It really depends. A lot of them are hurt in some way shape or form and in a desperate situation like qooqie mentions and get pushed back into a corner over and over until they violently lash out, and a lot of others have a genuine disdain for other people or a warped personality/prespective on something (like Elliot Rogers and his entitlement to a girlfriend/sex) and rather than try and quell it or get help, they let it fester until they eventuallty also lash out.

The end result is the same. Either they get inspired to do heinous actions because there's no other option in their head to stop whatever they precieve as a problem, or they look at someone else that did them before and think "they had the right idea" and emulate them.

By reminding myself that unless some space rock suddenly hits us or the sun decides to explode super early, we're fine. And if you look at our history as a species, we'll continue to be fine. We've endured far worse things than this before and we'll do it again and again. We're good at that. Stupidly good. Whatever rough spots we're facing now is going to pass. It's always passed. Can't be bad all the time, after all. As for global warming causing a potential extinction event? It...more than likely won't happen in our life time, so, worry, but don't, like, believe it'll happen tomorrow or that we're already actually facing The Great Dying 2.0. We're maybe at the crossroads, but not there yet.

Other than that? I do as a few have already mentioned here and try and make the world just a slightly better place. Helping others in my community out, being kind and considerate to the people around me, trying to not get frustrated at drivers out on the road (this is tough NGL), that kinda thing.

Two things made me leave. Both having to do with Windows.

1. Microsoft themselves.

2. My Windows install was just...bad. I'm not sure how else to describe a Windows that frequently crashed and just gave up and Blue Screen. Sure, both probably happen to any normal Windows install (well, the 1st thing. If you get the second, yeah that's a problem)--but not at the frequency it happened with mine, I'm sure. Besides that, it was slow for no reason (AFAIA, anyways) and doing anything took a while. Yeah, I eventually reinstalled it after some hassle, and after that it was just slow, but then i made the fatal mistake of trying Windows 11 and was like "if this is what I'm eventually ganna have do deal with...no thanks." Tbf, Microsoft was promting it, so i assumed it was an upgrade to Windows 10, not a wannabe chromebook with some baffling "lets fix what isn't broken and works great as is" choices.

Well, thinking about it, there was a third reason i ususally neglect to mention:

3. I had a choice. I like looking at all my available options and choosing what to go with instead of having something chosen for me. I'm a big boy and can make my own choices for myself, thank you (looking right at you there, Bill). As soon as i heard "there's something else besides this or an Apple Product. And it's much better than some people like to give it credit for" i researched a bit on the differences, the requirements, and a good place to start, and well, here I am.

As for what I am, IDK. I'm a happy Linux user, but i also get some people are perfectly happy Windows users (or aren't, but are locked into the ecosystem regardless) and hey, as long as we agree that both OS's have their quirks, you let me keep my penguins, and I'll let ya keep your...erm, Windows (does Windows have a mascot? I doubt it, but you never know)

That is...true, actually. The longer I use Linux, the more I'm like "....but what if, man, what if I ditch Arch for Fedora or NixOS or give Pop_OS! another chance (and i very well might when Cosmic launches)?" And sometimes I do...and then always come crawling back.

Going back to Windows full time ain't even crossed my mind for a hot minute. Partly because i have a spare driver running it for emergencies (that i barely use anyways, only because Windows literally runs one important app that I need, that I can't run on Linux), and partly because going back means being stuck with Windows 11 again, and I really dislike Windows 11's design choices, personally (and Microsoft in general, but i digress).

If you're fighting a one man war for privicy? Yeah, that's pretty much a lost cause. (Also, the "all or nothing" approach will leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth. Pick your fights, and accept that you'll never be able to keep all away from companies selling em, and that sometimes, sacrifices to your privacy have to be made. Complete removal shouldn't be the goal when it's just you going at it--it should be the reduction of what they get as much as feasibly possible without inconveniancing the user)

If you spread and bring that war to the collective? That's where things are gonna change. Slowly, yeah, but they'll change.

Dunno if I'd consider myself "younger" anymore (who am i kidding, i ain't THAT old lol), but...

If we count really old games: the OG castlevania's. Didn't grow up during that era, but thanks to handmedowns, i got to play pre Symphany Vania when i was super young. Love them, wish i was better at them tho. The collections are sitting in my steam library, and maybe some day, I'll beat at least one of the classics.

For something more recent(?) tho, i love me some Touhou. fangames, offically made games by Zun, fan games in the style of Zun, ya name it....but MAN do i suck at the actual bullethell Touhou games. i can make it past two or 3 stages, but then the boss destroys me and I'm like "I CAN choose continue, nothing but pride is stopping me...but also, if i can't manage this far without continuing, how bad is the rest gonna be??" and wuss out lol

So we're basically saying the same thing about the subject then. Wonderful. Dunno how you got me saying "It's not going to affect the life of the person viewing it unless said person lets it" to mean "it applies to people who damned themselves down this road willing and people who has an actual problem with it" in the context of OP's question

Now, "Ungenerous interpretation of what [you] said" where, exactly?

You asked "does it include compulsive gamblers?"

And I answered No, because I answered the OP's question from a general perspective--not asking as someone who already has a compulsive urge to masturbate/drink/gamble/whathaveyou. The first one can be affected either positively or negatively by something, if they let the habit control them vs the other way around, while the other's already affected in a negative way, so i didn't bother bringing them up. (Not even touching on the fact that it should be obvious, or well, at least it is to me, you CANNOT advise or help an addict in the same way you're going to advise a person whose curious/a bit green on something they wanna try)

Wait, was it in my anecdote about me deing a drunk? If that's the case, then there was a failure to communicate on my part and I apologize. I didn't mean to imply that you said "all porn bad", i said it to point out how distiling something that to a basic category like "all alcohol is bad" without the nuance of "it's less the thing and more the different people interacting with the thing" to be....well, bad, and reductive because context matters.

The alcholic is already in a habit. What i put was not written with the idea of an addict in mind, simply that the act (porn) is not some evil, rotten thing that should be avoided like the plague, but should instead be treated as a neutral thing and viewed with moderation--should a normal, non-addicted person decide to do so at all.

Also, that you used that specific example for your comment, considering I actually did put the bottle down a while ago because yeah, boiling it down, it pretty much was destroying my relationships and not doing my already weak ass immune system any favors, made me crack a smile NGL

You're speaking about a compulsive habit at that point, so no. That's a completely different animal than what i meant.

I wrote the above along the lines of "Is the action bad in of itself? No. CAN it turn into a bad habit and hurt a person? Yes. All depends on the person interacting with it"

Like, as a former (recovering? Don't drink anymore, besides, at best, 1 bottle at gatherings, if even that, and sometimes during hangouts) alcoholic, yeah I'll call out when companies and other people try to enable someone with a drinking problem to keep going...but I'm also not gonna go around and say "all alcoholic beverages bad" because I recklessly abused something that is known to hurt the body if used without restraint and paid for it. Maybe it's a poor comparison since porn can't physically hurt you the way alcohol can (tho it can mentally warp a person in some ways, especially if they're younger/have nobody to teach them properly about sexual education) but that's the only example I can give and i hope i got my point across.

As someone else put it perfectly in another comment: it's just porn. It's not going to affect the life of the person viewing it unless said person lets it.

IMO, tho, as with most things things in life, just doing as the Greeks did is a good rule of thumb: you doing this in moderation? you're good.

1. welcome to Linux. yer a Penguin now, Harry! Yeah, I remember the whole "kid in a candy shop" feeling I got when I first started lol

2. hope you have better luck with your Dell than i did. Treated mine like a baby, and suddenly? The shell around the screen and board cracked. Ya think repairing it would be easy/cheap, but alas, somehow....(not trying scare you just, becareful with it, cheap or no)

Instead of laugh, I'll clap because it looks pretty good. We all start somewhere, and this ain't bad at all

It's cool! Some interesting nugget might hit ya later.

Legion is a solid film...and probably the only unanimously agreed upon good film in The Exorcist series other than the first. God, this series is like Texas Chainsaw Massacre; It barely gets a break (a break in this case being a good entry that's not THAT divisive)

I know about the Lesser Key and some "Alternative Source", i guess you can call em, texts describing Demons, but was more interested what the official canon had to say regarding demons/possessions. Based on the answers I've seen so far, it seems to be not as in depth as I thought, but what is there is very interesting IMO (i dig the animal shapes from the Torah that you brought up. From my very very limited recollection of my Catholic upbringing, they weren't given a definite shape, tho i could be very wrong...i was a bad Catholic and it's been years)

Adding that to the Watch later pile, thank you

I loved how detailed this answer is, thank you!

So less "intentionally terrorizing those around the possessed" and more "causing the possessed to suffer physically/mentally"? I'm sensing the pattern that Demons tend to love aping or causing mental illnesses/strange behaviors based on this and other comments. Or well, the animalistic behavior could also be the person's reaction to having an entity taking him/her over, maybe trying to get it to leave? But...then again, that could also be that thing probably being ecstatic to have a body to move around in, who knows.

Man was clearly doing a quest for Sheogorath lol

In MY bag? Nothing really comes to mind. In someone elses bag tho?

It's been years and I still remember the guy that carried around a gym bag with wheels of cheese in em in my community college. Dunno if he was selling, but i was always kinda wanted one NGL

And I am once again reminded why you never stick your dick in crazy. The lay might have been worth it, but all the bullshit after? Fuck that, I'd rather find my someone whose not gonna make my canities worse even if the suck in the sack. Shit, I'm no pornstar myself so.

Please tell me you either put as much distance as humanly possible from her, got a restraining order on her ass, or, and god help them, she found someone else to haunt...

She had the gall a week later to chase me down the street begging to speak to me and apologizing...i was still being followed for 1/2 mile.

I would have heard her out if i was you. Not because I'd take her back or believe a single word that comes out of her mouth, no, no, but the sheer audacity of doing that + the desperation to get you to listen...nah, whatever fiction she came up with HAS to be some Oscar-worthy writing instead of the whole "it was a mistake!" if she borderline stalked you to share it, and then thought for a second she still had a shot with you after.

That, or her (non-existent) balls are bigger than her brains.