Yeap, that's how the placebo effect works. Your brain is really good at making things happen based on expectations. Granted, they could just be an asshole and thought alcohol/drugs would give them an excuse, but my understanding is that yeah, that's the placebo effect at work.
Just a reminder that Mike White appeared on a podcast run by Andrew Sullivan - known for promoting the "bell jar" pseudoscientific theory on racial intelligence potentials - in order to promote autogynephilia. Autogynephilia is a similarly pseudoscientific concept which claims that trans people can be split into two categories: "true" trans, and men with a fetish for appearing as a woman (aka, a paraphilia).
For those who are new to the concept (most cis people aren't familiar with it), there are a lot of problems with it, both the original concept and the way it's wielded.
It is often used to erase the possibility of being a non-heterosexual trans woman by defining "true" trans women as being exclusively attracted to men.
It is often used to erase the existence of trans women who wish to appear butch or otherwise androgynous (I personally identify as fem, but enjoy the idea of looking fem-drogynous).
It is often used to erase the identities between the binaries.
It did not have a cisfem control group.
It did not account for trans men and is often used to erase trans men.
It fails to take into account that the arousal towards seeing oneself as their chosen gender could be rooted in self-actualization and not objectification of the female body or fetishization of femininity.
It fails to account for the fact that arousal from pride in one's self-image is something that cis people can experience. As an extension of this it fails to consider the fact that, having been starved of that experience, the feelings associated with that experience will almost certainly be far stronger for trans people who are just learning to take pride in their appearance.
Even its existence by itself is an issue because, as I can attest to, it's not uncommon for autogynephilia to be one of the first things a trans person, especially a trans woman, might come across while playing devil's advocate with their own dysphoric desires.
One of the reasons why I personally took 10yrs to actually start transitioning was because, as a 20yr old just discovering the concept of transness after moving out for the first time, autogynephilia was one of the first things I read about. Because of the fact that I found transformation art, especially relating to gender transformation, to be arousing, I believed that I was simply a man with a fetish.
It wasn't until far later that I discovered that what I experienced was relatively normal for trans people and didn't erase my transness. Someone explained to me their own belief as to why, which makes a hell of a lot more sense than the mental gymnastics being done by autogynephilia - due to how sexuality and gender are interlinked with each other, it's unsurprising that the rush of hormones from feeling pride in your appearance as your preferred gender (aka, gender euphoria) after lacking that experience for most of your life would cause sexual arousal.
It's a very harmful concept, even just passively, and it makes me sad that Mike White is still being platformed after promoting it. Though not surprising, I suppose, considering that companies like Warner Bros and HBO can't stop chewing on Rowling's fetid, rancid cunt.
(For those more familiar with fighting against the term, lemme know if I missed any issues with autogynephilia because I'm sure there are a lot I haven't covered)
Uhh.... Someone was literally raped on set, in front of an audience, and no one got arrested? Are you fucking serious?
Honestly, based genie. Instead of fucking you over by twisting your wish into something negative, he fucks you over by spending time on small details. At least the latter will likely result in something you actually want, whereas the former will probably suck.
Dio stands on the roof of a McDonald's and pisses into the air conditioner while the Todd Moon watches.
Afaik no one knows where the line between "human-made" and "machine-made" is, so AI-generated imagery is considered public domain (at least for now).
Leading up to his death:
For those of you outside of the community (and possibly wondering why the furry side of social media is on fire), Dragoneer did a hell of a lot for the furry community. FurAffinity is the largest furry art host and social network; he could have sold out and allowed AI, or made the site friendly to corporate advertising, but he didn't.
He intentionally didn't.
If he had, he probably would have been able to afford healthcare, but he didn't.
He died because he wanted to keep the site in the community instead of whoring it out to corporations, resulting in him not having the money for healthcare when he needed it the most. I wish I'd been more aware of what was going on because I would have chipped in to help (if he'd allowed it).
It makes me fucking furious that the US, the country with the highest GDP in the world by 10 TRILLION DOLLARS, still allows this to happen.
RIP Dragoneer, we'll never forget you. Wherever you are, I hope it's filled with fur, feathers, scales and wagging tails.
Edit: made some formatting edits
I think I would apologize and then say that I was just trying to be nice by giving her a chance.
My phone: "we paused your music/video because you clicked on another video/song/sound clip and we don't want you to get overwhelmed by multiple audio streams"
My computer: "HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER! LET'S PLAY 57.5 MOVIES AT THE SAME TIME WHILE WE LISTEN TO THE NATURAL SOUNDS OF TRASH COMPACTORS AND WATCH A YOUTUBE VIDEO ABOUT SAWING YOUR COCK OFF, BITCH!"
Edit: I was trying to make a joke about how her new fondness for the number "34" was because "haha funny sex rule number" aka "rule34".
According to the New Zealand not-for-profit Gender Minorities Aotearoa, the wait time for bottom surgery in the public health system is 10 to 12 years.
Holy shit, that's a long wait time.
Edit for people who are curious: it's not Photoshop, it's a troodontid mask made by Archesuchus for their "Weird Birds" series. Here's what it looks like under normal lighting conditions.
Not gonna lie, I really, really want one. But fursuit heads are expensive (I'm assuming the cost would be similar since that's basically what it is) and I don't have the skill or tools to make one myself. :c
Honestly, Mark Cuban seems like kind of a cool guy, for a billionaire. I'm sure he's done nasty shit, it's basically inevitable that even the most morally and ethically conscious person would have to do something bad in order to become a billionaire; however he doesn't come off as being sociopathically greedy like Musk or Bezos.
You know, I couldn't really figure out what this comic was commenting on until now. It's rich people. The lions are rich people "educating" the masses on why they should be thankful that the lions exist.
Honestly, fuck diamonds in general. Normalize jewelry with unnatural laboratory gems. The old gems are boring, bring on the synthetic glowy gems.
Edit: damn, you can get chunks of reject sapphire made for F35 fighter jet windows on their new store. They've got some pieces over 1kg.
Remember when Y2K was going to potentially end the world, but it didn't thanks to experts working 'round the clock?
Remember when corporations turned around and got pissy because Y2K was successfully avoided, claiming that it was all a big hoax?
Remember how it's now taught in some places that Y2K was a hoax and you can't trust experts?
No wonder the world struggled with COVID.
That's... actually a form of dysphoria. I can attest from first-hand experience, wishing you were a woman is a form of dysphoria. You don't have to feel sad to be dysphoric, having a somewhat persistent desire to be seen as a different gender is enough.
Edit: this is assuming you aren't already a woman >.>