Funkstain wrote:

Ah I getcha. yeah do your own due diligence is good advice usually was trying to explain that to my son the other day, he asked me what I thought was the most likely source of covid19. I said frankly I don't know, I know very little about viral engineering and epidemiology and all the various sciences and expertise you'd need to be able to form an interesting, valid opinion. He insisted: yeah but what's your opinion on what's more likely? Apparently the playground consensus is China lab leak (and something about Siberian prehistoric virus which sounds cool), and I was trying to get across that such opinions are for the birds: they heard it form their parents, who are also very unlikely to be virus experts, and so the opinion is as useful as used toilet roll - and possibly damaging, as it may encourage othering of China etc. So it's better NOT to have an opinion on something, on a subject on which you know literally nothing of value

QFPT cos interested in how others would deal with their kids asking this sort of thing

My boy is at that age where he's being told lots in the playground about sex and a load of other silly stuff about China, Hitler, Covid or whatever.

After him telling me other kids were watching porn on their phones at school and for reasons I can't really explain I decided we'd watch South Park together, and it's working out pretty well. There are lots of questions afterwards and we go through it and it leads to all sorts of unexpected things. 

Cartman dresses as Hitler and there's lots of Jew jokes so we go through the fact that one of the writers is Jewish which in turn leads to a discussion about the context of the N word and why it's not the same when black people use it. 

Or 'Cartman's Mom Is a Slut' and after there's a discussion about why people frown on that yet think it's ok when men do it. 

It's nothing he doesn't hear in the playground and I think it's going ok. Plus we're both rolling about in laughter. His Mum is possibly going to kill me but we'll deal with that when it happens.

Well that's the idea. And because he now likes SP it's an easy way to talk get him to him about stuff rather than sitting him down. The cartoonish way also helps because it's never as graphic unlike some of the stuff that's shown at school. I've had him all weekend because school hols and it's been a great way to talk about all this stuff. The conversation after each episode is usually quite long because there's a lot of ground to cover when Cartman bumps his head and wakes up thinking he's a Vietnamese prositute. 

He's since opened up about a lot of stuff he's seen or heard at school and it's been a really good bonding experience.

Funkstain wrote:

Funkstain wrote:

Ah I getcha. yeah do your own due diligence is good advice usually was trying to explain that to my son the other day, he asked me what I thought was the most likely source of covid19. I said frankly I don't know, I know very little about viral engineering and epidemiology and all the various sciences and expertise you'd need to be able to form an interesting, valid opinion. He insisted: yeah but what's your opinion on what's more likely? Apparently the playground consensus is China lab leak (and something about Siberian prehistoric virus which sounds cool), and I was trying to get across that such opinions are for the birds: they heard it form their parents, who are also very unlikely to be virus experts, and so the opinion is as useful as used toilet roll - and possibly damaging, as it may encourage othering of China etc. So it's better NOT to have an opinion on something, on a subject on which you know literally nothing of value

QFPT cos interested in how others would deal with their kids asking this sort of thing

Yep, that's what I do.  I'd cite scientific evidence-based research or some such, where appropriate, otherwise just put my hands up and admit that I do not know and I wouldn't want to guess.  Hopefully this teaches them that they also can't go around giving opinions on matters ther are not well read on, and that they should look up where they can propoer evidence-based research.

Eek!

Neymar of protests.

Snap the cunt off

Not harsh enough for me. Snap those bones

ZMM wrote:

Wait are you for real, can't tell anymore. You think that treatment is justified??

And don't come at me with the "they are blocking" ambulances bullshit because they aren't.

You'd have thought the destruction and inconvenience of mass-flooding would be more of a pressing concern for any government but there you go

I haven't got any idea what the protestors were doing before that video started so I've got no idea if that was proportionate or not.

I shouldn't wish to pass judgement without knowing when the protester was diagnosed with fannyitess.

A snap on the wrist you mean

Does he have osteoporosis as well as fannyitess?
Can't rule out a severe case of younger sibling either.

Being tortured by a police officer is worse than a punch in the face. It's not like he can legitimately fight back.

Does anybody bother reading anything about what's happening at COP anymore?

I see a "landmark deal" has been agreed. Again.

I'm sure it will be robust and everyone will stick to it.

Well, I guess that’s it then.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/08/global-temperature-over-1-5-c-climate-change

The internationally agreed threshold to prevent the Earth from spiraling into a new superheated era will be “passed for all practical purposes” by May, the man known as the godfather of climate science has warned.