M2aS’ Journal

[Married2aSwabian]

Well, it took a year, but just like in Mr. Jordan’s 7th grade language arts class, I’ve drawn the negative attention of the teacher! Time for a detention for shooting spit wads.

There are a lot of good folks here, but the dynamic seems to definitely slant one way with discussions increasingly dominated by a small number of forumites. There is a double standard, when some are allowed to rant on and on about how to profit off of a horrible war or their religious dogma, while a topic like this is deemed off limits.
I don’t understand the “slippery slope” argument that conflates humanitarian aid during the worst refugee crisis since WW2 with bitter partisan US politics.
Other than the Kremlin, who are we going to offend by alleviating this suffering? I don’t get it. Is there a large “pro suffering war-monger” contingent here?

That some forumites may not grasp the world order-changing magnitude of such a moment, since they were born after the wall came down is understandable.
In my lifetime, there have been two dominant political events in the world and they bookend my working career: the bright white light of the wall coming down in ‘89 and the darkness of the invasion of Ukraine now.

If everyone here wants to stick their head in the sand and pretend like nothing’s happening, go ahead. Esoteric discussions of Wheaton levels, personal weight lifting goals and how to cook lentils now seem somewhat less important.
Thx - auf Wiedersehen

[chenda]

If everyone here wants to stick their head in the sand and pretend like nothing’s happening, go ahead. Esoteric discussions of Wheaton levels, personal weight lifting goals and how to cook lentils now seem somewhat less important.
Thx - auf Wiedersehen

I completely agree. I'm sorry you are leaving, M2aS, I always liked your posts.

[Scott 2]

I see you've been doing the post purge thing. Best of luck to you. FWIW - this train of thought can quickly derail FIRE as a concept.


Everyone using index funds as their retirement engine is profiting from war. It's the not so secret dirty fact about indexing. Somehow the aggregation white washes controversial industries like defense, tobacco, alcohol, big tech, consumer lending, gambling, etc. Pull them out of an indexed portfolio, and the returns fall apart. The SWR math stops working.

Especially in the US, FIRE is attainable due to a variety of other unfortunate truths. The US economic engine is intertwined with military dominance. The country has a nasty history - both domestic and foreign. Much of the exploitation persists to this day. It is core to the GDP.

Catch pictures from a FIRE meetup - the demographics aren't a coincidence. Even the asymmetrical relationship between investors (the idle capitalists) and workers stinks of caste exploitation. For most, FIRE depends upon playing a system that supports entrenched power dynamics.

Having spent my past year living as an idle capitalist - the lifestyle is obviously unfair. Short of a return to work via philanthropy, I don't see how it could present any other way. In the best case, if we assume one's prior work was a net negative to society (as many jobs are), the retiree is causing less harm than before. Not exactly moral high ground.


I am enjoying FIRE, so I must be that selfish. It's one of the harder lessons from my first year.

[mountainFrugal]

I enjoyed your Zen and nature observations. Best of luck.

[plantingtheseed]

This is rather unfortunate. It is a loss, and I wish you the absolute best M2aS.


I don't generally follow forum discussions on this site but I have tried to contribute occasionally on topics where I have a good amount of experience or expertise with. It has been a decent experience so far.

On the topic of Ukraine, I find JLF's statement to be bit misleading. I would not characterize DJI drones to be "tactical". Also, the aid request clearly stated the drones' purpose was for the safe evacuation of civilians.

However, I can also see JLF's issues and concerns as the site operator and that this is a fair request:

As such I'd really ask people who want to support a cause to do so via their personal email lists or by putting signs up in their own front yard.

Done.

Please note that this is a two-way street. In fairness, I will be exercising my own judgment over statements or presentations on an outside domain, so long as they are factual and truthful. I will regard any objections on a case by case basis, if any.

[white belt]

On the topic of Ukraine, I find JLF's statement to be bit misleading. I would not characterize DJI drones to be "tactical". Also, the aid request clearly stated the drones' purpose was for the safe evacuation of civilians.

I would not describe Jacob's statement as misleading.

How DJI drones are used in Ukraine:

The idea is that the drones will be used to obtain an aerial overview of troop movements and enemy positions so that the Ukrainian army can fight more effectively on the ground.

It is also conceivable that the drones will be equipped with mechanisms to drop explosives over enemy positions.

Source: https://dronexl.co/2022/02/28/how-milit ... s-ukraine/


How DJI drones have been used around the world for tactical purposes: https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articl ... nd-terror/

[plantingtheseed]

I also agree with M2aS' observation:

There are a lot of good folks here, but the dynamic seems to definitely slant one way with discussions increasingly dominated by a small number of forumites. There is a double standard, when some are allowed to rant on and on about how to profit off of a horrible war or their religious dogma, while a topic like this is deemed off limits.

What would become of the character of this little community? Perhaps we're seeing some of the ramifications on this journal and in others that are now gone.

[Slevin]

M2aS, it's been wonderful having you here, and I'm sorry that this disagreement on this topic is causing you to leave. I hope life goes well for you in the future (and based on your journal, I'm sure it will!)

What would become of the character of this little community? Perhaps we're seeing some of the ramifications on this journal and in others that are now gone.

I don't think its a 'would become' question, as this isn't a new rule, just a reminder of the rules. I think M2aS is a human with good intentions, and I think that this little community is what it is already because of the rules, and these will always cause some amount of friction. Also moderating work IMO is unfun and exists in a lot of shades of grey, and sometimes you lose good users (M2aS, etc) to keep out the trolls and keep a chat viable. I think over-filtering is less damaging than under-filtering (which leads to much more fallout and damage before moderation), but you are likely gonna have to skew towards one aspect for filtering heuristics and there will be some collateral damage.

Everyone using index funds as their retirement engine is profiting from war. It's the not so secret dirty fact about indexing. Somehow the aggregation white washes controversial industries like defense, tobacco, alcohol, big tech, consumer lending, gambling, etc. Pull them out of an indexed portfolio, and the returns fall apart. The SWR math stops working.

Especially in the US, FIRE is attainable due to a variety of other unfortunate truths. The US economic engine is intertwined with military dominance. The country has a nasty history - both domestic and foreign. Much of the exploitation persists to this day. It is core to the GDP.

Apt. Its hard to sit on a high horse walking through a world of murky grey where as much as you are "on the shoulders of giants" you are also on a pyramid of skulls and suffering of humans + nonhuman animals, as well as massive exploitation of natural resources. Mark Boyle's books often highlight this to a very grim extent, but I also think do not provide an answer that many will want to follow or replicate. To some extent I think we end up in a game of "going to war with the army we have, not the army we want", where we try to find best solutions within the Overton windows and then move them more in the directions we want.

[jacob]

What would become of the character of this little community? Perhaps we're seeing some of the ramifications on this journal and in others that are now gone.

The reason ALL politics is banned is to prevent EXACTLY these kinds of subsequent emotional responses where people start deleting their posts because they don't agree with something or another thus demonstrating how little they cared about the community in the first place.

I understand that some people are surprised and upset to learn that large countries regularly start wars to benefit their own economic interests because they're not used to being on the "receiving end". However, the right choice would have been to take a break from the "Wheaton levels, lentils, and weight lifting goals" while processing this (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance) and respecting the boundaries that was previously set for posting on the forum.

NO POLITICS is a blanket law because insofar I started making exceptions to "causes that surely nobody could disagree with", I can absolutely guarantee you that somebody would find a way to disagree or use the precedent as a "whatabout"-excuse for their own cause. This is not my first rodeo. For example, many westerners seemed to have no problem contributing to a humanitarian crisis when fencing out Syrian refugees. What's the position on sending equipment to another disputed gas pipeline hot spot, like Yemen? Which side on the war over Coltan?

I wish people would think a little bit harder before they drag this international community into "crowdsourcing" direct support of various conflicts. I wish people might consider how I don't want to play the UN for all the world's conflicts. I note that nobody even stopped to ask me if I was okay with posting links here.

[Married2aSwabian]

I’m Retired!

[mathiverse]

Congratulations!

[Scott 2]

Congrats. What are you going to do now?

[shaz]

Congratulations!

[MBBboy]

Congrats! Best of luck