[PESTILENCE] that was a good era

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > C-SPAM > [PESTILENCE] that was a good era

mazzi Chart Czar: Sep 24, 2005

Snowglobe of Doom posted:

It's just like that scene in Star Trek: The Next Generation where Data realises he can't outright beat that alien dude at 3D chess and the best he can do is draw even ..... then he realises he can just draw out the game indefinitely until the other dude forfeits in frustration. He doesn't get tired and he's not programmed to feel boredom so as long as he stays in the game he's going to win via attrition.

Covid also never gets tired or bored.

Covid is the chess game. And, the careful people are playing against the risky people.

# ? Aug 15, 2023 06:22

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# ? May 11, 2024 06:34

Tulip: Jun 3, 2008; yeah thats pretty good

ibid posted:

https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1690754436384301059

https://nitter.net/EricTopol/status/1690754436384301059#m

https://nitter.net/kallikourdis/status/1689387220451364865

Nasty stuff

# ? Aug 15, 2023 06:38

Rick: Feb 23, 2004; When I was 17, my father was so stupid, I didn't want to be seen with him in public. When I was 24, I was amazed at how much the old man had learned in just 7 years.

Covid is playing chess, we're playing the maze from the children's menu MY neighborhood bar+grill, APPLEBEES.

# ? Aug 15, 2023 06:38

Phigs: Jan 23, 2019

ibid posted:

I mainly posted it because I thought it was such a novel idea, but I'm not sure occam's razor would support non smart people rising to positions of massive power, over smart people rising to positions of massive power by demonstating their conformity with other people in those positions, and then that turning into a freakshow of them demonstrating their conformity by seeing who can be the most practically counterproductive as a competitive performance for the rest.

Yeah the idea that dumb people are getting into positions of power doesn't work unless being dumb offers a specific advantage or the process makes people dumb or the process makes them act in ways that make them look dumb. There has to be more to it than just random chance.

I'm more inclined to think the cruelty is the point though. You can't signal to the other elites that you have a soul or you're done. If you do something that helps the people then you risk them thinking you have a soul, even if the reason you're doing it is to secure power, preserve labor so you can continue to exploit it, or to stave off revolt. So the only options available to you are ones that gently caress over the little people, regardless of how much harm they cause to your seat of power. You drive people back into workplaces and schools unmasked because it clearly shows you value money over people's lives, even though in the long run you'd be better off monetarily with a healthy workforce.

Look what happened to Elizabeth Warren. She was very clearly pretending to adopt some of Bernie's platform just to secure votes but that was too much and she had to be taken down. She was supposed to say no you can't have nice things and get what she can with that.

I guess it's a bit like toxic masculinity, where some men will do things to signal they are masculine even if it ultimately hurts them. It's more important to the masculinity cult that you do the masculine thing than that you do the smart, self serving thing.

Phigs has issued a correction as of 06:54 on Aug 15, 2023

# ? Aug 15, 2023 06:50

Vox Nihili: May 28, 2008

The Demilich posted:

I assure you my credentials are top of the line, and my diploma hangs on many fridges.
Please step into my office:

normalcy radiates from my posting

# ? Aug 15, 2023 06:52

fosborb: Dec 15, 2006; Chronic Good Poster

Vox Nihili posted:

normalcy radiates from my posting

doctor wiggles weiner wagon is the most normal thing to be posted on these forums in several weeks

# ? Aug 15, 2023 07:03

fosborb: Dec 15, 2006; Chronic Good Poster

anyway, closing the thread at midnight

# ? Aug 15, 2023 07:11

The Demilich: Apr 9, 2020; The First Rites of Men Were Mortuary, the First Altars Tombs.

As always I'm thankful for this thread as a friend got got today and I informed them about everything they needed to know (which was all in the OP), including the Fauci special which I hope they pursue.

Hopefully they'll start masking but the fact that they weren't to begin with doesn't fill me with much hope.

fosborb posted:

anyway, closing the thread at midnight

gently caress your decision

# ? Aug 15, 2023 07:17

ibid: Aug 18, 2022; by vyelkin

Phigs posted:

I'm more inclined to think the cruelty is the point though. You can't signal to the other elites that you have a soul or you're done. If you do something that helps the people then you risk them thinking you have a soul, even if the reason you're doing it is to secure power, preserve labor so you can continue to exploit it, or to stave off revolt. So the only options available to you are ones that gently caress over the little people, regardless of how much harm they cause to your seat of power. You drive people back into workplaces and schools unmasked because it clearly shows you value money over people's lives, even though in the long run you'd be better off monetarily with a healthy workforce.

Look what happened to Elizabeth Warren. She was very clearly pretending to adopt some of Bernie's platform just to secure votes but that was too much and she had to be taken down. She was supposed to say no you can't have nice things and get what she can with that.

I guess it's a bit like toxic masculinity, where some men will do things to signal they are masculine even if it ultimately hurts them. It's more important to the masculinity cult that you do the masculine thing than that you do the smart, self serving thing.

I think that's likely it, class solidarity and also hierarchy maintenance.

quote:

The current research focuses on retribution, testing whether support for retribution is motivated by the desire to maintain social hierarchies. If so, then the retributive tendencies of hierarchy enhancers or hierarchy attenuators should depend on whether offenders are relatively lower or higher in status, respectively. Three studies showed that hierarchy attenuators were more retributive against high-status offenders than for low-status offenders, that hierarchy enhancers showed a stronger orientation towards retributive justice, and that relationship was stronger for low-status, rather than high-status, criminal offenders. These findings clarify the purpose and function of retributive punishment.

Retribution as hierarchy regulation.

https://sci-hub.se/10.1111/bjso.12219

# ? Aug 15, 2023 07:21

fosborb: Dec 15, 2006; Chronic Good Poster