I had a political science professor talk about working in a campaign with a politician who tried to make a compromise with people for or against the death penalty.

The compromise was that inmates given a life sentence would be offered a lethal pill that they could take at any time. I think he said the idea was that they would have it in their cell to use at any time.

That shit sounded fucking wild to me, but I was like 18 at the time and didn't know why I felt that way.

Looking back now, the psychological torture of being imprisoned for life with a pill like that would be immense and immoral as fuck.

Anyway, that's just one from me. What about the rest of you?

    • effervescent [they/them]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I personally believe that kids desiring to become famous is a horrifying prospect. But yeah like... throw yourself into playing football and study athletic health in the meantime so you have some transferable skills if you don’t go pro. How hard is that to tell a kid? Let them learn about how horrible being famous is later

    • anaesidemus [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      one thing about this, while it's kinda fucked up to discourage kids to follow their dreams the importance of luck cannot be overstated. Like this Cracked article, from before they went to shit, states:

      let's take maybe the most successful movie actor of all time, Harrison Ford. He farted around Hollywood for nine years, taking bit parts without anything major ever coming his way. Clearly talented, very hard-working. Yet not once did anybody look at him and say, "This guy will sell several billion dollars' worth of tickets and action figures some day!" He was just another ambitious, pretty face, in a city full of them. He got so fed up, he quit acting and became a carpenter. Then one day he got hired to install cabinets in the home of a guy named George Lucas. They became friends. That got him the role of Han Solo a few years later.

      • emizeko [they/them]
        ·
        3 years ago

        turns out it's not true, but the real story is just as lucky

        https://www.cbr.com/movie-legends-revealed-how-did-harrison-ford-and-george-lucas-meet/

        although Ford did do cabinet work for Coppola

        • anaesidemus [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          ohh for sure, I wasn't trying to contradict you. Success is whatever you make of it.