worse. I know modern sporting bows are also but it’s no contest in my opinion.

I’ve shot both, bows as a complete amateur and relatively competent with a rifle. There is no question that a modern gun is way easier to pick up as an amateur and hit what you want to hit and I cannot possibly believe there are anything other than extremely niche uses where a bow is superior.

I think this is a bit of a misrepresentation of political correctness. I think the term political correctness is a bit outdated but I’ll use it here.

Reclaiming derogatory language by minorities is obviously very empowering and has been done successfully. It’s also the case that words that are offensive in one context can be neutrally used, demented and retarded are often used in medical contexts without anyone becoming offended.

Now one can come up with hypothetical situations where it can be difficult to negotiate whilst being politically correct, especially if the person speaking may not have the vocabulary. But in almost every real life instance of someone complaining about political correctness all that is being asked of them is to be considerate, kind, and inclusive. It can be taken too far but that is the exception, overwhelmingly people are understanding of slip ups or of people not knowing the correct terminology.

Empathy and kindness are important for their own sake, whether it’s labelled as political correctness or not.

I’m by no means an expert but I was briefly obsessed with comparative religion over a decade ago and I don’t think anyone has given a great answer, I believe my answer is correct but I don’t have time for research beyond checking a couple of details.

As a few people have mentioned there is little physical evidence for even the most notable individuals from that time period and it’s not reasonable to expect any for Jesus.

In terms of literary evidence there is exactly 1 historian who is roughly contemporary and mentions Jesus. Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus mentions him twice, once briefly telling the story of his crucifixion and resurrection. The second is a mention in passing when discussing the brother of Jesus delivering criminals to be stoned.

I think it is reasonable to conclude that a Jewish spiritual leader with a name something like Jesus Christ probably existed and that not long after his death miracles are being attributed to him.

It is also worth noting the historical context of the recent emergence of Rabbinical Judaism and the overabundance of other leaders who were claimed to be Messiahs, many of whom we also know about primarily(actually I think only) from Josephus.