Alabasata
18d ago
Alabasata
1mo ago
If you focus on the gaps, you'll see gaping maws everywhere. An incel may see all the reasons why they're undateable. A Black-pilled HBDer may see themselves as inherently slower.
If they can't start with seeing themselves from their strengths, they are unlikely to grow into the best they can be.
I know many retired E-9s of color. The oldest is a Vietnam veteran. He needed help taking the placement test in the way his white peers did. After he got that help, he did the right thing and passed it down to his mentees. It's not just innate intelligence that gets passed down, but also experience. Experience, expectations, and emotions.
There's a strain of community activism called Asset Based Community Development. Like many programs, they started with the initials (ABCD) and made a bacronym. Unlike many other programs, they prefer a bottom-up approach. They assume people, all people - limited though they may be - have put in the work to get good at something. Good enough that they should be valued.
I don't know what your life goals like like. You may not reach the intellectual & career heights of people that we write about. (SPOILERS: most of us here won't either.) But if you can operate in your zone of excellence, and help a brother or two get at least half as good as you are - that's still a life of positive impact.
Alabasata
27d ago
We are kinda in an anomolous time. The ratio of median home price:median income is in uncharted territory. Granted, this is a national ratio, so local market movement is a huge factor.
Without major amounts of extra supply coming on your local market or an exodus when Lake Mead runs dry, I don't see a regression to the mean happening any time soon. It's a hard choice, given your increase in housing cost.
Alabasata
20d ago
From my understanding, Mondragon members have largely pulled the ladder up behind them (point 7 here).
Alabasata
1mo ago
If I remember right, the law claims there is no such thing as consensual sex in prison. It's just selectively enforced by the wardens to minimize the effort needed to maintain control. Having a zero tolerance policy for prison rape creates more work, so is naturally opposed by the wardens.
Alabasata
3mo ago
I was in the backyard of my grieving stepbrother. He was a widower due to a vehicle accident and not even 40 yet. I hadn't seen him face-to-face in about 15 years. But we reconnected over video chat during the pandemic.
Because I knew I was only going to know our parents there, I made it my mission to talk to everyone & be curious about them. I had enough surface-level knowledge to engage with anyone. That caught the eye of the most bookish of the bunch, a coworker of the deceased.
Less than 2 years later we became parents, and she packed up her belongings and moved 1000 miles away to live with me. It's an imperfect arrangement, a local maxima, but it works for now.
Alabasata
6mo ago
I bought my house in 2018 and refinanced in 2021. If I were working the same job I was then - today - I could not afford to buy the house I now occupy. Wouldn't even be close to qualifying.
My fellow line workers are in far more precarious financial situations than I am. It is not their fault. If the wage-to-property-value ratios were restored to pre-pandemic levels, I'd be inclined to agree with you. But they are not, so I cannot.
Alabasata
3mo ago
Father here. Part of my job is to set her up for good partnerships.This requires her to be attentive, attractive, and to have a good social filter.
There will always be a fraction of people who are okay with jerking it to kids. I have no interest in adapting the Fast Bear Rule: making my daughter uglier/less available so pervs find a different girl. She will develop a filter & practice it like any other skill.
If I've done my job right, she won't have to worry about pedos. She just won't see them as legitimate options.
Alabasata
1mo ago
Remind me, how common are acid attacks in that corner? Because that type of antisocial assault is something the subcontinent is infamous for. Not interested in starting the "if I'm getting beat up by the townies anyway, let's give them a real reason for it" ball rolling.
Alabasata
1mo ago
For an Anti-capitalist Psychology of Community by Nick Malherbe. (ISBN: 3030996956)
Trying to find textbooks for my neighborhood organization that could be used as 'best practices'. This is certainly not going to be one of them. I've never read a community psychology book in full before. Mostly because I wouldn't normally be introduced to this text until I've gone through a full undergrad program. Which ain't happening, lol.
After a scan of Intro To Community Psychology - and seeing their stated core values - I was not surprised that the field would be Left-dominated. Figured I might as well hear experiences from the source as they saw it. It is obvious from the get-go the book would be explicitly anti-neoliberal and anti-capitalist.
It was not obvious this person would seek to (a) be upfront that anti-capitalism & community psychology as movements had inherent contradictions (b) celebrate those contradictions in a "I contain multitudes" sort of way. Nor that he would call out other anti-capitalist works as primarily fatalist in nature - seeking to close on a hopeful note himself. (I have not made it to the end. No telling what the author believes is hopeful rhetoric.)
The writing style is...not great. The overuse of in-the-field phrases ends up creating semantic satiation more than clarifying any points. And yet, it isn't nearly as dense/absurd as Sokal Squared would attempt to create. This is probably not written for a layman like myself. But I can understand the general thrust of the topics contained within so far.
I'll probably get around to finishing the book this week and moving to anodyne on-its-face works like "Cambridge Handbook of Service Learning and Community Engagement" or "Cultural and Critical Explorations in Community Psychology: The Inner City Intern". Culture War addicts will get a kick out of titles like "Decolonial Feminist Community Psychology" and "The Taliban's Virtual Emirate: The Culture and Psychology of an Online Militant Community".
I saw the trailer for this conference. This was held last year in Austin. I am a father, and before I was a father I could not have afforded a trip to attend this. I expect their target audience are HENRYs & PMCs, not tradesman.
I've wanted to be a father for a very long time. I could imagine my kids, but for a very long time I couldn't picture the woman who would want to have mine. After I bought a house, I couldn't find a local woman who wanted my children.
I don't care how beautiful the rhetoric is. They're not talking to me. I already kinda buy in, but I'm not who they want to sign on.
It sucks to be looked past. And I recognize Sean Hannity in the series of audio quotes. "Beyond politics", my ass.
Alabasata
6mo ago
I disagree with the framing of this. Problems abound, for sure. However, the only thing you can reasonably control is your actions. Everybody has a Zone of Action and a Zone of Concern. Many - if not most - people have a Zone of Influence.
The problem you seem to be describing is that your Zone of Concern is far larger than your Zone of Action or Influence. That area is the Donut of Despair. Minimizing your Donut of Despair is a sign of mental stability, and there are three ways to keep it small.
Grill-pilling decreases your Zone of Concern. It increases your Slack, but does not exercise your agency. But what if you were able to increase your Zone of Action or Zone of Influence? If you are also not comfortable with your level of agency, this is likely to be more effective for mental stability than grill-pilling.
News Problems will exist with or without you - for now. What if your agency was large enough that you could create News Problems for other people? How would that change your perception of problems?
Alabasata
5mo ago
I was one of the one-term-and-done enlisters, like my forefathers before me. Back in the 00s, we had similar problems with the anthrax vaccine. I think the strangest side effect of that round of shots was a new allergy to eggshells? I'm sure there were probably worse that existed, but this was what my cohort experienced. Most of the people who were most vocal to me about anthrax were also the least fit. I noticed this, got the shots, and kept my opinions to myself.
A 9/11 joiner in my circles literally walked away from retirement due to the Covid vaccine. While I do not agree with his decision, he approached it with an honor that I can respect. He also went through the anthrax bit, so I will eventually need to remind myself of his change in position.
I wish I could give more than anecdotes, but that's all I have to give.
Alabasata
2mo ago
I'm not especially high-status. I was the worst distance runner to qualify for a letter in track. The only reason I ever made sergeant in the military is because they promoted over half of all eligible E-4s. The main reason I'm a board member of a neighborhood organization is because the person stepping away had new familial obligations to attend to - and she hadn't lived in the area for years anyway.
I got to where I am by being present at the right place at the right time with an agreeable temperament - with a handy dose of preparation & persistence. If I thought like you did, I doubt I would have achieved what I've earned.
I wouldn't call small-talk interesting. But it's the quickest route to learn if people care about things - and what. It's okay to not be interested in what they care about. It's a social barrier to be proudly ignorant of what they care about. It's entirely possible to get intellectual about the history & patterns of one's relationships. You don't need to know about Georgian taxes or bell curves to have intellectual conversations. Most of the time - in my experience - that shit doesn't help anyway.
And conversation is also a two-way street. They need to know who you are, too. Is the other person likely to walk away with a good sense of who you are & what you're about?
As long as you can find a reason to follow up via email or text message the next day, I call that a conversational success. Just keep recalibrating until you find reasons at least half the time.
Alabasata
3mo ago
Let's see if rephrasing this helps.
If "none of the above" were allowed to win, I'd be okay with selecting that more often. If you're stuck picking which color boot is going to be on our necks - and that's the world we live in - then I'm going to pick the color that matches my hair.
Alabasata
3mo ago
I'm with you on the "this is just gut feeling with extra steps" observation. I think people were just impressed by the thought that went into the Drake Equation & forgot to understand that it's still just a thought experiment. Unlike other equations with solutions, it has no predictive power.
It's the best tool they have, they don't appreciate the limits of it, and we all know what happens when all you have is a hammer.
Alabasata
3mo ago
Meet People IRL
Frankly this approach seems dead in the water in this day and age. The only reliable way to meet people in person anymore has been, in my experience, through academia.
Our experiences do not match. Granted, I am not an academic. Meeting people in that setting is not my idea of a good time. Instead of talking about sustainability theory at some convention, I'd rather hang out with likeminded people ripping out decorative bushes and planting a food forest. People who are capable of Doing The Damn Work are my people.
Filtering out the flakes (men and women) who RSVP but don't attend makes the selection process for who to associate with so much easier. I'm not sure how that translates to your areas of preference. Hopefully, you can connect the dots there.
Alabasata
1mo ago
I wrote a Dethklok-style song during the pandemic about that trend. It was cathartic to fantasize about burning those kinds of HOAs (and their contracts) to rubble.
The existence of keycard-locked and gated neighborhoods is a strong signal that most of the Americans that can afford them believe their surrounding society deserves low-trust interactions. This, in turn, earns a disgust response from me and others who cannot afford the security you buy.
Alabasata
5mo ago
Other potential answers, since we're brainstorming.
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The talent isn't there. White male actors may be pursuing longer-term roles, not ad spots. The revenue per hour for ads may be only worthwhile if one is modeling/acting as a side gig. Career models/actors may not be interested in bit parts. There may not be room/budget for a Jim Varney these days.
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You are consuming media not meant for 'valuable white men' to consume. 18-30 men are being given mass-market brands to remember when they finally earn real disposable income. After aging out of that demographic, the rules change for which white men to pursue. If you don't have an expensive hobby, you may not be worth targeting.
Alabasata
3mo ago
So I've made a lot of headway into my local neighborhood. Next month, I'm set to join the board of my neighborhood organization. I'm replacing a member who has too many commitments. (Note: this neighborhood does not have an HOA, so membership is voluntary.) I'm also the volunteer webmaster, so thankfully I get to structure how our online real estate looks and feels.
My goals as a board member are twofold:
- Provide good reasons to be a member.
- Replace the membership that has dropped off in the past 10 years. We just built a bunch of apartment complexes; surely some of them are civic-minded enough to want to participate.
Out of curiosity: what would be some good reasons to join a group that reviews building permits, holds open meetings with bureaucrats and local elected officials, and serves cheap chicken dinners to dues-paying members?
Hell of a selling proposition, I know.
Better yet, what more would we need to do to make it worth leaving your residence on a Thursday night? Y'know, instead of being here on The Motte with you fine folk? 🙂
Alabasata
2mo ago
This is interesting to me because I am also on the board of a local nonprofit. However, we are a neighborhood organization - not a mission-based org. The dynamics are going to be different because entryism is kinda-sorta desired on my end.
I can understand how a mission-based org wants to protect entryists from threatening the ability of the org to handle the tasks at hand. Sometimes they require specialized skillsets or networks, and access to those things must be a high priority. If they are good at maintaining a pipeline to keep around people with those skills dedicated to the mission, then they should be in good shape for years to come.
On my end...well, since my neighborhood is not an HOA, this org requires buy-in from residents to function effectively. Currently, less than 1% of residents are dues-paying members. It is safe to say that even though the neighborhood org makes statements to the city about zoning changes & attempts to oust the elected city councilor - they do not enjoy much support from the neighborhood itself. One bad round of flu could wipe out half the board due to advanced age, leaving the org little choice but to shut its doors. If the org is to survive its founding leadership, they must find a new generation interested in taking over the reigns. And the generational & demographic politics of that turnover is going to be quite interesting.
We are not in the same shape as @Rov_Scam 's org. Nowhere near. Entryists are not necessarily "barbarians at the gates" to all groups. Just specific ones.
Alabasata
1mo ago
When was the last time you've heard of people making real decisions based on fiction they've read or seen? Or based on news articles from only one color of the spectrum?
If kids see a cartoon about bullies targeting people with glasses, they're less likely to wear glasses. Adults are nowhere near immune from that kind of false-positive threat modeling. They're just a lot more effective at overreacting. See: post-9/11 reactions to Arabs & Muslims, Japanese internment camps, Pizzagate, parental advisory stickers.
People can and do put the cart before the horse when making decisions on which neighborhoods to move into. It's common, and no amount of 'rational threat analysis' will change that.
Alabasata
5mo ago
I disagree with your definition of "woke". It might have been telephoned to that degree, but I operate from a much different vantage. In short, I see woke as "Systems of power have been designed, and they weren't made with your prosperity in mind. Don't fall in the cracks that their laws and loans and research has made. Don't be a victim of The System: stay woke."
A medical example: sodium is painted out to be a much bigger factor than it is in blood pressure studies. But the government & processed food industries stand to make money off of advertising and low-rigor studies, so re-education is low on the priority list. Staying woke means cooking from scratch and adding salt to taste.
Now if you're going to look for grift, you'll find it. There is more bullshit being written every day than you can read. If you want to find something to fight, you're going to. But why would that be good for you?
I'm starting a GoFundMe to commission a klezmer rendition of "On Eagle's Wings". Then, and only then, will the inferior WASP culture be washed away from sea to shining sea.
/SaturdayCartoonVillain
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