if you have to wipe with toilet paper anyway, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of having a bidet?

The purpose of a bidet isn’t necessarily to make toilet paper unnecessary, it’s to clean properly. Before getting a bidet I would just step into the shower and use the removable shower head to wash my ass with a little soap and warm water, towel off after, bam super clean. I still do that, but now the bidet can save a step if I’m in a hurry.

Basically, try this experiment. (Quoted from some comedian) Smear some poop on the back of your hand. Then wipe it with dry paper and nothing else. Do you feel clean? Ready to go through the day? Of course not! You want to actually wash that off, and that’s the pleasant feeling from using a stream of water to feel thoroughly clean, not just removing residue but getting up in there into the outer wrinkles of the butthole, reduces the chance of getting the itchies later.

(This is particularly of consequence if there is ANY chance whatsoever of ending up naked with another person. You might not notice it, but other people would get hit with a musk the moment your underwear drops, and not the nice kind.)

Why are people so confounded by these things? Have y’all never used water to bathe before?

I feel like some people were never given actual hygiene instructions from their parents growing up. I can only imagine the way some people are so hung up on genitals and waste products that they can’t even think about it, those kinds of people going on to have kids… do we really think they’re going to pass on useful information on self-care?

And it’s not like there’s tons of social messaging and helpful guides all over the place on proper bathroom habits, it’s purely a passed-down skillset.

Every time this comes up on reddit, there are a lot of people sharing stories about knowing men who literally don’t wipe their own ass or touch it while showering and just constantly walk around with shit all over their ass. I used to think it was a meme, but then met people in real life who also had encounters with men who thought touching their own ass would “make them gay.”

So yah, people getting anxious about using a bidet? That tracks. I think a lot of people are at very least, just anxious because they’ve never really been shown anything and might be doubting their own habits. Basically the bathroom and poop and related topics are just this mysterious realm that nobody talks about. Insecurity over our most intimate and private acts is a tradition as old as time itself.

I don’t think any of this is even real to them. The same way that a majority of the white-nationalist 4-channers are just roleplaying and losing themselves in the storylines, as a species we tend to do that, we just get lost in a narrative because it explains how we feel.

The tankies are doing the same exact thing. They’re not impacting policy, they’re not marching for anything, they’re not taken seriously and it’s just another in-club that has its own language and imagery and secret handshakes and a unifying message to rally behind (America bad!) and instead of turning that criticism into actionable plans for changing representation and making anything better, they put on WW2 Russian Tanker helmets and have erotic fantasies about a communist uprising that will never happen.

Hasn’t been linked to reddit yet probably.

Getting away from reddit has shown me that there are unspoiled places in the digital world out there, communities of people who actually care about the topic and not performatism and internet attention.

My last time getting laid off, I had people loyal to me tell me well in advance so I was prepared.

You don’t end up the kind of person who has people loyal to them if you do wacky, zany hijinks and make everything about yourself, even when it objectively is about you. Don’t make scenes, don’t be dramatic, just have some questions ready about severance and what benefits are available to you.

This will pay off a lot when you go to apply for a new job and they want to talk to the people who you worked for.

People scared of being kind to others are scared of doing it wrong and being embarrassed.

Yeah there are deeper issues at work but a large, large percentage of comfortable people raging against equality and equity are far more concerned about mis-gendering someone and getting laughed at, or mispronouncing a foreign word, or not understanding an accent, and getting publicly humiliated for it.

If this seems like a really childish motivation to create an entire movement to push back on healthy initiatives for people to be good to each other, then yes, you are right, it is childish and most people are children. Think back on the last time you saw a toddler performatively act angry and throw a fit when they get chastised and you will understand the entirety of the conservative pushback against progressive social movements.

I hope you understand that was just a word that politicians slapped onto the idea of empathy and kindness because it goes against an agenda, right?

You’re doing exactly what people with agendas wanted, which is blanketing everything from just not being racist all the way through the micro-issues you will never be concerned with, under one, giant, dismissive label.

It’s anti-intellectualism, they want you to stop thinking and be less concerned with things. Be a machine, drink your beer and consume your walmart. Don’t care or be compassionate or ask for others to be treated with respect. That’s all [insert bogeyman word that changes every decade].

Don’t adopt other people’s terms mindlessly, think for yourself.

Yeah also stopped there.

The commenter above was making that very point, that it’s so worthless to give us financial advice and knowledge of the economy when a large portion of Americans are scraping together their last nickels to pay their water bills or their electric bills and not always both. Most people don’t have a savings that can withstand a minor home emergency or health problem, investing or saving with intention is almost impossible for millions of people.

The funniest part here is that the commenter got a lecture about the economy anyway.

I secured a major promotion at one point in my life using inkscape to create a business logo for the company I was climbing. I learned all about vector graphics and how they scale seamlessly, and loved it and gained a new appreciation for logo design in the pre-AI days. I did eventually make it to VP position in that company before the great economic collapse of '09 forced 80% layoffs.