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*By business The USA has one of the worst (inefficient) social safety nets of the first world. The fact this pandemic is raging the way it is through our country right now is a testament to our failed promise to protect the general welfare our people, to say nothing of securing the blessings of liberty. Politicians care little-to-nothing about actually getting things done that benefit the people. I will give the Right credit there; at least they are candid about only caring about business and push “personal responsibility” as the reason a social net isn’t in the government’s interest – even though it’s part of the opening words of the all-so sacred Constitution.

My regular and I are seriously reconsidering rescheduling our vacation that’s been rescheduled thrice now and just doing a lazy weekend on the beach...Not ideal but something. The vacation is purchased as are the plane tickets. So paradise will await us if things still are crazy...It’s more I was looking forward to just getting away for a few days...

It’s easier to argue against a straw man.

They work hard to earn that, though!

Do you argue this way because corporations are people? Because I didn’t know that corporations “need” to spend their money on “forms of enjoyment.” How exactly does a corporation “enjoy” something? Your comment would’ve been a lot palatable and constructive had you stopped before beginning with “if.”

As long as there’s a demand, there’s market. If there are customers who want international travel, airlines will provide – either old or new. Before all this happened, Ryanair was discussing plans for economy flights to Europe. Of course that’s on hold right now, but the point illustrates there will always be someone who is willing to meet the demand. Some customers wouldn’t dream of a Ryanair experience to any destination and of course they’re not going to fly transatlantic in such accommodations. But others will, and economies of scale will make it profitable for such outfits, just as some will demand luxury good airfares as a status symbol.

I would go so far as to say the temporary now. But we’ve grown so accustomed to the immediacy of the present that everything is now. All that matters is now. We’re bombarded from every angle that every decision we make has lasting, permanent consequences. Otherwise we wouldn’t be driven to instant gratification. The motivation behind instant gratification is the notion that scarcity is the norm and so we best maximize opportunity right now, no matter what. Tomorrow will be hellacious if we don’t. There’s only one chance and it’s now.

And I wasn’t saying you were wrong. I’m saying the company’s policy is problematic.

This be feisty! Although I applaud the people for wanting distance, on a plane it makes little difference. It’s a petri dish. If the virus is there, it’s going to circulate. That said, some people might also have no choice but to fly right now. I have some compassion for that. I don’t necessarily automatically assume that everyone is selfishly or moronically flying despite the virus. There’s any number of valid reasons to fly even in this pandemic. There is no shortage of stories about airlines that treat passengers as cargo, not customers. But I also have sympathy for flight attendants too. I can only imagine it’s a thankless job. And right now with the state of air travel and the fear of the virus being recirculated inside a plane, it’s an extremely stressful job, I’m sure, to be sure. Maybe we can all step back and reframe the issue through a positive lens. Instead of assuming the worst, can we assume the best? Admin Note: Picture of child removed. No posting images of children.

Because it seems odd that speakers born in countries where gender markers are important for grammatical function for comprehension would just accept it. And as I said, my own experience of native Spanish speakers is that they call it an English concern that doesn’t make sense in Spanish. That’s why.

At the end of the day, it’s constructed and artificial. I’m not a fan of synthetic language. People can get their panties in a bunch about anything. They’ll always blame someone else for their offense.

The overriding principle of language is mutually intelligible convention. Words have etymologies and histories, and they show us how convention has changed across cultures and time. But the artificial introduction of meaning, particularly on the macro-cultural level, doesn’t often succeed. People simply don’t make a conscious effort to say, “This means this.” Instead, people who understand each other efficiently continue to use, by unspoken convention, that which works best. A good example could be the rise of the third person plural pronoun coming to conventionally be acceptable for a third person indefinite pronoun antecedent referring to persons. At the end of the day, unless the usage is mutually intelligible and conventionally accepted that usage won’t stand the test of time – orthographically, grammatically, syntactically, etc.

Were they born in a majority Spanish-speaking country?

My Latino best friend (gay) has told me that Latinx makes no sense to a native speaker of Spanish.

Tangent – very, very disappointing that Mulan isn’t including the musical score from the animated version. That alone is enough to make me put seeing it on hold...

But I need my participation trophy!

Yes. But is there a way to keep from using the whole alphabet to do that? The same with “ladies and gentlemen.” That used to be a pleasant way to greet people, recognizing there’s some diversity in the room without needing to enumerate every imaginable permutation of identity. What happens if you miss someone in your roster? LGBTQ. Uh oh. There’s an I person here! Are they butthurt? Bet your behind they are. I am sympathetic to “queer” covering it all. I don’t see why every possible identity needs to be mentioned when talking in generalizations. Generalizations are *meant* to make communicating broadly more effective. Inevitably there will be people who don’t match up with the generalizations as much as others do. Does that mean we don’t value them or think they’re invisible? No. It simply means we didn’t mention them. Not everyone gets an honorable mention.

Yes. But is there a way to keep from using the whole alphabet to do that? The same with “ladies and gentlemen.” That used to be a pleasant way to greet people, recognizing there’s some diversity in the room without needing to enumerate every imaginable permutation of identity. What happens if you miss someone in your roster? LGBTQ. Uh oh. There’s an I person here! Are they butthurt? Bet your behind they are. I am sympathetic to “queer” covering it all. I don’t see why every possible identity needs to be mentioned when talking in generalizations. Generalizations are *meant* to make communicating broadly more effective. Inevitably there will be people who don’t match up with the generalizations as much as others do. Does that mean we don’t value them or think they’re invisible? No. It simply means we didn’t mention them. Not everyone gets an honorable mention.

I wasn’t the one who posted it. So...

Quippy insults always inevitably end up insulting someone unintended. Sorry you were offended but it wasn’t addressed at you. At some point we need to learn to deal with our offenses and have enough brains to differentiate that not everything is about us individually. The me-culture of this world is destroying us. We’re too damn self-referential about everything – good and bad.

They’ve done those visits in Hawaii. It’s quite conceivable they’d do it in NY too. I see the testing and quarantine regimen as a good solution til we get a vaccine. It’s not that cumbersome or burdensome. If you travel, you have to test or quarantine. If you’re unwilling to quarantine, get the test.

I find the whole profile off-putting...

I didn’t realize that Americans had such a hankering for going to the movies until this pandemic!