|
Medicine+baby boom also means we've probably never had a greater prevalence of senility and dementia in the population, that probably doesn't help.
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2021 01:17
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 17:37 |
|
|
Also that yes a lot of the people who are really struggling with social media might just actually have brain rot to a greater or lesser degree.
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2021 01:24
|
|
|
I don't know, I don't really like the idea that a weakness to propaganda and flawed reasoning is somehow evidence of a brain defect. The human brain is a remarkable thing, but even in peak health, it has flaws. These flaws may have been adaptive at some point in human evolutionary history, or they may simply not have been harmful enough to be selected against. For example, if I'm flying a plane and I go into cloud, my brain will not be able to maintain my orientation, because it's built to use visual input as part of how it determines which way is up. This isn't because my brain is broken, that's just how it works. I have to consciously rely on my instruments to determine which way it up and which direction I'm going, and I can do that because I was taught how to do that properly and get one over on the flawed human brain. It's no different when we come to logical fallacies, propaganda, and conspiracy theories. Your brain is perfect happy to create thoughts and make connections which are harmful to you, even when you are not mentally ill or suffering from dementia or anything. It's just doing what a brain does. It is only by becoming aware of and understanding the shortcomings of the brain that we can mount an effective defense against harmful ideas like "this thing I already think is more likely to be true than this thing I disagree with, regardless of evidence" or "I trust my buddy down at the pub, he probably knows as much about virology as experts in the field" or "ah, it can't be that bad, if I get it then nothing bad will happen to me because nothing bad ever happens to me" or "these people telling me I need to get the vaccine make me want to assert my independence by not getting the vaccine!" These are all very common consequences of the limitations of the human brain, not evidence of senility or mental illness in most cases. If you've overcome them mostly or entirely: good! You have self-awareness that places you way ahead of most people. Most people don't have that, and it would be better to ask "well, how can we help them get there?" rather than saying "lol their brain must be diseased."
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2021 19:13
|
|
|
I don't think it's a great stretch to connect exploitative social media to other scams that have deliberately preyed on the elderly for reasons of diminished mental capacity.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 01:30
|
|
|
PerniciousKnid posted:I don't think it's a great stretch to connect exploitative social media to other scams that have deliberately preyed on the elderly for reasons of diminished mental capacity. My first response was "But it's young people, too!" but then I realized my contemporaries are the same age as me (late 30s) and we are definitely no longer "young people," though this also speaks to what Chomposaur was musing about a generation "aging out" and that somehow fixing the problem. I don't think it's going to go away just like that. The roots are deep.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 02:38
|
|
|
XkyRauh posted:My first response was "But it's young people, too!" but then I realized my contemporaries are the same age as me (late 30s) and we are definitely no longer "young people," though this also speaks to what Chomposaur was musing about a generation "aging out" and that somehow fixing the problem. I don't think it's going to go away just like that. The roots are deep. I don't think it's the sole cause or that I disagree with his main premise, just observing that a critical mass of powerful demented consumers is an accelerant.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 02:44
|
|
|
PerniciousKnid posted:I don't think it's a great stretch to connect exploitative social media to other scams that have deliberately preyed on the elderly for reasons of diminished mental capacity. Well, I do. Wanna fight about it? Propaganda has been a thing as long as literacy and art have existed, in essence. If your defense against propaganda and scams is "my brain is good, I don't need to worry about that poo poo" then, guess what: you're a prime target and you will fall victim eventually. XkyRauh posted:My first response was "But it's young people, too!" but then I realized my contemporaries are the same age as me (late 30s) and we are definitely no longer "young people," though this also speaks to what Chomposaur was musing about a generation "aging out" and that somehow fixing the problem. I don't think it's going to go away just like that. The roots are deep. Exceptionally few people get dementia in their late 30s. I understand why it's a comforting thing to think, "oh, their brain is getting weak and turning to soup, that will never happen to me" but ultimately, it's not that. You can be scammed, you can be propagandized too! Remember when practically every pro-vaxx person on Twitter shared the quote from French President Macron... that he never actually said? Yeah, it's like that. Our brains share common weaknesses even when we're mentally well; saying "I can't be fooled" is no different than the morons going on about how they don't need a COVID vaccine because they have a good immune system. EDIT: To continue the metaphor: are some people at greater risk due to mental infirmity? Yeah, probably. Is that the main problem? I doubt it, to be honest. It's like the leaded gasoline theory: it relies on motivated reasoning to reach the conclusion that people disagree with you because their brains are broken somehow. It's not that simple. PT6A fucked around with this message at 02:54 on Aug 19, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 02:51
|
|
|
Whether you want to call it "broken" or not, I certainly believe that people often adopt socially counterproductive thinking patterns and that their likelihood of doing so correlates with age, wealth, and general right-wing politics, which also all correlate with each other. I also believe that because these things are all comorbid, that it is quite difficult to cause them to arrive at better ways of thinking, likely functionally impossible in many cases. A thing can lack a physical cause and yet still be not subject to voluntary alteration on the part of the person it affects. I believe that many of the correlative factors are mutually reinforcing (age selects for wealth, wealth selects for right wing thinking, right wing thinking selects for nonsensical and magical belief patterns, those patterns are also appealing to people who have generally deteriorating mental faculties either because of dementia or just because they haven't had to use their brain for anything complicated in decades and so are extremely resistant to learning new concepts, even outright viewing the notion of needing to revise their understanding of the world in response to new information as an affront, this belief also being selected for by age. You can argue the strict accuracy of it but it is difficult for me not to come to the general conclusion that yes, a lot of people have broken brains either through physical or cognitive processes, and will likely never be capable of being anything but assholes, and this is only going to get worse the older they get. I simply hope that there will be more factors that cause their replacements to generally be better at understanding the reality of the world. And I hope I or someone else has the sense to shoot me before I end up like that.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 03:20
|
|
|
OwlFancier posted:Whether you want to call it "broken" or not, I certainly believe that people often adopt socially counterproductive thinking patterns and that their likelihood of doing so correlates with age, wealth, and general right-wing politics, which also all correlate with each other. I also believe that because these things are all comorbid, that it is quite difficult to cause them to arrive at better ways of thinking, likely functionally impossible in many cases. A thing can lack a physical cause and yet still be not subject to voluntary alteration on the part of the person it affects. I believe that many of the correlative factors are mutually reinforcing (age selects for wealth, wealth selects for right wing thinking, right wing thinking selects for nonsensical and magical belief patterns, those patterns are also appealing to people who have generally deteriorating mental faculties either because of dementia or just because they haven't had to use their brain for anything complicated in decades and so are extremely resistant to learning new concepts, even outright viewing the notion of needing to revise their understanding of the world in response to new information as an affront, this belief also being selected for by age. I would agree with that almost entirely. The area where I disagree with it is in the bizarre sense of fatalism that these people cannot be changed. It's like alcoholism or any sort of addiction; it structurally changes the brain, and it's a bastard to treat, but it's not impossible. And, like dealing with an addict, the ideal response is neither "it's okay, that's the way you are, I guess" or "gently caress you, you're unsalvageable." I don't know, when you get right down to it. I have only my personal experiences, but they suggest that even some of the most stubborn people can be moved, and it often ends up coming down to that Hunger Games poo poo: "real, or not real?" Sometimes you just need to tell the people you love, that they're living in a loving fantasy land. Don't cut them off, but don't indulge them. Let them know that they are living at 90 degrees to reality and state the truth. Do this every time they state some unreal poo poo. It's a lot of work, so I don't do it for everyone, but I do it for people I care about, so they have some tether to reality.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 03:44
|
|
|
That presupposes that they care about you as much as you care about them, and I do not generally believe that is true of a lot of the people you are likely to feel it necessary to try that on. Certainly if I tried to do it to anybody I know that is further right than I would like, they would just become hostile and fundamentally, I do not have the ability to cause them enough discomfort to force them to reassess their position. I am simply not that important to them. They are not reliant on me and they surround themselves with TV and internet and other people who will reinforce their preferred positions. And those positions themselves easily overrule any affection or sense of kinship they might feel towards me. I can see the outcome a mile away, really. They're going to get worse, and eventually they will die, and the world will be better for their absence.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 04:00
|
|
|
I'm sorry the people you care about don't love you, I guess? That sucks, it must be horrible. But I don't think that's true for most people. I'm not sure here, maybe I'm the odd one out.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 04:18
|
|
|
PT6A posted:I'm sorry the people you care about don't love you, I guess? That sucks, it must be horrible. I thinl you are a good poster but I think you are wrong here. Let's say that poster's parents are magatrumpers. Listening to the poster means they have to abandon comfortable certainties where they are the righteous victims and the poster, despite being younger than them, has proven to be more prepared and capable with dealing with the world. And they'll have to deal with the enormous discomfort of seeing their worldview challenged (which no one takes easily) and their ego attacked by doubting the authority figures they once trusted. It will never happen. Tribalism is a hell of a drug, they have chosen their authority figures to be magatrumpers, and if the poster goes that route they'll simply brand them a fooled, credulous lieberal democRAT satanist communist Chinese antifa watermelon illegal unamerican muslim cockroach. A label helpfully supplied by the same authority figures. I am not saying confrontation will never work, but I am not giving it more than 50/50.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 04:28
|
|
|
I think more important than whether you believe they love you or not (I don't really spend much time thinking about it to be honest, doesn't seem relevant) is whether or not you are more important to them than their worldview, and I think in a significant number of cases the odds are stacked against you. People are independent beings and their worldview and their sense of identity are generally more important to them than other people, I think. There are all sorts of mental contortions they can go through which will allow them to rationalise how they feel about other people. I think a common trend is that they will often profess to still loving their family etc and presumably believe they do, but their concept of what that means simply contorts to permit whatever behaviours are central to their identity and outlook, rendering the whole question of whether they care about you or not rather moot, regardless of whether they do, they still do the bad things to you and others. And as they likely have a peer group who are going through the same thing, they will find social reinforcement for why they are not, in fact, in the wrong if you try to correct them. And also will find the tension with their family to actually be a bonding exercise with their new peer group, who will likely also be going through the same thing. And they may also try to formulate appeasing actions for their family with their peers, again to avoid rejecting the core ideas. And it is much easier for that treatment of others to continue to morph over time than it is to reject the core ideas they have internalized and identified with. Their undesirable behaviours might wax or wane over time but that is more likely to be a temporary change in how they act, rather than representing an actual change in them as a person.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 04:33
|
|
|
Dawncloack posted:I thinl you are a good poster but I think you are wrong here. First of all: lies, I am a terrible poster. Second of all: I deal with this with my own parents. I, and they, accept that we will never see eye to eye on certain matters of opinion or politics, but when they come out with weird poo poo that isn't true, I call them on it and make them defend with evidence, and if I say something that seems suspect they will do the same to me. That's love and respect. I will hear them out and consider, and they will do likewise for me. That's the standard I hold my friends to as well; we don't need to agree, but we do need to listen and discuss. What basis for love or intimacy is there without that?
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 04:37
|
|
|
That's nice you have that. A lot of us don't. I can't even get my parents to stop bringing trump poo poo up in casual conversation. So what then? Their one-up-ism is stronger than love or respect. They would rather call names than listen to any argument to the contrary of what they hear on Fox News. You're lucky, and probably pretty rare.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 04:46
|
|
|
re: PT6A Owlfancier expressed it better than I could. But you also make a decent point. But your parents seem to have good communication skills, and they seem to place your stance higher than the dogma from their peers/fb/whatsapp resends. Power to you! None of the above is my experience. But anecdote =\= data, ofc. See owlfancier's (another good poster) post. Sidenote: sucks to be you, good poster!
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 04:50
|
|
|
Okay, so, I don’t mean to be harsh here, it’s devastating, but: the basis of love is respect. If your parents don’t even respect your opinion — not necessarily agree with it, just respect it — then you’re just some people that share DNA.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 04:57
|
|
|
I agree. I have been mourning my parents for almost 3 years now. I don’t know where the people who cared for me went. What I think it is for my parents and a bunch of my relatives that have become radicalized is they have become stuck in a pattern where feeling angry is a bigger reward than love or even just normal discourse. It is like everything needs to be high stakes in order for them to interact with the world. You can’t just say “nice weather” without a “so much for climate change!” Like they have been caught in the loop of - being angry - confrontation (or heated discussion with someone who agrees) - feeling good about their stance - start back at angry. I don’t know if that is the case for everyone, but I see that pattern constantly in my family and in a couple right leaning friends. It’s an addictive way to react to the world and there are so many sources feeding it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 05:14
|
|
|
HungryMedusa posted:I agree. I have been mourning my parents for almost 3 years now. I don’t know where the people who cared for me went. That's a good observation, and I've seen it in wider circumstances. Anger can be very addictive, and people can spiral into a bad place with their very actions letting them there. An ex of mine got into a pattern of being angry with her colleagues, flatmates, family, everybody. After a while it was easier for her to attribute her stalling career, crappy living situation, and deteriorating relationships to people plotting against her rather than the idea that she'd messed up and alienated everybody. It was perhaps no coincidence that she also started to get increasingly into conspiracy theorists, climate change deniers and anti-vaxxers. Not in a full-on way but more "isn't it interesting what this guy has to say, huh" way. I would have loved to cut her totally off from the internet as a detox treatment.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 13:12
|
|
|
PT6A posted:First of all: lies, I am a terrible poster. I'm with you here. There may be terrible, irredeemable people in the world, but most of my problems are with people and family that are mostly okay but seem to be going through a temporary insanity. My father starting ranting about Big Pharma a few years ago, but I didn't indulge him and called him out. He soon stopped bringing it up with me and then eventually with everyone else. The pandemic has actually turned him into a supporter of pharma.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 13:17
|
|
|
I agree in theory that people are capable of changing if they care enough about the other person. But I also agree that their delusions can get so strong that it can be prohitively difficult to get to that point in spite of everything. For instance, my stepdad is very right wing, and my mom is pretty liberal (she considers herself leftist though I've come to realize it's just in contrast to her partner more than anything.) My stepdad is financially dependent on my mom. The only reason he has a roof under his head is because of her. Now you would think this would give my mom a lot of pull. She's in a comfortable financial situation in retirement because of the type of 'bootstraps' mindset he grew up believing. Which means in theory it should lend my mom credibility when she disagrees with him about taxes, or wars, or social policies. Yet in spite of my mom's credentials my stepdad will still argue with her and refuses to change his mind. That his own opinions or values didn't do him any favors in the long run doesn't seem to budge him on where he stands. I honestly don't know what it would take for him to reevaluate his beliefs, because even alienating the person he depends on financially doesn't seem to be a deterrent.
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 14:05
|
|
|
Panfilo posted:I agree in theory that people are capable of changing if they care enough about the other person. But I also agree that their delusions can get so strong that it can be prohitively difficult to get to that point in spite of everything. Well doesn't this just prove that everybody in the world is against him because they can't handle the truth like him?
|
|
#
?
Aug 19, 2021 20:36
|
|
|
HungryMedusa posted:I agree. I have been mourning my parents for almost 3 years now. I don’t know where the people who cared for me went. One of the things that is taught in Anger Management is that rage is addictive. Sure it burns you out and leaves you a shell of a person, but in those moments when you feel yourself getting worked up, it's a very unique high. It also makes you feel in control, which is very useful in a world that makes the vast majority of its inhabitants feel powerless.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2021 04:07
|
|
|
The problem I have with my parents is that they never really learned how to reason through an argument or evaluate evidence, so any time I try to teach them anything, they just stare and then go back to believing whatever. They were upset about gmos a while back and weren’t concerned at all that they didn’t know what a gmo was or how it was different from organic produce. They just knew they didn’t like them and saw no reason to learn more.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2021 17:27
|
|
|
A lot of people either don't know how to do that or are disinclined to bother.
|
|
#
?
Aug 20, 2021 18:48
|
|
|
PT6A posted:First of all: lies, I am a terrible poster. Yeah, one thing I don't understand is just rolling your eyes to the crazy poo poo said by...anyone, at least if they aren't random crazy people. Like if my friend or mom said stuff half as crazy as mentioned here I wouldn't let go without a deep dive as to why they believe such insane poo poo. They "don't want to talk" about it? Well too loving bad, that's the only thing I want to talk about, so either we're not talking, period, or we'll talk about why you believe in this insane poo poo. There isn't a third option.
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2021 13:42
|
|
|
“I don’t want to talk about it” oh, unlike the other 23h 59m of every day when talking about it is literally all you want to do
|
|
#
?
Aug 21, 2021 16:23
|
|
|
Data Graham posted:“I don’t want to talk about it” oh, unlike the other 23h 59m of every day when talking about it is literally all you want to do They don't want to discuss it, they want to pontificate about it. Those are both forms of "talking about it" but the are very different in terms of one's motivation to do them.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2021 14:37
|
|
|
Data Graham posted:“I don’t want to talk about it” oh, unlike the other 23h 59m of every day when talking about it is literally all you want to do The family of an ex of mine loved to do this. Hurl a conversational grenade ("millennials are so sensitive / poor people just don't want to work / we should bomb the middle-east") and then just refuse to engage ("I'm just saying!"). I had a lot of respect for the daughter-in-law that wouldn't let them drop it and keep asking what they meant.
|
|
#
?
Aug 22, 2021 22:09
|
|
|
nonathlon posted:The family of an ex of mine loved to do this. Hurl a conversational grenade ("millennials are so sensitive / poor people just don't want to work / we should bomb the middle-east") and then just refuse to engage ("I'm just saying!"). I had a lot of respect for the daughter-in-law that wouldn't let them drop it and keep asking what they meant. Yeah this is essentially what my dad does. Not often, mind you - usually it's only after some whiskey is involved - but occasionally he'll just drop the absolute chuddiest take and then back off from it. Me and my sister have gotten in the habit of pushing back against him and eventually getting him to admit that he's being bigoted and getting bad information... only for him to never actually internalize it and go right back into Hot Take mode at the next family gathering. It's frustrating to experience him seemingly seeing reason and admitting fault, only for him to snap back into Brietbart Mode a month or so later. Supposedly, his secretary at work is a mega-chud Warrior Mommy type person who feeds him alt-right headlines all day. I think that deep down he's still a good person, he's just awash in the right wing media bubble and never learned how to NOT just only retain information that confirms your preconceived worldview.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2021 17:14
|
|
|
Nobody is good deep down, our morality is determined by our world views and the actions they lead us to take. Any other definition is pointless.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2021 18:35
|
|
|
Used to get into heated discussions with one of my brothers back in the day about all sorts of things, especially climate change. He's still a denier. We got along by not talking about that stuff. But he'd still post really dumb poo poo on Facebook all the time. I tried to manage it by blocking him, but like a dumbass I'd check his feed every now and then and it would just piss me off. Finally unfriended him today. It's just so rough trying the balance that he has been a good and decent person with us, but if we weren't family he'd probably be advocating us be sent to re-education camps or some poo poo. So, you know that there's a chance of good, but only because we're in a 'tribe' so to speak. But, that doesn't really make him good, does it? His mind was already pretty conservative, but a whole entire universe of Right Wing Media has poisoned him. He thinks all liberals are retarded and dumb, but, I mean, at some point, he comes to this conclusion through a framework spoon fed to him that only picks out lies and other horseshit that misrepresents any of a left's argument. It's just so much loving bullshit to cut through where he doesn't even understand the basics of any position that weren't already told to him. Uncritically shares links to the dumbest loving horseshit I've ever read. He loving NEEDS this right wing media bubble so that he can be assured that yes, 'the world is going crazy, it's not you that's out of touch'. edit: I've done most of what I can already to 'cut him out' of my life. Putting off meeting them for any get togethers and that sort of thing. Doctor Butts fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Aug 23, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2021 21:20
|
|
|
DarkCrawler posted:Yeah, one thing I don't understand is just rolling your eyes to the crazy poo poo said by...anyone, at least if they aren't random crazy people. Like if my friend or mom said stuff half as crazy as mentioned here I wouldn't let go without a deep dive as to why they believe such insane poo poo. Well they're usually not arguing in good faith. The last time I saw my extended family, we were all sitting around talking about hiking and camping and suddenly my uncle comes out with "You know, city folks are scared of animals, but the scariest animals are those people in the cities. I've been told I'm being un-PC but I don't care." And then he left it there, like a 5 year old daring you to argue with him. My brain was still playing catchup with my ears, thinking what the gently caress? when everyone else jumped in and changed the subject. This fucker tries again with, "When I'm in the city, I don't know if the person next to me is some idiot who's pretending to be a gangster, or if he's a real thug. I guess some people would say I'm racist." And stared around the table, daring someone to agree and call him racist. Once again everyone kind of went "mmmm" and changed the subject. Afterwards, I asked my mom what the gently caress, and she said the whole family's learned to treat him like a toddler. All he wants to do is fight, so he'll say worse and worse things until someone takes the bait. It's maddening because staying quiet is how assholes like him think they're the silent majority. But reacting is exactly what he wants, the more outraged the better. Then he can yell his beliefs louder, while feeling like a martyr, or pull the whole "I didn't say 'black people'. See, liberals are the real racists!" I've been thinking back on that last conversation a lot recently, and trying to think of what to do if it happens again. I suppose saying something like "Yup, you're pretty goddamn racist" and then refusing to engage is probably the way to go, but I know he won't let it drop. Then every family get-together will be him trying to egg me on with worse and worse stuff.
|
|
#
?
Aug 23, 2021 23:48
|
|
|
I guess it depends, I like to verbally fight so I relish people who don't go "I don't want to talk about it". But for those who don't, they should just...not invite said person, your uncle in this case. Might get the hint.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2021 14:56
|
|
|
hyperhazard posted:
"I guess you're too old to understand modern fashion."
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2021 15:11
|
|
|
PT6A posted:I don't know, I don't really like the idea that a weakness to propaganda and flawed reasoning is somehow evidence of a brain defect. I have to assume our gullibility as a species to propaganda is due to our inherent tribalism. I read a study about how deeply rooted tribalism is in our evolution but I can’t seem to find it now. The gist was our success as a species is due to our ability to work together in groups, where being ostracized from a group means you don’t survive. Long term side effect of this being you end up with weird results like not wearing masks to virtue signal which group you’re in, and our brains are hardwired to fear not belonging as a potential risk of death. While we did not evolve the ability to instinctively know and fear what viruses are. Mix that in with weak/lackluster education and economic depression and it’s no wonder people are reverting to their lizard brains.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2021 15:30
|
|
|
DarkCrawler posted:I guess it depends, I like to verbally fight so I relish people who don't go "I don't want to talk about it". But for those who don't, they should just...not invite said person, your uncle in this case. Might get the hint. Man, don't I wish. But he lives down the road from my parents, so he and my aunt show up without warning. I'd gone about a year and a half without seeing them, but my last visit happened to coincide with one of their pop ins. To my sister's credit, she's managed to pretty much cut them out of her life despite living next to them, but it involves her doing Scooby Doo levels of sneaking around doorways to escape.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2021 20:30
|
|
|
e.pilot posted:I have to assume our gullibility as a species to propaganda is due to our inherent tribalism. I read a study about how deeply rooted tribalism is in our evolution but I can’t seem to find it now. Yeah, and to build on this, it's easy to see why, evolutionarily speaking, trusting "some guy you know" is probably beneficial. "Bob said not to eat those berries, you'll poo poo yourself!" or "God says it's bad to eat that animal, best not do it!" was probably valuable advice in the absence of mass media, education and the scientific method, even if maybe it wasn't always true. Now, those same things that your brain is basically hardwired to do if you don't train it otherwise, are enabling the spread of false, dangerous information.
|
|
#
?
Aug 24, 2021 20:49
|
|
|
PT6A posted:Yeah, and to build on this, it's easy to see why, evolutionarily speaking, trusting "some guy you know" is probably beneficial. "Bob said not to eat those berries, you'll poo poo yourself!" or "God says it's bad to eat that animal, best not do it!" was probably valuable advice in the absence of mass media, education and the scientific method, even if maybe it wasn't always true. "I don't care what the so-called scouts say, I don't see a lion in that cave, and furthermore it's my spirit-given right to hunt and gather where i aiiiyyyyygghh"
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2021 01:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 8, 2024 17:37 |
|
|
hyperhazard posted:I've been thinking back on that last conversation a lot recently, and trying to think of what to do if it happens again. I suppose saying something like "Yup, you're pretty goddamn racist" and then refusing to engage is probably the way to go, but I know he won't let it drop. Then every family get-together will be him trying to egg me on with worse and worse stuff. Sounds like a good idea to me You can probably provoke this dude into taking a swing at you as well
|
|
#
?
Aug 25, 2021 01:20
|
|