Popular Comments Across MetaFilter

By stilgar in "Canada/US Trade Talks Collapse" on MeFi

stilgar — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 12:20:30 GMT

Some dating advice from a disgruntled American.

Canada, now is your chance to move on. Rip off the band-aid and finally start to disentangle yourself from America, we are a toxic partner and you could do so much better.

Go wild! Get really into solar panels, hydro power and cheap Chinese EV's.

Respect yourself girl! That tar sands guy, he isn't any better than America was.

You know what would really make America realize what he has lost, start producing products that unlock all his IP. Cheap printer ink, parts for his tractors, programs that unlock his phones, cheap drugs, ways to leave his social media and tech platforms, girl you could make trillions and really show him how much he took you for granted.

There is a whole world out there. Literally hundreds of other nation partners you could be dating, you might think you need America, but have you seen how hot all the countries in Central/South America and Europe and Asia and Africa and Oceana are? Girl you're single! Get out there and mingle!

I know you said you're capitalist, but after a big breakup is the perfect time to try new things, remember in college when you flirted with democratic socialism...I think you should give that a try again, you were never happier.

Lets see America show up drunk at your house in the middle of the night begging to have you back and you can be like "No way man, all my shit runs on the sun now, get out of here, you stink of gasoline and oligarchy, why are you acting like this, you're pathetic, this is why I couldn't introduce you to my mother!"

By runningdogofcapitalism in "Canada/US Trade Talks Collapse" on MeFi

runningdogofcapitalism — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 10:39:40 GMT

The Strait of OurMoose now closed.

By smelendez in "Comedian/musician Reggie Watts accused of coercion by multiple women" on MeFi

smelendez — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 14:42:00 GMT

This is a side note, and sorry this is the first comment, but I don't really feel comfortable with the redaction of the term "suicide" here.

It feels stigmatizing, or censorious of what should be an important topic? I know it's kind of a clinical / legalistic term, but I'd encourage people who are uncomfortable with it to simply use other phrasing rather than treating it like a curse word.

By newdaddy in "Canada/US Trade Talks Collapse" on MeFi

newdaddy — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 09:22:47 GMT

As a USian, I want to say how sorry I am. I never wanted these tariffs. The behavior of the Trump regime does not represent my interests. I hope America can earn back some measure of Canada's trust once this sorry episode is over.

By saladin in "And I Will Always Love You" on MeFi

saladin — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:15:45 GMT

WRONG 80-YEAR OLD, PLEASE TRY AGAIN

By DirtyOldTown in "And I Will Always Love You" on MeFi

DirtyOldTown — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:20:28 GMT

Another obit from The Hollywood Reporter.

A choice bit:

[Dolly] was also wistful about a missed opportunity with Elvis Presley. The King was eager to record "I Will Always Love You" soon after it was released in 1974, and she was thrilled at the prospect.

But when Presley's manager, Col. Tom Parker, demanded 50 percent ownership of the song publishing — as was customary with everything Elvis recorded — she turned him down flat.

"I said, 'This is the most important copyright in my whole publishing company, and I can't do that," she told BBC Radio in 2023 of her conversation with Parker.

"Other people were saying, 'You're nuts. It's Elvis Presley. I mean, hell, I'd give him all of it,'" she said in 2006. "I said, 'I can't do that.' Something in my heart says, 'Don't do that.'"

Parton recounted in numerous interviews how she cried all night after turning him down.

"I always wondered what it would sound like. He would have killed it. But anyway, so he didn't," she said. "Then when [Houston's version] came out, I made enough money to buy Graceland."

By orange swan in "And I Will Always Love You" on MeFi

orange swan — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 18:15:54 GMT

The only reason Dolly Parton wasn't a billionaire was that she gave away so much money.

The world is both figuratively and literally a poorer place without her.

By Kitteh in "And I Will Always Love You" on MeFi

Kitteh — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 19:14:37 GMT

From my longtime internet and IRL pal Jack Fear:

What Dolly taught us is that it is in fact possible to be wealthy beyond your wildest dreams of avarice but still be a fundamentally good person with a strong moral compass, and the only reason more rich people aren't like that is because they don't want to be.

By tallmiddleagedgeek in "Canada/US Trade Talks Collapse" on MeFi

tallmiddleagedgeek — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 11:15:33 GMT

I don't think it's actually possible to make a deal with the Trumpists. They're following the Putin model, in which Great Powers subjugate their neighbours and turn them into compliant satellites.

If Canada had made any concessions, they would have interpreted it as weakness and would have demanded further concessions. And Trump would eventually renege on the agreement anyway because that's what he does.

This will inflict pain on Canada but will inflict equal or worse pain on the United States. It's horrifying to watch our southern neighbours disintegrate in real-time.

By eirias in "Canada/US Trade Talks Collapse" on MeFi

eirias — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 11:09:16 GMT

I cheer every single time someone pushes back on our horrible president. I wish everyone would behave like your PM. Thanks for posting.

By wenestvedt in "And I Will Always Love You" on MeFi

wenestvedt — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 18:13:36 GMT

What a treasure.

When I was a kid in the 1970s and 80s she was a punchline; as I grew up and discovered all her philanthropy, and recognized her cheerful, kind nature, my opinion changed 100%.

.

By hovey in "Teach my teen some street smarts" on Ask MeFi

hovey — Wed, 19 Aug 2026 16:36:23 GMT

Ok I'll share one of the things that my dad, a Vietnam combat veteran with the lifetime of justified paranoia and PTSD that entails, told me (a young man, but applies to all genders I think...)

Whenever you walk into a room, you want to know three things: where's the entrance, where's the exit, and where's the asshole.

--Remember the way you came in, so you can get out that way.
--Be aware of a second exit, in case the first is blocked
--SOMEBODY in that room enjoys causing problems for other people. Figure out who that is, an keep an eye on them.

By DirtyOldTown in "And I Will Always Love You" on MeFi

DirtyOldTown — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 18:38:30 GMT

When Dolly made all of that money from Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You" she used some of her proceeds to buy a strip mall complex in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Nashville. She set up her offices there instead of on mostly white Music Row. She said she chose the location to honor Houston and support the local community:

I bought a property down in what was the Black area of town, and it was mostly just Black families... I thought, "This is the perfect place for me to be, considering it was Whitney. I'm just gonna be down here with her people, who are my people as well."

By joannemerriam in "What fun movies blew your mind this century?" on Ask MeFi

joannemerriam — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 17:09:24 GMT

Everything Everywhere All At Once, it's not spooky but it is genre (alternate-universe-travel), parts of it are hilarious, bonus for the conflict centering around a mother and daughter

By seanmpuckett in "Comedian/musician Reggie Watts accused of coercion by multiple women" on MeFi

seanmpuckett — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 14:51:54 GMT

The redaction is self-censorship, habitually used partly in response to TikTok and other platforms shadow banning or outright removing content that isn't socially conforming and pleasant based on text pattern match. There are other, more absurd reasons.

It is neither necessary nor desired on MeFi.

By mcstayinskool in "And I Will Always Love You" on MeFi

mcstayinskool — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 18:24:47 GMT

Helped fund the Moderna COVID vaccine (and was an early recipient and promoter)

Donated $1 million for Hurricane Helene recovery and got Walmart to kick in another $10 million

Recorded a rock album at age 77

country music icon, feminist icon
roots music icon Little Sparrow

2019 podcast deep dive on this amazing human being: Dolly Parton's America

By mumimor in "Canada/US Trade Talks Collapse" on MeFi

mumimor — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 11:47:30 GMT

The insanity...

It is more and more clear to see that the US administration has a vision: they want to transform, the USA into Russia, a large, economically insulated kleptocracy, where the population are locked inside and exploited by the kleptocrats and a huge part of the economy is devoted to warfare. And the driver of the economy is fossile fuels. Because the days when US products were popular are going away.

Also one thing I've been thinking of for years now, even before Trump came down the golden escalator: people who talk about how they are treated really bother me. Do they have no agency? Are they not interacting with their fellow humans as humans. Treating is in my mind something you do to animals or maybe helpless humans like infants. And I don't want to be treated (except when it comes to cakes), I want other humans to engage with me, as equals.
It just bothers me.

By Frowner in "Canada/US Trade Talks Collapse" on MeFi

Frowner — Sat, 22 Aug 2026 13:10:20 GMT

Yes, we're going to end up like Russia but without Russia's excuses - rather than being a regional power which experienced an extremely rough century and then was looted by the west when the USSR collapsed AND which for a variety of reasons lacked many avenues for popular expression, we're a rich world power coming off an incredible century of rising affluence and influence with a complex even if limited democratic system.

Kleptocracy and decline, citizens deprived of the world's goods because it benefits the powerful to deprive them. A failed autarky. The world will move on, everyone else will have electric cars and solar panels and cancer vaccines, and we'll stagnate here, choking on pollution and dying of totally preventable diseases.

Well, good luck everyone else. We have only our dumbest citizens and our corrupt wealthy to blame.

By Zumbador in "Oh Shit! I'm Autistic" on MeFi

Zumbador — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 14:48:03 GMT

Sing Or Swim: "Me too to all this. However, I have seen people with actual autism diagnoses--as opposed to Tik Tok diagnoses--saying that on top of everything else they are dealing with the fact that everyone on the internet is now proudly declaring themselves "neurodivergent", and no your list of weird little compulsive shit you do does not make you autistic. I offer this non-argumentatively as a possible caution/counterpoint."

As a person with an actual autism diagnosis, I do not support this.
Autism losing even a bit of its stigma is only a good thing.
People feeling comfortable being open about their weird little compulsive things is great, especially for those of us who can't mask our weird big compulsive behaviors. Someone saying they are autistic when they are not doesn't hurt me or take anything away from me. It's not as if people used to be acceptance of autism, and now that acceptance is going to be diluted. Gatekeeping autism, like most gatekeeping, doesn't actually help anyone, and it does real and actual harm.

For anyone wondering "but I do a lot of these things, does that mean I'm autistic" this is how it works (and I say this as a person who has been through an extensive autism diagnosis process and also done a lot of research) :

There are no autistic traits that only autistic people have (for example, some non autistic people make eye contact differently). There are no autistic traits that all autistic people have (for example, some autistic people don't struggle with eye contact). If you have a lot of autistic traits (not just one or two), and you have them strongly enough so that they have a significant impact on your life (not just a temporary quirk) and there's no other clear explanation (for example traits only appear after a head injury) then you are, by definition autistic. That's what an autism diagnosis process determines.

By phunniemee in "Revisiting spurious bans" on MetaTalk

phunniemee — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 18:33:24 GMT

anoldfriend6: "lol women users fighting on the interwebs, rawr"

This would be an unacceptably gross comment from a man, it's gross here, too. Don't do this.