Once again John Oliver proves that you can do anything with money and lawyers
Oliver then proceeded to detail how with $50 and knowledge of the law he was able to successfully apply online to create a debt buying company named āCentral Asset Recovery Professionals,ā or as Oliver put it, āCARPā named after āa bottom-feeding fish.ā
After setting up a rudimentary website for CARP, the satirical, but still real company was offered a $15 million package of medical debt for $60,000.
Oliver explained that the debt was out of statute, which means it is the kind of debt that a collector can only continue to collect, but not sue the debtor for.
Then, instead of chasing down the 9,000 debtors in the debt package as a normal collection agency would, Oliver decided to stage the largest one-time giveaway in television history and work with the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt to forgive the $15 million with no consequences for the debtors.
You dont have to be rich to do a bit of this actually
RIP Medical Debt is a charity (and therefore takes donations). They buy the rights to medical debt and then forgive them. So far theyāve forgiven over 1B in medical debt.
So a little ray of hope for someone out there today.
I got a letter recently letting me know that a $3k medical bill from an emergency room visit in 2018 had been purchased by Undue Medical Debt and destroyed. Gone forever. They were very clear that I didnāt have to do anything, but they would appreciate it if I would talk to people about it to spread the word about what they were doing. Fucking phenomenal.
I was going to write a proper essay with references about it, but I donāt think Iāll have the time. So Iāll just toss this out here as an unsourced thought. Youāre free to correct me though!
Anyways, interestingly, the numbers Iāve seen from communities where most of their income comes from soldiering (there are not that many, but there have been some) and the proportion of front line fighters vs. support personnel in various armies both seem to agree that only about 10% of the population are fighters and 90% are support personnel. And thatās for communities which get their food and raw materials from outside of their own community for trading their work as soldiers or from the nation which supports the military. This is interestingly a fairly similar number regardless of the time or place.
tldr: In actual āwarrior societiesā where the main source of income for a community is soldiering, the proportion of population directly engaged in fighting is about 10%. In āwarrior societiesā where warriors are just the ruling class, but which also need to grow their own food and mine their own ore (i.e. they donāt trade for it with other groups) that proportion is much lower.
I need to track it down again, but I also saw an interesting anecdote about Nazi Germany and how one factor in their downfall mightāve been that their army had something like 30% fighters to 70% support personnel. I.E. their too weak support forces directly contributed to their military failure. Any soldier worth their salt knows that armies march on their stomachs and guns and ships are useless unless someone handles ammunition and fuel and parts and repairs and maintenance for them.
What does this mean for Mandalorians? Well, in a mercenary clan of mandos, for each commando there ought to be about nine mechanics, smiths, cooks, pilots, medics, accountants, teachers, retired veterans and kids. Even if all of your mercs pull double-duty and can also pitch in with support duties, it still takes the whole clan to field a company of commandos. And conversely, there are a lot of non-fighting roles needed to run a well-functioning mercenary company. Also: if youāre planning to assault a mando camp, plan for there to be about ten times more people in it than were promised in the brief.
I would add to this that there's an interesting linguistics component that I think literal translation contributes that causes misinterpretation. Mando'a has a lot of multipurpose words, and many of them are battlefield words with additional uses, like saying 'Fill your boots' as 'eat up'. It's very focused on armor, weapons, combat terms, etc.
But in English, when we say "He's a good man", does it have anything to do with being a man? Being successful at being male or masculine? Not necessarily; it's most often a note on good character or strong morals.
So what about the word warrior? Soldier? Verd? As vod is both brother and comrade, I think the soldier/warrior doesn't have to be literal. In fact, if we shift a little to 'fighter', we already have a much broader definition. A pacifist could have a strong fighting spirit, or fight for what they believe in, without literally going into battle. A warrior, as the pinnacle of Mandalorian honor (besides being a parent) might have a broader definition and usage than "someone skilled at and engaging in violence".
One of the riduurok marriage vows is "We will raise warriors." Obviously not every couple will have children, and obviously not every parent is raising soldiers as opposed to weavers or bakers or hell, even armorers. Raising also kind of does double-duty as parenting and/or teaching. So instead of raising children to be soldiers, perhaps the vow is to teach/raise/support your or your community's young ones to fight for what they believe in, or fight to defend their lives, or do just have mandokar or the 'right stuff'.
No culture is homogenous, and Mandalorians are a creed rather than a race, which means they are likely to be an ideological melting pot. If you take anything said in Mando'a at face value, it makes little sense- pants-less meaning stupid, for example- so why would 'warrior' be any different?
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk I guess. I took evolutionary linguistics once and was never the same.
The Bill hasn't passed yet; however it is very likely. Turkey just shut down the social media accounts of LGBT+ organizations, and quietly banned/"made not possible to see" multiple dating apps for LGBT people such as Taimi. These are small steps leading up to this. Just less than a year ago the distribution of Estrogen was made ten times harder and hormone replacement therapy laws upped the transitioning age from 18 to 21. Please speak for us.
I would pay good money to see how Din managed to get out of that little mud hut Grogu built. He almost died again, wakes up in a tight space, has to get out but doesnāt want to wake up Grogu, so he has to wriggle his way out. You just know the poor man STRUGGLED
Summary: A look at Groguās developing skills and personality over the years.
Though it took several years of trial and error, Din and Grogu slowly built up systems of communication between them. It started with sign language, and then after a time spent with another Force-user who taught Grogu the basics of connecting with anotherās mind through meditation and proximity, Grogu began to develop the ability to speak to Din through his thoughts. It was a skill, Din was told, that Jedi were trained in at the temple where Grogu was being raised as a young child, but that Grogu was probably too young to have been taught much of it before the night of the attack on the temple where he was saved by one of the masters escorting people to safety. Dredging up those memories became another obstacle for the two of them, but with Groguās skills developing and Din learning to open up to him it was one they could start overcoming together.
Grogu continued to develop his skills in healing as well as the years went on. Din frequently told him he wasnāt obligated to help people at his age, especially at a detriment to himself, but Grogu made it quite clear that it was something he wanted to do because he felt peopleās pain so deeply that he was compelled to help out of compassion and care for others. At his age and stature there were very few things he could do for other people, heād said, but this was one area where he had the talent and means to do some material good that others couldnāt provide. How could he justify not helping those in need?
As time progressed, Grogu studied physical means of healing too in order to better understand the bodies and systems of each of the beings whose paths they crossed, and as their cadre of connections and friends and allies grew, the types of needs he saw expanded and required other forms of healing that Grogu was unable to attend to with the Force: on a mission to Nar Shadaa, Fennec Shand was injured and out of commission longer than she might have been, had they had the access to someone with a more complex understanding of cybernetics.
Though she recovered well with Fettās aid once they were back on Tatooine, it troubled Grogu to know that there was an area of healing and physical care that was a complete blind spot to him. Din may have been able to teach him the basics of repairing mechanical and electrical systems, but cybernetics were much, much different, and how they were incorporated into an organic body puzzled and troubled Grogu. There was something in cybernetic systems that just didnāt translate when he tried to study them, some disconnect between what he saw and sensed and understood, and it was frustrating not knowing what he didnāt know. He didnāt even know where to start or what questions to ask, and it was only after several months of frustration and discussions between them that a lightbulb went off and Grogu told Din he knew exactly who they should go to.
It took a considerable amount of time (not to say the least of a few favors) for the three of them to arrange a meeting, their lives as busy and fraught with peril as they were, but Grogu and Din were finally able to meet with the Jedi theyād briefly crossed paths with all those years ago; Luke Skywalker, a busy man and largely self-trained Jedi himself, had the kind of teacherās patience, understanding of the Force, and experience caring for his own cybernetic prosthesis that made him ideal for Grogu to finally get a starting point. Luke may not have been a healer the way Grogu was, but being able to marry the understanding of the Force with the incorporation of inorganic medical components gave Grogu the opportunity to begin filling in the blanks for what he was missing. The Mandalorian remained nearby, watchful and curious as his ward followed the Jediās teachings.
Understanding that Grogu could use a mentor who understood him in ways very few others could, even if Grogu didnāt feel called to be a Jedi the way Luke was, Luke gave the Mandalorian and child the means to contact him so if there were ever any questions, they could reach out for help and further advice. Grogu still cared about people and wanted to help in what ways he could, and his aptitude for connecting with the Force had not faded with age. They made new contacts, did more research, and Grogu was able to continue refining his skills, bridging the two sides of learning together as he did.
The Mandalorian was getting on in years, but still felt relatively comfortable continuing to work. He had begun to suspect that the boy may have had something to do with that; heād discovered early on after the start of their journeys together that the child had a habit of tending to Dinās injuries when he was asleep and couldnāt stop the boy from taking care of him. Heād made it clear to Grogu that he didnāt have to heal him (especially when it came at the expense of overexertion), but whether the child hadnāt understood at the time or he simply wasnāt going to do what Din told him to, Din didnāt know. It was a mild point of contention between them once they were finally able to communicate properly, but Grogu had made it clear that even if he were to try, Din wouldnāt be able to stop him anyway, and that he should accept help when it was offered because people like being able to help others. That wasnāt a characteristic only humans felt.
Even so, Din still felt considerably more spry for his age than he knew he should have been, all things considered. His memory and skills were still sharp. He was almost as active as he had been in his thirties and forties, and his stamina hadnāt waned how it should have with his advancing age and choice of profession. His eyesight hadnāt faded, he didnāt have any considerable ailments, and his joints were in remarkablyā unrealisticallyā good shape.
Understanding and accepting change and loss are not lessons exclusive to the Jediās way of life.
When Din tried to broach the topic of the childās care for his wellbeing, Grogu would change the subject or handwave the discussion away, evading Dinās efforts to address the inevitable. It was unfortunate that it took a sharp word and subsequent heated argument for the two of them to finally address the topic of whatever small amount of time they had left together, but Din insisted that they address it now before it was addressed for them and Grogu didnāt have a choice but to contend with the grief that loss brings with it, and contend with it alone.
I know what grief is, heād told his father. You are not the first one I will have lost, and I will have the rest of my life to deal with it. Please donāt muddy the time we do have together.
They compromised after that, Din agreeing not to bring it up as often as long as Grogu didnāt heal him when it was unnecessary and he could recover fine with regular means. Grogu didnāt like it, but Din was happy to see him studying more as a result, honing his technique and repertoire of skills.
That being said, Din did not like Grogu suggesting technical reinforcements.
The Mandalorian and his ward were in hyperspace. The extraction job they had taken at the behest of a friend had nearly cost Din an arm; it was only by luck (or the will of the Force) that Grogu was nearby to halt Dinās adversary and keep it from being completely severed.
Grogu sat on the table in front of his father, carefully tending to the layers of injury Din had sustained. Din insisted he practice more of the traditional methods since he had the time and opportunity; Grogu had given what Din had come to understand was his equivalent of a sharp look, but dutifully went about tending the wounds, briefly using the Force again to ensure heād stopped the worst of the bleeding.
The Mandalorian saw his boy turn to notate something in the small datapad beside him; Din largely couldnāt read most of it, but heād started to see patterns in what notes were pulled up when Grogu took them down with him. There was one column that deepened the wrinkles beginning to line his face: heād seen enough to know what theoretical solutions Grogu was looking at, given Dinās most-often encountered injuries, and the droidlike diagrams of different body systems and prosthetics soured his stomach.
āI donāt need them,ā he murmured. āI have lasted this long without them, and I donāt want them.ā
Groguās look of concentration deepened to disapproval. He finished cutting away Dinās sleeve and methodically cleaned his arm, clearing the way for him to work.
I may not always be able to heal you. What happens if we are apart?
āIāll cross that bridge when I get to it, come what may.ā
They are a tool, Grogu said.
āMaybe, but theyāre not for me,ā Din said. āIāll manage.ā
You donāt have to, Grogu replied. There may come a time you have no choice.
āI wonāt accept them.ā
The boy looked up at him, disapproving. He stood on the table to tap three times on Dinās helmet. You may not be awake when someone comes to help. Hit your head often, you do.
Din grumbled something indistinct, flexing his hand. The boy sat back down, hand hovering over the now-clean open wound as he focused his energy on reversing the damage. Stubborn.
āI know.ā
Take better care.
āIāll try.ā
Do. I do not like when you are hurt.
āā¦ Iām sorry. You shouldnāt have to worry about me.ā
I will, always.
āYou donātāā
Grogu smacked his arm twice. I will. Always.
Din smiled crookedly, gently resting his hand on the boy as he worked. āStubborn.ā
I follow your example.
Grogu sat back, finishing with the closure. He looked up at the Mandalorian, wide brown eyes solemn and thoughtful. He thought of how many years heād had with his father, but he knew no matter how many there were, it would never be enough.
Grogu reached up to rest his hand on the edge of Dinās helmet, and Din removed it to set it aside. The boy stood up on the tips of his toes to reach Dinās face and bring it down to his, pressing his forehead to Dinās as Din rested his hand on Groguās back.
And I would like to follow that example a while longer.
