moviefreakedmind

Just say that humans are stupid. That’ll save you some typing as it encompasses all of those things.

Handman said:

You should go over to the house and threaten to call the cops. Happened to me once.

Don’t make him deal with the cops, just throw something through his window.

LordZerome1080 said:

moviefreakedmind said:

LordZerome1080 said:

moviefreakedmind said:

I did look into that but the only jobs I could find were about thirty minute drives away from me, which is too much driving. I’ll just wait until I’m bankrupt and get another night-shift job that I wouldn’t have needed any kind of degree for and continue in that cycle. I don’t really see any need to try and accumulate money since I live extraordinarily cheap and have absolutely no responsibilities.

Don’t give up on your life, even financially instead get job coaching and figure out what career looks best instead of selling short your own great potential.

Coaching? No way, and I have no potential. I don’t really see what’s so bad about giving up. I’m still self-sufficient.

Giving up is the worst thing to do for yourself and you do have potential everyone does, that’s what you do with it that counts. Your choices are yours to make but don’t make the kind of choice that you could live to regret.

What other people consider to be accomplishment are not what I want. I don’t want a career, I don’t want a family, and I don’t even consider those things to be impressive or even necessarily good, and I don’t really regret too much anyway.

I quite possibly have the worst road rage and driving anxiety on the planet.

https://secondnexus.com/environment/trump-signs-executive-order-reversing-ocean-protections/

More proof that the world is not in anything resembling decent shape.

LordZerome1080 said:

moviefreakedmind said:

I did look into that but the only jobs I could find were about thirty minute drives away from me, which is too much driving. I’ll just wait until I’m bankrupt and get another night-shift job that I wouldn’t have needed any kind of degree for and continue in that cycle. I don’t really see any need to try and accumulate money since I live extraordinarily cheap and have absolutely no responsibilities.

Don’t give up on your life, even financially instead get job coaching and figure out what career looks best instead of selling short your own great potential.

Coaching? No way, and I have no potential. I don’t really see what’s so bad about giving up. I’m still self-sufficient.

TV’s Frink said:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/06/28/hitlers-rise-it-can-happen-here/

Hey, things have been worse in the past.

dahmage said:

Mrebo said:

TV’s Frink said:

I won’t miss this place like I would have a few years ago.

We’ve heard this from people on the other end of discussions with you before.

Glad you don’t intend to leave but Jay’s not wrong. I don’t think it’s too much to ask for more than “curt one-liners without substantive commentary or support” when it “gets closer to people’s political/personal beliefs.” Time and again that stirs up clashes.

Thankfully none of us post one-liners.

Hasta la vista, baby.

TV’s Frink said:

moviefreakedmind said:

It’s the best podcast since the Joe Rogan Experience.

Lol.

Did you really Lol? I want credit for that joke. Your approval is something I crave.

There’s a ton of pointless and bad traditions still around today. Traditional gender roles are pretty stifling, I’d say. Circumcision is a totally barbaric and pointless tradition. I don’t mind some tradition. I’m actually pretty sentimental and can be won over by the simple joys of putting gifts under the Christmas tree, but let’s not deny that there are really worthless and absurd traditions at best and really terrifying ones at worst.

Jay said:

moviefreakedmind said:

Jay said:

moviefreakedmind said:

Jay said:
“You’re quite obviously wrong, and I can’t be bothered to explain why.”

I feel the need to point out that you have done exactly this to me.

I don’t remember the exact post(s), but I’m guessing you and I had to go in circles before I ended up in that place; it probably wasn’t for lack of trying, and I probably only went there out of frustration. Frink defaults to that point of view. Not the same thing.

No, you repeatedly ignored almost everything I said about Jordan Peterson and then refused to acknowledge my actual arguments, only singling out specific sentences out of context and acting as though my entire posts were unreasonable based on that and then said you were no longer willing to address anything I said. So, you’re right, it’s not the same thing. You also employed some great ad-hominem attacks about how I’m irrational and don’t have a grasp on reality because I’m delusional and some other irrelevant bullshit that had nothing to do with what I was arguing. If you’re going to that, I’m all for it. I have no problem with such tactics, and I even employ them myself from time to time, but let’s at least admit that it happens. That’s all I ask.

We didn’t agree on JP because we have a fundamental disagreement on what he’s saying. I don’t think you’re representing his words accurately (not saying you’re being dishonest, we just have a very different take on his opinions), and if we can’t agree on what he meant as a baseline, there’s no point in furthering the discussion.

You singled out very specific things where I guess we didn’t agree on something he was saying, but you still never responded to my criticisms of his philosophy as a whole. Just because we don’t agree on what he said about makeup or enforced monogamy doesn’t mean that what I have to say about his take on religion is inaccurate. Also, doesn’t it say something bad about Peterson that no one ever has any clear idea of what he’s talking about? I think it’s primarily because he’s intentionally vague in what he says.

I found your previous post mostly reasonable except for the whole “the world is in the shitter” thing. I’m guessing we could pick any year on the calendar and had you been alive at that time, you would’ve been saying the world is in terrible shape. A negative outlook on life tends to do that.

If you read my post then you’d have seen that I acknowledged that. I just don’t like the method of stifling criticism of the world by bringing up that other times have been bad too. I don’t see how that’s helpful or even relevant. I’m also curious about what you disagree with me on aside from that since the rest of my what you call “mostly reasonable” post was dedicated to debunking the black Republican movement that you say is supposedly happening where black people are somehow coming to the baffling realization that the Democratic has made their lives worse over the last 60 years.

This is another area where we have problems establishing a baseline. I don’t see how any rational argument can be made that criticism of the world is being stifled at this point in time.

It may not be your intent, but that seems to be what you’re doing. Just because things have improved doesn’t mean that the world isn’t still failing.

Practically everything being thrown at us is bad news. Introducing the idea that things have been way worse in the past isn’t an attempt to rewrite the present; it’s an attempt to establish a baseline that many people have lost sight of.

I am actually pretty knowledgable about history. (Speaking of that, I’m still waiting for some kind of response to my point about how it actually is totally rational for black people to support the Democratic Party and how it has greatly improved their rights in this country in the past six decades. I’m genuinely curious about why the Democratic Party is somehow against black interests.) But bringing up the fact that things were worse in the past doesn’t mean that things aren’t still a disaster now. Just because something was up in flames in the past but isn’t now, doesn’t mean that it isn’t still charred and burned and blistering.

Your words:

Uh, everything is awful and the world is pretty much in the toilet.

That’s patently absurd. Where do we go from there?

Is it really that absurd? I gave you a lot of reasons as to why the world is a disaster right now. The environment is being trashed and by and large no one in power cares, we have a president that is more incompetent than any in the last nearly 150 years. I’m not willing to say that Trump is worse than Andrew Johnson, but at least every other man to hold the office since the nation’s founding has been literate and familiar with the workings of government. There’re fascist parties on the rise in Europe, Islamic extremism is on the rise in Europe and almost everywhere else too, the Middle East is fucked beyond any recognition, Israel-Palestine is a nightmare, Russia is as much of a totalitarian shithole as it was back when it was the USSR, the third-world is still as exploited as it’s been in the last couple decades, East Asia is still as tense as it’s been for decades, the middle class in America is shrinking and the divide between rich and poor is growing (that’s a fact, just because you say you hear it after each election doesn’t mean that it’s not true), etc. etc. There’s reason to not be depressed about the state of the world.

I don’t think the world is at its worst. I think the worst of the world is on the news and social media 24 hours a day, everything has become politicized, and it’s eating away at people’s sense of well-being. I decided not to be a victim of that mentality any longer. The truth, despite all the imperfect things about this world, is that this is probably the best time to be alive in human history.

Are you going to address anything that I actually said about why the world is a disaster overall? Regardless of whether it’s the best time to be alive, which I agree that it is, the world is still largely in very poor hands.

I’ve heard this argument from both sides of the fence after every election. We’re all still here somehow.

It’s been two years since the election, I’m still talking about it. Other than having an illiterate reality TV star for president now, you’re right that the complaints are largely the same all the time, but that’s because these same issues have been growing and been left unaddressed for so long. And I never said we weren’t still here. The reason I said you’re stifling discussion is because you’re ignoring all of my completely rational reasons for believing that the world is in the toilet right now and instead are focusing on the fact that humanity still exists and things have improved in some countries over the years so therefore, apparently, we can’t come to the conclusion that the world is still on the brink of disaster. Perhaps it’d be more constructive if I discarded my characteristically ineloquent language in favor of a phrase like “the world is on the brink of disaster.”

I’m not trying to insult you.

I perceive insults in a lot of things, brother, so just have at it. I’ll live.

It’s just difficult to fashion an argument against an overwhelmingly negative worldview that I fundamentally disagree with.

Your posts aren’t as nihilistic as mine, but they are pretty negative too. You seem to think that huge swaths of Americans, and particularly people posting in this thread are brainwashed by “media,” presumably leftist media, which ironically is a right-wing media talking point. You seem to think that everyone is shut down by cries of racism and sexism. That’s all fine if that’s your perception of the political discourse, but I’m just saying that it’s not exactly a ray of sunshine either.

I get the impression you aren’t going to budge on the idea that “the world is pretty much in the toilet”. Am I wrong?

Probably not, but I would be curious to know why the world is supposedly in okay shape, especially as it relates to those incredibly pressing issues. I’m also still curious about the “red wave” for lack of a better term that you expect in the black community. I probably won’t agree, but I’m curious as to why you think it’s going to happen and why the Democratic Party has supposedly been unhelpful to black people for the last six decades. Let me turn that question around on you, are you going to have your mind changed by any of my leftist SJW craziness arguments? I don’t get the impression that you’re going to budge either.

Traditions are what made the past so much better than the present.

Then take it to the Traditional Events thread. We keep things current here.

Man, take your traditions and leave them in the dustbin of history. It’s a liberating feeling.

It’s the best podcast since the Joe Rogan Experience.

Jay said:

moviefreakedmind said:

Jay said:
“You’re quite obviously wrong, and I can’t be bothered to explain why.”

I feel the need to point out that you have done exactly this to me.

I don’t remember the exact post(s), but I’m guessing you and I had to go in circles before I ended up in that place; it probably wasn’t for lack of trying, and I probably only went there out of frustration. Frink defaults to that point of view. Not the same thing.

No, you repeatedly ignored almost everything I said about Jordan Peterson and then refused to acknowledge my actual arguments, only singling out specific sentences out of context and acting as though my entire posts were unreasonable based on that and then said you were no longer willing to address anything I said. So, you’re right, it’s not the same thing. You also employed some great ad-hominem attacks about how I’m irrational and don’t have a grasp on reality because I’m delusional and some other irrelevant bullshit that had nothing to do with what I was arguing. If you’re going to that, I’m all for it. I have no problem with such tactics, and I even employ them myself from time to time, but let’s at least admit that it happens. That’s all I ask.

I found your previous post mostly reasonable except for the whole “the world is in the shitter” thing. I’m guessing we could pick any year on the calendar and had you been alive at that time, you would’ve been saying the world is in terrible shape. A negative outlook on life tends to do that.

If you read my post then you’d have seen that I acknowledged that. I just don’t like the method of stifling criticism of the world by bringing up that other times have been bad too. I don’t see how that’s helpful or even relevant. I’m also curious about what you disagree with me on aside from that since the rest of my what you call “mostly reasonable” post was dedicated to debunking the black Republican movement that you say is supposedly happening where black people are somehow coming to the baffling realization that the Democratic has made their lives worse over the last 60 years.

I don’t think the world is at its worst. I think the worst of the world is on the news and social media 24 hours a day, everything has become politicized, and it’s eating away at people’s sense of well-being. I decided not to be a victim of that mentality any longer. The truth, despite all the imperfect things about this world, is that this is probably the best time to be alive in human history.

Are you going to address anything that I actually said about why the world is a disaster overall? Regardless of whether it’s the best time to be alive, which I agree that it is, the world is still largely in very poor hands.

I looked him up and apparently he was an Ayn Rand type. That’s pretty bad, but there’ve definitely been artists with worse philosophies.

Jay said:
“You’re quite obviously wrong, and I can’t be bothered to explain why.”

I feel the need to point out that you have done exactly this to me.

Mrebo said:

My name was changed so as to avoid that, sounds like it was the right call.

Most of our dads were still in our lives to a degree, as in we still saw them, so that would’ve been inappropriate for us.

Jay said:

TV’s Frink said:

Mrebo said:

TV’s Frink said:

Mrebo said:

I expect that in an increasingly egalitarian society diversity occurs naturally.

Let me know when it happens.

I think it’s happening all the time.

Ah, problem solved then.

Spoiler - it’s not even close.

Stop watching media that tells you everything is awful and the world is ending because your candidate lost. It’s poisoning your mind.

Uh, everything is awful and the world pretty much is in the toilet. I don’t know what comedy has to do with it (other than that it’s tragically funny), but the environment is being trashed, the United States is an abject joke thanks largely to President Gameshow Host, we’re just waiting for another recession since we’re in a boom-bust economy, the Middle East is still a hotbed of craziness, the middle class is disappearing, we’re killing 90% civilians in our military strikes. I could go on forever. I don’t understand the notion that the world is anything other than a total disaster right now. It pretty much always has been, but it’s definitely amped up these days.

chyron8472 said:

Jeebus said:

chyron8472 said:

Mrebo said:

I must be blessed to not suffer any white male guilt.

To some degree, I genuinely feel that people need to be responsible for themselves and stop blaming the rest of society. For example, I understand that the colonists that appeared in America back in the day did horrible things to the Native Americans. I understand that much of the Native American population is poor. But at some point I really don’t see the value in the United States government giving reparations to them anymore.

The value is in helping disadvantaged groups get out of artificial poverty. It’s really hard for people to “pull themselves by their bootstraps” out of a hole that America dug and threw them into. You agree that Native Americans are not doing well right now, and I hope you can agree that it’s largely due to America’s past actions. Why prolong their suffering?

I’m fairly certain people in Europe conquered other people in Europe over the centuries, and I doubt many of the conquered over there get reparations for it. I know that sounds callous, but I still feel that way.

Because getting a handout does not help one feel successful. I understand some people need it, but it will not ultimately motivate them to create a situation for themselves where they don’t need it. In some respect, people may even take it for granted and come to accept indefinite dependence on it.

I don’t see how this is at all analogous.

It is analogous because, although it’s hard for people to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”, to some degree it is necessary. If you want something bad enough, you need to fight for it. Having the government paying them does not necessarily ultimately lessen their suffering, but rather allows it to fester, because sometimes pain is necessary to affect change. Removing pain caused by injury does not necessarily help the injury to heal itself.

One of the most surprising things to me is the increase in minority support for Trump since he’s been in office, especially among blacks. Part of what’s driving that upswing – which I think is only going to continue trending in that direction – is a movement on the center-right to get black people thinking about what exactly the Democrats have done to improve their lives in the last 60 years (or ever, really). Black conservatives like Larry Elders argue black people overall have it worse since the Civil Rights Act passed, not better.

That just means that Larry Elder is really, really dishonest. The Democratic Party did spearhead the Civil and Voting Rights Acts. That’s pretty fucking important. I don’t see how any person with any knowledge of American history could claim that the Democratic Party has done nothing to improve the lives of black people over the last 60 years. That’s just a crazy conservative propaganda point. And the black approval rating of Trump is still less than 20%. I don’t understand why conservatives think that’s something to brag about. Plus, a quick Google search reveals that Trump’s approval rating among blacks is actually lower now than it was last year. There is no trend of minority support for Trump. And Larry Elder is not center-right. He’s really far to the right.

Way more kids raised without fathers, millions of black men in prison thanks in large part to crime bills supported by black community leadership like Sharpton and Jackson and signed by President Clinton, insane black-on-black crime rates, a drug war supported by both parties that has disproportionately affected black people, etc.

Well the War on Drugs is bipartisan, but who do you see on the Republican side that wants to end it? I think Rand Paul might, but other than him, no one. Trump’s AG pick is in favor of amping up the War on Drugs. You know who did want to end the War on Drugs? Crazy leftist candidate Bernie Sanders. You know who didn’t? Corporate, center-right candidate Hillary Clinton.

Now that’s not to suggest that the Civil Rights Act caused these problems, just that it hasn’t done anything to solve them.

Of course it didn’t, because they’re separate problems. The War on Drugs has been after the Civil Rights Act. The Civil Rights Act ended segregation and killed the last remnants of Jim Crow, which definitely has bettered the lives of black people. The Voting Rights Act allowed them to exercise their right to vote. You go back even further, and you’ll see it was President Harry Truman (who really didn’t even have the best Civil Rights record) that desegregated the military by executive order. There’s no reason to act as though it’s surprising that black people support the Democratic Party, in spite of how imperfect its record has been, especially since Republicans have employed the racist Southern Strategy in every election since 1964.

Despite every white person supposedly being consciously or subconsciously racist,

I need to see some evidence of real politicians making this claim, or at least someone other than a crazed college-campus radical.

Maybe telling someone they’re a victim of their circumstances and their race from the day they’re born sets them up with a poor foundation for success.

Well I’ve never said that and I’ve certainly never heard anyone say that. I kind of get what you’re saying about that notion being disempowering, but I’m just not seeing that notion as being pervasive. Typically what people are calling for on the left is for an end to the war on drugs, improvements in public education, free college, police reform, and healthcare for all. Those aren’t just handouts because someone’s race makes them a victim.

The movement is pushing for black people to stop blaming white people because it hasn’t moved the black community forward, stop looking to politicians (even black politicians) to solve their problems, and look to themselves to figure out a way forward.

Do black people really do this? Black people typically have to solve their own problems because no one else in America usually cares about their problems. There’s hundreds of years of history in which black Americans have had to fend for themselves. This idea that black people are just waiting for other people to solve their problems for them is a fucking fantasy, and an ignorant insult. Plus it’s a flawed call to action anyway. I don’t know how black people are going to improve public education in their neighborhoods without politicians, or how they’ll deal with housing discrimination without government intervention. I don’t understand this.

My siblings and I all had different last names from each other and our mom since we had different dads and she had a remarried name, and I know it was always frustrating and uncomfortable for us, or at least me, to explain that to classmates and other people so I’d definitely recommend not putting kids through that needlessly.

I did look into that but the only jobs I could find were about thirty minute drives away from me, which is too much driving. I’ll just wait until I’m bankrupt and get another night-shift job that I wouldn’t have needed any kind of degree for and continue in that cycle. I don’t really see any need to try and accumulate money since I live extraordinarily cheap and have absolutely no responsibilities.

Beyond things like fire being hot and ice being cold, I don’t really see what truth is objective. Hell, even those examples are relative.

Two more people I used to know died last week.

TV’s Frink said:

moviefreakedmind said:

TV’s Frink said:

moviefreakedmind said:

I didn’t say anything about teaching kids anything. That’s actually my problem with most parents; it’s that they don’t teach their kids anything.

moviefreakedmind said:

I think what a lot of people consider good parenting gives kids a really unrealistic idea of what real life is.

That has nothing to do with teaching or imparting knowledge at all. I was referring to how kids think they’re important and then are thrown into the real world where no one cares if you live or die.

Well fine but once again “no one cares if you live or die” is an extremely broad generalization.

It’s still mostly true. Even the people that’d be sad would most likely get over it.