As my mom was becoming an adult, women in my country still couldn’t have their own bank accounts nor could they vote. So how much choice did she have? She could stay under her abusive father’s control, or roll the dice on marrying a guy who had minimal red flags. They’re fine, they had kids and are still married decades later. But I can’t really say she was able to freely choose.

I am mixed on how they did as parents. I have no doubt they mostly did what they thought was the right thing. I just strongly disagree with them on some things they believed to be right. Like I wasn’t given certain vaccines as a kid, not because my parents thought they would cause autism, but because my parents thought Hep C would only be caught by drug users and sexually promiscuous people. And their kids would never.

Aside from cost, there is also privacy to consider. Subscription home alarm systems don’t fit into my threat model, personally. I focus on hardening physical access points as compared to my neighbors, and good insurance.

Just like how I only need to outrun my hiking buddy instead of trying to outrun the bear, my house simply needs to look like a more challenging target with lower yield than my neighbors. I am not going to get robbed when my neighbor leaves their patio door unlocked with valuables visible through their always-open windows.

I’ve been told my polish sounds “old”. I know only a little bit, learned from grandparents and great grandparents. However they were speaking in the early 1900s when they left Poland for the US, that’s the Polish I grew up hearing.

I grew up in the Midwest where there were quite a few 2nd, 3rd, + generation Polish Americans. Now I live on the East Coast where there are more people who immigrated from Poland in the last ~20 years in addition to the generational families and they sound quite a bit different from what I grew up with.

What you’re missing is full brainwashing from the patriarchy, from the bootlicking capitalists.

Any partner who can but doesn’t support their partner and newborn is an ass.

Any partner who can but doesn’t take advantage of the leave benefit they earned is giving free money to their employer overlords like an absolute cuck.

Be revolutionary, put your family over your employer.