@Vermillion-Rx Back 40 years ago, I recall them mocking me as a loser not "getting with the times" and "you won't get laid with that attitude!" and one in particular, in the early days of USENET, wound up getting a woman knocked up and paying child-support for a kid he never saw. In other words, they thought they were selling out for a benefit, but instead they just wound up selling out.

Nonetheless, back 40 years ago, being a bluepill beta largely was a 3:2 odds of success: You could get married and had a 2/3 chance of not getting divorce raped AND a 1/2 chance the marriage wouldn't be a miserable "happy wife/happy life!" subjugation. I'd say back in the mid-80's, about 1/2 of blue pill boomers were happy with their lives. That's an utter dart-board statistical guess but let's go with it: Nobody cared about the 1/2 of other men that were shafted by this system. Even the blue pill guys would mock them "hehehe, Who Hurt You? Crawl in a hole and die like a man, loser!" Our society treated, and still treats, its men like disposable trash.

I went into college naive thinking that the left was about "inclusivity" and making the world into a socialist paradise via "taxing the rich" but within a year I realized they were saying I was the rich guy, the oppressor, but also a loser to be tossed out. Basically, a scapegoat.

It was sort of an IQ test to see how long it takes someone to figure out that the blue pill they were taught doesn't jibe with reality.

I remember something similar when we were kids. Does any zoomers now have childhood memories of believing in Santa Claus? Like for real, really thinking that Santa existed? I did and many kids kid from age 5 to about age 9 or so. In my case, I got "red pilled" by older kids not out to help me, but they got to feel better about how they knew something I didn't. They liked crushing kids' dreams. I wonder if zoomers would even think such a thing now that a smartphone will tell them otherwise in a moment.

So anyway, I tried tell my blue pilled friend age 9 about it and he refused to believe me. He had all kinds of rationalizations for Santa Claus such as Jesus giving him eternal life and so forth. I didn't want to crush his dream so I let it go, but I never found out the moment he abandoned the childhood nonsense.

Think about it: It's a fascinating exercise: Parents LIED to their children and told them about, well, a heretical supernatural figure who was like Jesus who rewarded virtuous children and then the kids gradually figured out their parents had told them a white lie.

Shouldn't that have been a life lesson to maybe, well, be a bit more skeptical about social beliefs and trends? That maybe just because all the other kids believe in Santa doesn't make him true and that might apply to other stuff?

Heck, I doubt many other kids I knew ever looked back upon that time and wonder to themselves about it. They just went on with their lives and hoped for the best. I overthink things sometimes.

@Chantfire Costco brand diapers have reported to have degraded in quality, but the Huggies they sell at a discount were good for my daughter 10 years ago. Pampers nighttime lasts all night, but are expensive so use the Huggies for day. I swear by Emfamil vanilla baby "formula" milk and use it for my coffee creamer in the office to this day, the Simulac is disgusting IMO. Gripe water is fantastic for colic but also just hold the baby and walk around or go for a drive if needed to calm them down if crying at night.

If you've done everything you possibly can to stop them from crying including holding them, don't lose it. Leave the room if needed so your bad energy doesn't worsen it. "Self-soothing" is acceptable. It's ok for you to be there when they're crying and you can't stop it because your presence will help them develop stronger sense of self.