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Ask HN: Where are all the parties?

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Re: Ask HN: Where are all the parties?

#371
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is more recently that false sexual accusations have become a concern and (mostly irrational) fear among young men. Why are you of the view that this is an irrational fear?

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For most people, the odds of the latter are zero. Most people do not commit sexual assault or want to commit it. It's not irrational to be worried about the unknown over the known.

Re: Ask HN: Where are all the parties?

#372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is more recently that false sexual accusations have become a concern and (mostly irrational) fear among young men. Why are you of the view that this is an irrational fear?

It doesn't happen that often to make it a reason to not enjoy life and go to parties.

>It doesn't happen that often

Neither is sexual assault. Now try to use said justification against a victim. What is happening is that the empress is naked and we are not impressed by her accusations.

Re: Ask HN: Where are all the parties?

#373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, I get your point that it's about what's changed through time Though I'd add to that that the common awareness--an acceptance of speaking publicly about and solidarity in not standing for--sexual assault, is something that has grown dramatically in the past decade for women. In the past many of these things would be covered in shame and swept under the rug but now the issues are more visible and many younger women…

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Your lack of empathy for men and your objectification of men as mere walking dicks is truly disgusting. You are definitely part of why men do not trust women: you are part of the problem. If being afraid of the, quite frequent, false accusations is misogyny then I am a misogynist.

Re: Ask HN: Where are all the parties?

#374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What?? I actually think it maps pretty well to the reality. I have seen it at a personal level in my social circle and at a broad level of civilizations.

I was going to post the same complaint as the parent comment; for example: "Hard times create strong men" - maybe, but starvation doesn't make you strong. Being dead from disease doesn't make you strong. Rising to adversity might make some people stronger, but it will harm others who survive but are damaged. It could be that the already-strong people rise to adversity and the weak get crushed by it, Darwinianly? Or t…

Next please analyze the saying "Anything that doesn't kill you makes you stronger" ;)

Re: Ask HN: Where are all the parties?

#375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A generation of immunocompromised guys with AIDS built the entire electronic music and rave scene in the 80s and 90s, the fashion business, and most of the culture you consume today. It's not condescending if your issues are in fact discretionary. I travel with someone who will die within an hour of exposure to peanuts, regularly spend time with people in their 80's and 90s who have been on deaths door for years, rid…

I'm really not sure what point you're trying to make here. Every example you gave is someone "managing" at their own expense. When an immunocompromised person gets sick from a rave, no one else suffers directly from that. Of course you can "manage" that way up until the moment you die. You can't get upset when society changes and some of those people decide the expense of "managing" isn't worth it any more. I mean, c…

Cheers for challenging it and making me think about it. The example I would use is a vegetarian bailing in an invite to a barbecue because the main meal wasn't to their choice. The point is the gathering and someone doing something special, and instead of being an ingrate about the invitation, one should go and eat before, or have the salad. As a lifestyle choice, it's anti-social purity.

My general point is that preferences aren't identities, and when they are accepted as such, they erode the social fabric and prevent the growth and social opportunity that benefits everyone. It adds a punitive downside to giving parties when suddenly we have to worry about a guest having a crisis because their idea of self gets offended.

To the immunocompromised people I know, if you can't make it out because you are sick, fine, happens to the best of us, catch up another time. If you can't make it because your condition has become an identity that is irreconcilable with other identities, that must be very hard, but it's your responsibility to be interesting and enjoyable to be around, even if there are unique barriers to that, and especially if you want accomodation.

If your diet were vegan because you are immunocompromised, or even religious, own it and take responsibility for your needs instead of making them a condition on your company, and then be worthwhile. Of course we manage things at our own expense, it's what ownership means. You can't blame your disease for your being lame or use your identity as social leverage and expect anyone to find that appealing and interesting for very long.

My point is, the world owes us nothing and thinking it does is part of what has made giving parties less appealing. The (mostly) men who ran massive party scenes during the AIDS epidemic did so in spite of a more terminal and persistent illness than anything we are dealing with today, and so there have been better parties in worse conditions than the medical one your comment refers to, and it was because their general attitude was better than the one I think has been promoted over the last decade.

Re: Ask HN: Where are all the parties?

#376
I blame COVID, but our neighbors started doing low-key happy hours about once a month and these have been wonderful. We've also started meeting people for pizza at restaurants again and that has been similarly great. So I'd like to think that we're all out of practice and it's taking a while to get to ball rolling again.

Re: Ask HN: Where are all the parties?

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend recently introduced me to this quote, and even though it generalises a little[1], I think it ring true: > Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times. I think we're entering that last cycle again, where people are inventing trivial hardships for themselves, because media teaches them that only a life with some type of adversity is wor…

For anyone who doesn't know the context: This quote is literal fascist rhetoric to promote machismo and contempt for the weak. It might resonate the first time you hear it (most good propaganda does), but if you contemplate it for more than 10 seconds and you'll realize it's obviously untrue.

You're interacting on an open forum with people from all over the world, who couldn't care less what ideas are considered permitted or not permitted according to your local party line.

Re: Ask HN: Where are all the parties?

#378
post #199

I don't invite people over anymore because their fussiness scales negatively - where if you want to mix 5 people who each have a rule about what they cannot abide, the common denominator is rarely special enough to leave the house for. Between the discretionary lifestyle demands of vegetarians, vegans, non-glutens, non-porks, non-drinkers, anti-smokers, non-problematics, non-outdoorsies, hover-parents, maskers, and t…

This idea is something if felt but have been unable to articulate. For example, one of my very close friends is an ultra progressive guy. He’s vegan and talks a lot about personal responsibility to combat climate change. He was condemning people partying at my house for using disposable vapes since the packaging and plastic is wasteful…never mind the 6 pack of beer bottles he brought! Another close friend is borderli…

Politics is the art of meddling the state’s stewardship into people’s everyday life. Otherwise, it’s just heads of state talking together and no-one dares or feel empowered about managing the directions. But if you decide everyone should paint their bikeshed yellow? if you make everyone yell at each other for a mask? if you make one group believe their future depends on their siblings not consuming resources? This is politics.

Re: Ask HN: Where are all the parties?

#379
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure why you're getting downvoted, this is clearly correct. I still have many friends that I formed from working in the same office. For most American adults, the group you spend most of your time with is your coworkers. If you don't have a group hobby or activity outside of work, you have no mechanism to cycle new people in to your life in a setting which easily allows relationship building. There's a reason peo…

> For most American adults, the group you spend most of your time with is your coworkers. And that also guarantees that when you leave the company, you also leave your "friends". I wholly reject intertwining work and professional relationships with friend relationships. I certainly won't be mean to my colleagues... but my closest colleague is 600mi away. And that's OK. I do spend a bit of time with local groups for d…

Seems like quite a bit of cynicism here. You can be friends with people you work with, and you can remain friends after you leave. You also don't have to be, do whatever you want. The thing you can't disagree with is that you spend most of your day interacting with them somehow, particularly if you're not working remote. That means you lose most of that social interaction when you work alone in a room.

None of this was a criticism on choosing to not be friends with people you work with.

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