Still Having a Bad Day? Exchange Your Rants For Hugs Here!

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Brandon is a good writer, meaning trolls who come to remind fans about plot holes and such will be in small numbers. And there aren't really any unfortunate implications in his writing that I've seen, which attract their own type of trolls.

But I think the best sign for this community is how open its members are to critique. The theories section frightened me at first, because on other sites I'd visited, theories almost always devolved into fights and downvoting. But here? Someone can post a theory completely full of holes and have it gently corrected, not turned into flame bait. Not only this, but the members here are a pretty mature bunch. I think this bodes well for future trolls.

[ThirdGen]

I don't think the Sanderson fandom is growing at such an explosive rate that you should really be worried.  It's the core plus more, not the core overwhelmed by a swarm.

[Voidus]

I'll say this about police--I don't know all of them, but the ones in my home town are completely useless. Crime runs rampant in my town. Gang violence is a thing. Drug smuggling is very much a thing. My father and I were shot at from the road by someone trying to rob from us.

 

Despite the fact that my town is a rural Texan version of Gotham City's underbelly, the police force does nothing. When a crime is reported they show up, file some paperwork, and then never continue the investigation. Crime runs rampant and unimpeded here, and through either apathy or genuine powerlessness, the police force does nothing.

 

Actually, that's not true. The police force does do one thing right--it oppresses the citizens. Take a drive through my town and you won't find cops investigating the latest robbery, or the guy who got stabbed to death with a long sword last month. You'll find them parked in discrete locations on the road, pulling people over and handing them exorbitant tickets if their car tags are expired. These tags, just for the record, don't indicate car safety. They are what we call a "compliance law"; they don't protect anyone, but you can get in a boatload of trouble for not having a completely up-to-date tag.

 

Speeding cars, by the way, have killed two of my cats in the time I've lived here, and the growing numbers of policemen monitoring traffic have done nothing to make the roads a safer place for either pets or people.

 

 

So the policemen in my town do nothing to reduce crime, and they benefit from seizing money on the side of the road from people who have never harmed another soul in their lives. These are not men who are "protecting and serving" me. I cannot count on them to come to my aid, but I can count on having an army of them outside my door the day I stop paying taxes for their upkeep.

 

The policemen of [REDACTED], Texas aren't warriors of justice, and while I won't go out of my way to spite them, I refuse to honor or verbally support them in the slightest. Because to my eyes, any policeman who spends more time handing out tickets over broken compliance laws than he does going after the superfluous gangsters in his neighborhood isn't a protector. He's just another bandit, gorging himself on money he stole from the men he ostensibly lives to serve.

 

 

Like I said, I can't speak for everywhere, and of course I speak of the police as an organization, not as individuals. The country has many thousands of good policemen who desire nothing but to better their communities.

 

Frankly, I wouldn't care about racism in the police force if they did their jobs without bias. What I care about is that the police department, like all other government offices in my town and countless others, extorts money at gunpoint to fulfill promises it flat-out can't keep.

 

Honestly, I'm surprised more people aren't getting outraged over that.

Wow.

I just realized you have a way better superhero/villain/Epic backstory than I do.

I now need to find an old mentor on the verge of a breakthrough who's about to die if I want to stay in the running.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I'll say this about police--I don't know all of them, but the ones in my home town are completely useless. Crime runs rampant in my town. Gang violence is a thing. Drug smuggling is very much a thing. My father and I were shot at from the road by someone trying to rob from us.

Despite the fact that my town is a rural Texan version of Gotham City's underbelly, the police force does nothing. When a crime is reported they show up, file some paperwork, and then never continue the investigation. Crime runs rampant and unimpeded here, and through either apathy or genuine powerlessness, the police force does nothing.

Actually, that's not true. The police force does do one thing right--it oppresses the citizens. Take a drive through my town and you won't find cops investigating the latest robbery, or the guy who got stabbed to death with a long sword last month. You'll find them parked in discrete locations on the road, pulling people over and handing them exorbitant tickets if their car tags are expired. These tags, just for the record, don't indicate car safety. They are what we call a "compliance law"; they don't protect anyone, but you can get in a boatload of trouble for not having a completely up-to-date tag.

Speeding cars, by the way, have killed two of my cats in the time I've lived here, and the growing numbers of policemen monitoring traffic have done nothing to make the roads a safer place for either pets or people.

So the policemen in my town do nothing to reduce crime, and they benefit from seizing money on the side of the road from people who have never harmed another soul in their lives. These are not men who are "protecting and serving" me. I cannot count on them to come to my aid, but I can count on having an army of them outside my door the day I stop paying taxes for their upkeep.

The policemen of [REDACTED], Texas aren't warriors of justice, and while I won't go out of my way to spite them, I refuse to honor or verbally support them in the slightest. Because to my eyes, any policeman who spends more time handing out tickets over broken compliance laws than he does going after the superfluous gangsters in his neighborhood isn't a protector. He's just another bandit, gorging himself on money he stole from the men he ostensibly lives to serve.

Like I said, I can't speak for everywhere, and of course I speak of the police as an organization, not as individuals. The country has many thousands of good policemen who desire nothing but to better their communities.

Frankly, I wouldn't care about racism in the police force if they did their jobs without bias. What I care about is that the police department, like all other government offices in my town and countless others, extorts money at gunpoint to fulfill promises it flat-out can't keep.

Honestly, I'm surprised more people aren't getting outraged over that.

I grew up in Douglas, Wyoming. It was a small town where everyone knew everyone, which also applied to the police. Many of them had grown up in Douglas, so when they gave out tickets, more often than not they were giving them to people they knew by name, if not by face. This didn't stop them from giving out tickets, but I don't recall many complaints about punitive speeding tickets from Douglas officers.

I have a handful of sharp memories about them. One is of a squad car parked by our house as a speed trap. It was a hot day, so our mom had my brother and I take the cops some cold sodas. They were surprised and grateful and gave us teddy bears to say thanks. On the Fourth, the sheriff said he had to supervise residential fireworks. I recall him leaning against his car, smiling as the fireworks lit the night in blue and red and gold. When my three-year-old sister went missing on day, we called the police. Officers were dispatched immediately, even though missing persons cases aren't valid until one day after the disappearance, and searched the neighborhood and our house. When we found her sleeping under some blankets, my parents apologized profusely for wasting the officers' time, they brushed it off. "Would've done the same for my kid," they said.

Later, we moved to Spokane. The cops there are infamous for being trigger-happy. I read in the paper about the fatal Tasing of Otto Zehm, a mentally disabled man who posed no threat, at the hands of the police. I got stuck behind a squad car on my way home from work one day, and the officers slowed down to half the speed limit, knowing I couldn't pass or tailgate them without being pulled over and had no choice but to let them be jerks for the sake of it.

What these experiences taught me is that police departments are only as good as their officers, and that some officers are better than others. Officers both create and and are created by their departments' culture. The Douglas PD had an open, friendly culture. They saw themselves as part if the community and responsible to it, and they acted accordingly. Police there were officers of the law, but they didn't see themselves as above the law. In Spokane, on the other hand, the culture was one of distrust and arrogance. Officers saw themselves, by and large, as above the community, and their actions horrifically bore that out.

This informs my opinion of police as much as anything else. I know that there are officers like those who Tased Otto Zehm, but I also know that there are officers like the ones who rushed to help find my sister. There are some terrible officers and there are some wonderful officers, and they could very well exist in the same city.

[Kobold King he/him]

I grew up in Douglas, Wyoming. It was a small town where everyone knew everyone, which also applied to the police. Many of them had grown up in Douglas, so when they gave out tickets, more often than not they were giving them to people they knew by name, if not by face. This didn't stop them from giving out tickets, but I don't recall many complaints about punitive speeding tickets from Douglas officers.

I have a handful of sharp memories about them. One is of a squad car parked by our house as a speed trap. It was a hot day, so our mom had my brother and I take the cops some cold sodas. They were surprised and grateful and gave us teddy bears to say thanks. On the Fourth, the sheriff said he had to supervise residential fireworks. I recall him leaning against his car, smiling as the fireworks lit the night in blue and red and gold. When my three-year-old sister went missing on day, we called the police. Officers were dispatched immediately, even though missing persons cases aren't valid until one day after the disappearance, and searched the neighborhood and our house. When we found her sleeping under some blankets, my parents apologized profusely for wasting the officers' time, they brushed it off. "Would've done the same for my kid," they said.

Later, we moved to Spokane. The cops there are infamous for being trigger-happy. I read in the paper about the fatal Tasing of Otto Zehm, a mentally disabled man who posed no threat, at the hands of the police. I got stuck behind a squad car on my way home from work one day, and the officers slowed down to half the speed limit, knowing I couldn't pass or tailgate them without being pulled over and had no choice but to let them be jerks for the sake of it.

What these experiences taught me is that police departments are only as good as their officers, and that some officers are better than others. Officers both create and and are created by their departments' culture. The Douglas PD had an open, friendly culture. They saw themselves as part if the community and responsible to it, and they acted accordingly. Police there were officers of the law, but they didn't see themselves as above the law. In Spokane, on the other hand, the culture was one of distrust and arrogance. Officers saw themselves, by and large, as above the community, and their actions horrifically bore that out.

This informs my opinion of police as much as anything else. I know that there are officers like those who Tased Otto Zehm, but I also know that there are officers like the ones who rushed to help find my sister. There are some terrible officers and there are some wonderful officers, and they could very well exist in the same city.

 

 

Here's the thing about police badges--good men don't need them to do good deeds, but evil men rely heavily on them to get away with acts of wickedness. So the way I see it, why have a police force at all?

 

In ye olden days, entire towns would come together to search for missing children, or to drive murderers, rapists, thieves, and other vile sorts out of their community. In such a colonial system, the good men that made up the Douglas police department would have been anxiously searching for your sister whether or not they had badges or official authority. They'd do it because it's the right thing to do. Good men will be good, regardless of what they get in return.

 

The men who killed Otto Zehm were evil men. They exist in all societies, often becoming murderers, rapists, thieves, and other vile sorts. Unfortunately, our society is one of the few cultures that looks at such men, calls them "determined and hard-working," and grants them legal immunity and authority over law-abiding citizens. Evil men will be evil, but they won't get nearly so far in a society that drives them out into the wilderness as they will in a society that gives them a gun and permits them to go hog-wild.

 

Here's the sad truth about human government: it's based wholesale on a logical fallacy. Specifically, it's based on an "Appeal to Fear" fallacy; if you don't permit these armed men to take some of your money, society says, even more armed men will be breaking down your doors to take all of your money, or to burn down your house, or to enslave you, or to rape your family members, or do any number of other terrible things. There is no proof of this claim, but the people of western society has fallen for this protection racket hook, line, and sinker.

 

Heroes will be heroes and villains will be villains, but society has proven it can't tell which is which. Government does nothing to help the heroes but offers tailor-made positions of power to the vilest villains the population has to offer, which is why I now and forever label myself an anarchist.

 

 

Wow.

I just realized you have a way better superhero/villain/Epic backstory than I do.

I now need to find an old mentor on the verge of a breakthrough who's about to die if I want to stay in the running.

 

I was born with a physical disability (a clubfoot) and I often subconsciously walk with my hands clasped behind my back.

 

Good luck catching up with me.

[DreamEternal]

The policemen of [REDACTED], Texas aren't warriors of justice

On the plus side they don't think they are warriors of justice. When the police sees crime-fighting as a war what generaly happens is the mass murder of poor people. Brazil here for you.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Here's the thing about police badges--good men don't need them to do good deeds, but evil men rely heavily on them to get away with acts of wickedness. So the way I see it, why have a police force at all?

In ye olden days, entire towns would come together to search for missing children, or to drive murderers, rapists, thieves, and other vile sorts out of their community. In such a colonial system, the good men that made up the Douglas police department would have been anxiously searching for your sister whether or not they had badges or official authority. They'd do it because it's the right thing to do. Good men will be good, regardless of what they get in return.

The men who killed Otto Zehm were evil men. They exist in all societies, often becoming murderers, rapists, thieves, and other vile sorts. Unfortunately, our society is one of the few cultures that looks at such men, calls them "determined and hard-working," and grants them legal immunity and authority over law-abiding citizens. Evil men will be evil, but they won't get nearly so far in a society that drives them out into the wilderness as they will in a society that gives them a gun and permits them to go hog-wild.

Here's the sad truth about human government: it's based wholesale on a logical fallacy. Specifically, it's based on an "Appeal to Fear" fallacy; if you don't permit these armed men to take some of your money, society says, even more armed men will be breaking down your doors to take all of your money, or to burn down your house, or to enslave you, or to rape your family members, or do any number of other terrible things. There is no proof of this claim, but the people of western society has fallen for this protection racket hook, line, and sinker.

Heroes will be heroes and villains will be villains, but society has proven it can't tell which is which. Government does nothing to help the heroes but offers tailor-made positions of power to the vilest villains the population has to offer, which is why I now and forever label myself an anarchist.

I was born with a physical disability (a clubfoot) and I often subconsciously walk with my hands clasped behind my back.

Good luck catching up with me.

I more just intended to make a point that there are good cops and bad cops, good departments and bad, and detailing some of my experiences that led me to that conclusion. Your experiences led you to yours, and others may have different conclusions entirely. Edited October 12, 2015 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Kobold King he/him]

I more just intended to make a point that there are good cops and bad cops, good departments and bad, and detailing some of my experiences that led me to that conclusion. Your experiences led you to yours, and others may have different conclusions entirely.

 

Oh, there are definitely good cops in the world...

 

 

 

It is a fact that the phrase "police brutality" literally cannot exist with Officer McPug on the scene.

 

I hope I didn't seem overly aggressive in my argument--you made your point well, and I immensely value your contribution to the conversation.

Edited October 12, 2015 by Kobold King

[ThirdGen]

Now look here, I... [pug short-circuits all rational thought]...

 

Who's on patrol?  Who's on patrol?

[Delightful]

Someone tell me happy stuff? Pug stories? Anything?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Someone tell me happy stuff? Pug stories? Anything?

Bruce saw his own reflection in the mirror this morning and barked for like a minute straight.

And Mollie is teaching him how to bring people shoes when they come home.

Oh, and he's scared of the dark, so last night, he walked into an empty room with the light turned off and barked until someone turned the light on.

What happened?

[Zathoth]

Someone tell me happy stuff? Pug stories? Anything?

You know that irrational fear you have that there is a razor clawed monster hiding under your bed who is about to grab you when you go near it?

 

It is true if you have cats.

[Mashadar Mistborn he/him]

Someone tell me happy stuff? Pug stories? Anything?

My dog is so overprotective and scared at the same time. We left a can of spray paint on our driveway, and he started growling and raised his hackles at it. Then when we walked away from it, he fled as quickly as he could. If you don't mind telling,what's wrong?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

I had someone call about a job opening that sounded a lot like mine.

I looked it up--the hours are the same.

And now I'm terrified I'm going to be fired soon.

I'm going to get fired. I know I am. Oh gosh why didn't someone talk to me about this?

Help me. I'm so nervous. I'm terrified. I don't know what to do. I'm going to cry.

Edited October 12, 2015 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Blaze1616 he/him]

I'm immensely frustrated with all of the negative connotations people attach to 'anarchy'. Provided that the majority of the anarchic community's population are good people who aren't going to do terrible things to the world and each other, there is absolutely no reason that an anarchy cannot be an effective (and probably superior) way for people to live.

 

Thing is, you have to wonder if what you're describing is anarchy? Anarchy is defined as the state of disorder due to the absence or nonrecognition of authority. But what you've described does feature authority, in the form of social contracts. In what you've described, non-stated social contracts would govern in the place of actual laws. I assume that in your described society, you expect people to not murder or steal. How do you deal with someone who does, though? If you were truly anarchical, then you cannot take action against the perpetrator, because they've done nothing wrong, by definition of the anarchy system.

 

In the end, what you and Kobold are wanting is a society where every member is good and pure. Should such a society arise, I'd argue that whether they be anarchist or communist, it wouldn't matter, as everyone is good and pure, and the flaws you've described with our current system wouldn't exist.

[Mashadar Mistborn he/him]

I had someone call about a job opening that sounded a lot like mine.

I looked it up--the hours are the same.

And now I'm terrified I'm going to be fired soon.

I'm going to get fired. I know I am. Oh gosh why didn't someone talk to me about this?

Help me. I'm so nervous. I'm terrified. I don't know what to do. I'm going to cry.

Okay, are you the only one who works on your job for those hours? Is your company expanding or overwhelmed by too many people and thus might need another worker? If there are other people who work the same job, is one of them a chull? Think of Bruce and Bruno and Mollie. It will be okay. I wish I could help more.

[nicocoberru she/her]

And Mollie is teaching him how to bring people shoes when they come home.

 

Now the only thing I could imagine is two pugs greeting you from work and carrying a slipper on their mouth and it is so storming cute.

I had someone call about a job opening that sounded a lot like mine.

I looked it up--the hours are the same.

And now I'm terrified I'm going to be fired soon.

I'm going to get fired. I know I am. Oh gosh why didn't someone talk to me about this?

Help me. I'm so nervous. I'm terrified. I don't know what to do. I'm going to cry.

Oh. Would they do that? Isn't that terribly rude of them?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Okay. I checked the date on the posting--it's only been up a week. So I'll hopefully have time to find another job first.

Now to double down on the searching and pray I get something.

Edit: It's extremely rude, but I'm not surprised.

Edit edit: Mashadar, I'm the only one who works those hours. There's one other person in my position, but she works the morning shift and this posting was for the afternoon shift. The only difference between this position and mine is that this one calls for the candidate to come in half an hour later than I do on weekdays.

Edited October 12, 2015 by TwiLyghtSansSparkles

[Kaymyth she/her]

Okay. I checked the date on the posting--it's only been up a week. So I'll hopefully have time to find another job first.

Now to double down on the searching and pray I get something.

Edit: It's extremely rude, but I'm not surprised.

 

If this is what you think it is, they're not just rude, they're stupid.  What did it not occur to them that the person they intended to replace would, in the meantime, be manning the phones?  If you were a vindictive sort of person, you could easily just start torpedoing their hopes of getting any good candidates.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

If this is what you think it is, they're not just rude, they're stupid. What did it not occur to them that the person they intended to replace would, in the meantime, be manning the phones? If you were a vindictive sort of person, you could easily just start torpedoing their hopes of getting any good candidates.

True, very true. It might be why the listing asked candidates to email their resumes, but they had to know someone would call eventually.

I'm not so scared anymore. I'm just mad. Not ONCE did ANYONE say a word to me about my performance. Not ONCE was I told I had improvements to make. And now they're just going behind my back to find a replacement? The hell?

[Zathoth]

If this is what you think it is, they're not just rude, they're stupid.  What did it not occur to them that the person they intended to replace would, in the meantime, be manning the phones?  If you were a vindictive sort of person, you could easily just start torpedoing their hopes of getting any good candidates.

Sometimes I wonder why I am the evil one. That is genius!

[Blaze1616 he/him]

I'm not so scared anymore. I'm just mad. Not ONCE did ANYONE say a word to me about my performance. Not ONCE was I told I had improvements to make. And now they're just going behind my back to find a replacement? The hell?

 

You know, they could simply not be replacing you? Maybe they've noticed how busy it is, and how many people you often have on hold, so they decided to hire someone else to help you? Not that I'm saying this is definitely the case, but it's not exactly healthy to just assume the worst, you know? This happened to me a few years back, and it turned out that my management had been given the go ahead to hire another person, and they weren't replacing me at all.

[Mashadar Mistborn he/him]

You know, they could simply not be replacing you? Maybe they've noticed how busy it is, and how many people you often have on hold, so they decided to hire someone else to help you? Not that I'm saying this is definitely the case, but it's not exactly healthy to just assume the worst, you know? This happened to me a few years back, and it turned out that my management had been given the go ahead to hire another person, and they weren't replacing me at all.

That's a good point. I don't really know how this works. Would asking management about it be possible?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

You know, they could simply not be replacing you? Maybe they've noticed how busy it is, and how many people you often have on hold, so they decided to hire someone else to help you? Not that I'm saying this is definitely the case, but it's not exactly healthy to just assume the worst, you know? This happened to me a few years back, and it turned out that my management had been given the go ahead to hire another person, and they weren't replacing me at all.

  

That's a good point. I don't really know how this works. Would asking management about it be possible?

Possible? Theoretically. My manager is usually so busy, though, and doesn't communicate with me much anyway, so I don't know how this would look if I asked him. I really want to, but there's no guarantee of a straight answer.

[Mistrunner]

Possible? Theoretically. My manager is usually so busy, though, and doesn't communicate with me much anyway, so I don't know how this would look if I asked him. I really want to, but there's no guarantee of a straight answer.

[internet hug]