3101 replies to this topic

[penrosecat]

wall has an important role in popularity, i guess

 

middle class people have had enough of privileged liberals calling them idiots

 

they love orange man for his promises and effectiveness, regardless of how lewd (uwu) he is

[pokari]

Well, that's the current theory of how we elected an orangutan, anyway, but we only really started believing that theory after he won and we suddenly needed a good story as to "why".

So beware the possibility that it's a clever post-facto rationalisation. I mean, no doubt that phenomenon contributed to his unlikely ascension in some way, but I wouldn't count on it being as significant a reason as public discourse would now have us believe.

Spoiler

Also, "effectiveness" XD People mostly really only see what they want to see when it comes to fuzzy judgement, I know—myself included, alas, as there's no escaping it for any of us—but this is one of those areas where I still can't fathom what mental gymnastics people are going through to reach such a conclusion.

Unless one means his effectiveness at destroying the government from within (which was, admittedly, more or less a campaign promise, appealing to a certain set of unthinkingly cynical people who think blindly ripping various administrative departments apart will somehow decrease corruption).

Edited by pokari, 04 July 2019 - 04:21 PM.

[PItiful Boar]

The tea party electorate won this time, that's all. It wasn't completely unexpected. 

If anyone's to be blame it probably would be McCain, when he nominated the Sara Palin as his running mate, and legitimized the right wing.

Ring wing wouldn't be the right word. Facist wing?

[pokari]

Anarcho-fascist capitalism, perhaps?

(I mean, if it sounds like it shouldn't work, that would only be because it probably doesn't and is just as contradictory as it sounds.)

That said only Trump is seriously fascist-leanining, so that's a better description of the current administration than of the far right wing, which before Trump was more inclined towards a rhetoric of anarcho-capitalism with a dose of theocracy.

(Which is the problem you get putting libertarian and evangelical ideas in the same room and trying to somehow reconcile them, I guess)

Edited by pokari, 05 July 2019 - 06:16 AM.

[penrosecat]

apparently there was a 'we want outsiders' demand, i dont know that much so ill stop

[Yaomo]

I wonder if there will ever be a last post in this thread series.

[pokari]

apparently there was a 'we want outsiders' demand, i dont know that much so ill stop

Don't be shy just because I'm ranting a bit—I mean, you know more about what's going on over here than I do what's going on over there, so you needn't worry too much. ^^

It's just nice to have something to chat about, even if it's politics.

(And yeah, there was a definite noticeable bent towards outsiders in general in that election, based on everything that happened in the primaries too.

As wild speculation, I think everyone who voted for Obama expecting "change" and then watched things proceed pretty much as-normal, decided we needed someone even more radical which, to be fair, is definitely what we got x.x; )

I wonder if there will ever be a last post in this thread series.

As do I. Though actually the closing of LPWv4 and the opening of this was a late-in-the-game surprise. You never know.

Edited by pokari, 07 July 2019 - 07:07 AM.

[penrosecat]

*sigh* please fast forward to next week

 

._.

 

only unoriginal struggles wait for me for the rest of this week so i don't know if i'm developing because of them

 

or rather why is my resilience being tested further

 

it was already one of the stronger qualities, but now i'm just getting tired

 

-------

 

i guess now i can value alone time with my game more

I wonder if there will ever be a last post in this thread series.

 

i think it would mostly be cruel to us so there wont be such a thing :')

[pokari]

I apologise on behalf of the universe for the banality of your present strivings. There are few things so soul-crushing as mandatory drudge-work. u.u

*hugs* :'3

Take care, don't overwork and remember to hug a stuffed animal if things ever get too tough. <3

[penrosecat]

not even, it's like i can leave but i get the puppy eye treatment (i have to leave after friday anyway so nothing i can do about it)

 

also, it seems like i learnt the rules of the drudge really easily compared to other grown up hands that were around

 

anyway today i got sick of it and left two hours early

[PItiful Boar]

i woke this morning around 5 AM and I was dreaming about an old friend of mine

he got a double MD PHD and i'm sure he is out there making a difference in the world

i think the path to success is to figure out what you want to do early on in life and do that one thing but I'm not sure if that will necessarily make you happy

[penrosecat]

i think the path to success is to figure out what you want to do early on in life and do that one thing but I'm not sure if that will necessarily make you happy

 

it has been for me so far but somehow you have to choose one of the paths and it feels bad that you can't take it back

 

anyway nobody chooses between a bad choice and a good choice. its only between two equally good options that one can't decide, and mostly the variables keep changing, so difficult to predict which will make you happier, so we try to choose the one with less risk (simple economics)

 

i also think that regardless of someones own interest, it is easier to start thinking about liking something popular so much that you can fool yourself into loving it, till you realise at some point 'what the hell have i been doing, i didnt really wanna do this, ever' or you can ignore the realisation and keep working cause it ain't that bad anyway

[pokari]

i think the path to success is to figure out what you want to do early on in life and do that one thing but I'm not sure if that will necessarily make you happy

My sister did that with art and it's been a disaster.

You can blame that on it being art, but fundamentally, there is no guaranteed success recipe. Anyone who says hard work and/or dedication will get you through no matter what, is ignoring reams of evidence so that they can tell themselves a nice story about how (short of catastrophes beyond your control) the world is a fair place and everything will be okay if you follow the right rules.

(Not saying there's no truth in what you're saying, mind; long-term investment and persistence towards a goal definitely helps your odds, and it's certainly possible to end up backed into a corner a bit because of that)

anyway nobody chooses between a bad choice and a good choice. its only between two equally good options that one can't decide, and mostly the variables keep changing, so difficult to predict which will make you happier, so we try to choose the one with less risk (simple economics)

Well, you and I choose the paths with less risk, but not everyone else does—lots of people are more comfortable with risk than we, and the results for those people are appropriately more divergent. This is I assume why extremely successful people often talk about how you have to take more risks: That's often necessary for large successes; unfortunately it also invites larger failure.

We hear the other side of the coin, the failure stories instead of the success stories, from, say, family hearsay about that one cousin's uncle who keeps throwing money at failed business ventures and never gets a real job.

Interestingly the more that has gone wrong in your life up to the present moment, the less risk-averse one seems to be, which seems like it's the opposite of what it should be :/ (Though a lot of it's inborn as well, I think)

I am personally ludicrously risk-averse myself, not to the point that it's debilitating but obviously to the point where my decisions are non-optimal.

[penrosecat]

Interestingly the more that has gone wrong in your life up to the present moment, the less risk-averse one seems to be, which seems like it's the opposite of what it should be :/ (Though a lot of it's inborn as well, I think)

 

i didnt really understand :/

 

unable to brain after drudge day :'((

Edited by penrosecat, 12 July 2019 - 12:09 PM.

[pokari]

*hugs*

As for what I meant—I don't know if my observation is correct here—people who have had more gone wrong in their life (for instance my sister's best friend's husband, who was homeless for some portion of his childhood) seem to be more welcoming to risk (so long as they didn't pick up PTSD along the way, anyway) than those who have never had anything go especially wrong in life, but have heard of what might go wrong. (Consider as an extreme example Japanese parents who, are as a group, famously paranoid about their children's safety even though Japan is one of the safest places around statistically)

Basically, I'm saying that we're usually more afraid of the "dangers" we've heard of, but haven't experienced.

And I feel like that sort of applies when making life decisions as well.

Maybe I'm saying something really obvious though, and just coming at it from a different side in my head than I usually do. *shrug*

[PItiful Boar]

I think poki is just saying he's a sheltered greenhouse plant. If he was in Syria and Yemen and getting drone strikes everyday he'll be chill

[penrosecat]

No, I think there's no choice that is entirely free of risk, and the act of choosing the less 'risky' option in no way guarantees a happy ending. It's more about the belief that one can continue one way feeling more secure and hence generally work better that way. If someone does choose a riskier option, I should think in 99% of the cases it is far from a leap of faith, they genuinely believe they can be higher performing that way, regardless of the risk involved.

 

(Sorry for the survivorship bias)

[pokari]

I think poki is just saying he's a sheltered greenhouse plant. If he was in Syria and Yemen and getting drone strikes everyday he'll be chill

Hey, I explicitly excluded PTSD and the like from my musings. My hypothesis was about (relatively) small-time stuff only.

...

I will totally accept the sheltered greenhouse plant designation, though ^^;

Edited by pokari, 12 July 2019 - 07:25 PM.

[PItiful Boar]

I've been thinking about questions of significance lately.... I don't feel very significant at all... what will people remember me? 

a gopher? "took care of business"

[pokari]

(Sorry for the survivorship bias)

It's okay, sampling biases are unavoidable on an individual level.

*headpats* :'3

I've been thinking about questions of significance lately.... I don't feel very significant at all... what will people remember me? 
a gopher? "took care of business"

None of us are likely to be remembered at all for long, not beyond our acquaintances, family, loved ones etc. The only quick way to be remembered "forever" is to do something terrible, so I wouldn't worry about that much.

If you mean just during our lifetimes though—well, I don't think I have any good advice. I myself might get remembered just from my physical appearance and awkwardness, but that doesn't help much does it ^^;;

Worst-case scenario one could always slowly take up a hobby that's obvious and remarkable, like, say, crossdressing. Then everyone will remember you as, "that one guy that—"

Is this why some people deliberately pick up "hobbies", I wonder...?