My example was from around college with a Disney adult (I know) who was adamant that Pocahontas shouldn't be counted in the Disney princess line up.

That fixation set an alarm bell in my liberal brain, but I didn't want to think it was racism at the time. But the fixation on using technicalities (not technically a princess in the western monarchy sense) like in this case was just reaching to exclude a category of people in a way that was socially acceptable.

I can see that unbending view of rules and technicalities to be a red flag. The lack of willingness to take a personal stake in a topic and couching your real thoughts in arbitrary rules has been a clear sign for me to watch out. I see it with boardgames too. The excessive rule-following clues me in to a lot of reactionary behavior.

What about the rest of you? What things turned out to be red flags like that?

Edit - Fast forward to present day and this person is no longer a friend and is big into Q, Trump, and covid denialism.

    • LoudMuffin [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      bruh

      holy shit we just have high taxes in the US then, I make below the poverty line and I get like 400+ taken out of my check

      • chadhominem [comrade/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Technically we have lower taxes than most of the developed world - but its just even more painful because it's only by like 5% and we get fuckin 0% of the social benefits. Like if you lived in France you'd prolly make even less $$, still get that $400 taken from your check, but you'd have healthcare/housing/university/etc.

        • keepcarrot [she/her]
          ·
          3 years ago

          I find it weird that the US doesn't have a tax-free level of income. In Australia , it's below AUD18000 a year, you only really have sales taxes.

          • spectre [he/him]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I think it's similar here tbh, but I don't feel like googling it

            • keepcarrot [she/her]
              ·
              3 years ago

              I vaguely remember looking it up and there was a Federal minimum 5% tax rate, with each state doing something with taxes also