JarJarJedi
Streamlined derailments and counteridea reeducation
User ID: 1118
JarJarJedi
27d ago
I am not lying to myself at all, if I choose to interrogate that impulse, I recognize it's because I like some fast food on occasion, and I can handle the downsides
How much research did you do on the downsides before you ate that meal? Did you spend a considerable time to be sure you know all of them, assign proper probabilities and weights to every single one, and properly value each and every single one of them according to the best of current scientific knowledge, and then also assign a proper probability and weight to the fact that the current scientific knowledge may be imperfect or plain out false, and add that risk to the calculation too? Or did you just think "yolo, one burger won't kill me, here I properly evaluated the risk and step into this with my eyes fully open now!"? If you did the latter, you are like about 100% of other people and you are fooling yourself. If you did the former, you are like about, within any reasonable rounding, 0% of other people and all other people would call you "weird" if they knew. And that's just a puny burger which, yes, most likely won't kill you (unless the luck selected you to be the random victim of the Burger Serial Killer, which is also a possibility - did you account for it in your evaluation of risks?)
If there is some kind of lie that's load-bearing for me to lead my life, it's not at all obvious to me.
Of course it isn't obvious to you. That's the whole point.
I might not always say the truth, but that's not the same as not being aware of the truth.
Do you think that you are actually aware of The Truth? I mean, that all statements you believe in are objectively true, and for every statement you can determine (if it's logically possible, let's not get into paradoxes here) whether it is true or not, and that determination would be the objective Truth? If you think so, you are either an avatar of God, or have a giant ego and are fooling yourself. If not, then there must be statements that aren't true and yet you think they are true. But you probably don't spend each available moment of time to find out which those are and correct them. You are fine with it being, more or less, as it is. For some people, one of such statements may be "What is written in the book of Mormon is a literal description of events that actually happened". For you, it may be a completely different statement.
JarJarJedi
27d ago
The whole point is to "hate the world" and constantly seek to prepare for the afterlife.
I don't think this is what Christian faith is about (obligatory note: I am not a Christian and have no authority to speak for them). There are some people in it that do that, but it's in no way an universal requirement, at least to my extent of observing many Christians.
JarJarJedi
27d ago
I'm increasingly skeptical about this whole "lying to yourself" business. The reason is, we lie to ourselves in so many ways. Sometimes because we are ignorant (and the reality being so vast, most people are ignorant in a real lot of subjects), sometimes because we are lazy, sometimes because it's too hard to face the unadorned truth, sometimes because the truth would be detrimental to what we want to achieve, or maybe because it's more profitable to believe something other than the truth. Is it really that huge a deal doing it one more or less time, or this is just an inflated ego speaking - "they may have fooled those idiots, but they are never fooling ME!". And then he goes and buys stuff and drinks stuff and eats stuff because the TV told him so (one of the ways, not a personal observation).
Really, if you think about it for a while, there's a lot of self-fooling involved, and probably necessary, for normal life. True, self-fooling about "is there a God and what does he want from me?" may be a bit bigger deal than self-fooling about "is eating this fast food meal really good for me?" but is the difference in kind or merely in degree?
I do not say it's necessarily always good to be fooled. I'm just saying maybe sometimes it's not that bad, if the beneficial outcome is worth it. And also maybe when people say "I just can't let myself be fooled" it's something else than the insatiable lust for truth is speaking. Because they must know they are letting themselves be fooled already in so many ways - at least if they give themselves a time to think about it. I can imagine a person that goes radical "no fooling ever, for any reason, I'll always get to the ultimate absolute truth in every matter" and lives a life like that - but that would not be what one calls a normal life, and would likely be very unpleasant to be both in and around it.
JarJarJedi
28d ago
No, more precisely, having no access to the benefits of US welfare state is equivalent to slavery.
JarJarJedi
29d ago
The resulting one is pretty massive too, if it were twice as big I'd probably never even tried it because there's no way I could finish it. So far I'm about 1/3 in, and he already talked a lot about how his science career sucked, unlike his writing. Given that I had always been his fan and yet was never sure (or interested, to be honest) about what he did as a scientist, that's not a surprise.
JarJarJedi
29d ago
Well, yeah, how do you think things worked at that time? Or, to be honest, in any other time until maybe 20th century when industrial warfare had been invented and private atrocities no longer interest anybody? Of course if you have a small clan that needs to survive, you need to make friends of bigger clans and destroy other small clans before they destroy you. I'm not sure though on the details - which part of Abraham's story you interpret as "then running off with all their shit"? Abraham did try to make friends with the Pharaoh (who was really into his wife, and you can guess what powerful people did to lesser people who had undeservedly pretty wives - if you don't, the Bible has some chapters on that too), but I don't see any mention of any, let alone, all their shit being lost as the result. Other episodes don't seem to match either.
I think the only part where "then running off with all their shit" is appropriate is the Exodus story - but the first part "ingratiating themselves with wealthy and powerful people" is no longer true - by the time, Jews were slaves, so not much ingratiating were happening.
JarJarJedi
29d ago
I, Asimov by, predictably, Isaac Asimov. Some biographies and especially auto-biographies bored me, but this one is not the case. The author clearly is writing about the subject he is deeply interested in, and is not hiding it at all (I'd even say flaunting it), and yet it remains an interesting book. Asimov being a pretty standard prosperous New York secular American Jew, with all cultural and political stances that follow from that, there are a lot of things for me to disagree with him about, but I think it's still a very illuminating and interesting book.
Also, Spice: The 16th-Century Contest that Shaped the Modern World - the topic is pretty obvious from the title. Not too much new there in general, but the details are fascinating. Those early explorers were really wild, and it's insane how dangerous and close to suicidal their exploits were.
JarJarJedi
29d ago
eating chicken feet, dog meat, or any kind of organ meat
I'm not really surprised about the other things, but I've heard from many sources the dog thing is rather exaggerated and not that common or culturally entrenched. I mean, for me it's like one of the most known memes about Koreans but I always thought it's being quite far from the actual situation. Have I been wrong?
JarJarJedi
29d ago
Alright, which specific people would you arrest.
All the rioters. The FBI was able to find every last person who walked around Capitol on Jan 6 - using the phone data, bank records, informants, whatever it takes. They spared absolutely no expense or effort. I want the same for leftist riots. I want all of them, but at least ONE of them. For literally NONE of them I have seen this level of zeal to get to the people who did it. The people who get prosecuted are some that were as stupid as set the actual police car on fire and be identified while doing it. If they did something lesser, or weren't identified immediately, nothing happened. I want the law enforcement to do their fricking jobs. That include finding the specific people. It's not my job, it's theirs. And these people aren't exactly hard to find, I think. They are probably trying to burn down the ICE building right this night.
You act as though there are tens of thousands of people out there who the police know committed crimes but who aren't being arrested for political reasons.
Yes. There are tens of thousands of people out there who we all know committed crimes - we have seen these crimes committed, sometimes in live stream by their own comrades - and they are not being arrested. Moreover, they are being supported, protected, financed and encouraged. By all their party from the Presidential candidate down. I want it to stop. This is not what happens in a healthy society. Some criminals may get away, sure. But having widespread violence for 10 years now and substantially nobody being prosecuted for them is s symptom demonstrating that the whole system is deeply sick. If I see the level of zeal, effort and results that we have seen on Jan 6 protestors deployed against the violent left, then I will believe it is starting to be fixed. And yes, I am acting as if I want this fixed. Because I do.
JarJarJedi
29d ago
You know, one can gain a lot of wiggle space by alluding to secret thoughts of Trump and imagining what he really thinks based on tortured interpretations of some words (like, if he thinks destroying a monument to some person might be bad idea, that means he actually embraces the single worst thing they ever thought and those of everyone they ever associated with, because that's totally how people work). But when you go out and say Trump did not condemn white supremacists while he did, I personally heard him do that, and there's a lot of recordings of him doing it - the game is over. There's no longer any pretense that you are interested in finding any kind of truth or revealing anything in the vicinity of it. It's pure partisan manipulation, and can be only seen as such.
JarJarJedi
29d ago
The Whitmer Kidnapping Plot
The one FBI has constructed pretty much out of the whole cloth? There was not ever any danger, and Trump is completely free to condemn any Democrat politician - especially given as they actually tried to put him personally in jail on ridiculous charges, and did the same to many of his followers.
Paul Pelosi Attack
The whole story is beyond ridiculous, the guy is a full blown nutter, but somehow is made to be an ideological crusader for the right.
It was that unequivocally condemning a white supremacist who committed murder should be the easiest thing a president does
And he did it. And the Left still continues to lie for years that he called Nazis "fine people". Still lies about it. Because it doesn't matter what he does, he will always be accused of something, even if it's a complete fabrication.
This is probably the most he ever did in that his office issued a written statement condemning the attacks
And that's still not enough for you, somehow.
But when he actually got in front of a microphone he couldn't resist the opportunity to dunk on Tim Walz.
What, he should have made a solemn vow never to criticize Walz again? Did Walz made the same vow when Trump had been shot? Did any of the Dems do anything like that, or did they keep calling him Hitler and threat for democracy that must be removed by any means necessary?
As the years past the plight of the poor insurrectionists became a cause celebre on the right,
Because the whole "insurrectionist" thing was a total bullshit - unlike, for example, the kind people of Portland and Chicago right now, even the most unhinged of them never strayed beyond what has been seen many, many times in many, many leftist protests. Of course the right pushed back on this bullshit - which did not prevent the FBI from unleashing absolutely horryfiying suppression campaign, where every last grandma who stepped for a minute into the Capitol was prosecuted harsher than if she were a Mexican drug cartel boss. If anything was demonstrated by this very well, it's the fact the FBI actually can squash any group or organization they want like a tiny insect, and the fact that the violent left had been performing their activities largely unhindered, starting with 2017 inauguration riots, through Covid/Floyd violence wave and now to the massive insurrections in major Dem cities - is not happening because they lack the capacity to make it stop.
But how many things has Trump said that would have traditionally disqualified a presidential candidate?
Did he ever told anybody he would like to murder his opponent's kids? No? Well, bye.
JarJarJedi
29d ago
none of the smarter MAGA people believe the narrative.
What's "the narrative"? I certainly think that Biden had been absolutely horrible. I don't have legal education enough to see if he could be plausible charged with treason (probably not successfully), but I think he certainly did not have mine or The People's interests in mind even in those rare moments he was able to keep anything in mind. And certainly whoever was running the autopen in his stead - which must be some kind of serious crime, though I again don't know how to properly call it - did not. Do I want Biden on the gallows? Shit no, what would it give me? I don't even really want him in jail, he probably wouldn't be able to even understand what's going on. But I wouldn't mind seeing in jail some of the people who were running the clown show. But much more important is to do everything possible to undo at least some of the harm that they inflicted on the country and the society. If believing all that makes me an "idiot" in your eyes, so be it, it's not my problem.
JarJarJedi
29d ago
Democrats don't want you dead, because the democrats asking for your head don't have any understanding of violence.
Most of them may not have a practical knowledge of how the violence is done, but they will wholeheartedly support, enable and defend those 10% who do. And another 10% who want to and will play the meat shield for the previous ones should it prove necessary (like it's happening in Portland right now) and commit as much of haphazard and ineffective violence as they can, fully taking advantage of the fact that nobody would fight them like the real enemy (while they would, as much as they could). And those 20% are enough to deliver a lot of damage, especially given that there's no organized opposition to them so far (every attempt to do what they are doing on the right had been forcefully squashed by the law enforcement, and likely many of those were the fake from the start, clearly created to weed out the active 10% on the right and put them out before they can do anything).
Grunts are cheap though. Cheap and replaceable. If you have tens or hundreds of thousands of people who think murder of political opponents is A-OK, and all their peers think the same, and all their reference circle thinks the same, and literally everybody they know think the same - it won't be hard to find one or two to commit the action when necessary. Gavrilo Princip wasn't some kind of superhuman terminator, he was a poor student. Most assassins are totally unremarkable. The candidate pool of them is inexhaustible once the proper mindset is entrenched.
My point is, they shout about killing Trump because they are unable to imagine the act of killing, punching or drawing blood.
I am not sure how the person with knowledge of the events event for the last year can say something like that. I mean, they literally shot him in the head. And tried to do it again. They very well can imagine it, and that's exactly what they imagine in their wet dreams (when those aren't occupied by trans furry porn, of course). Many of them may not know the technical details of how to effectively do it, but as we are being proven repeatedly, it doesn't take a superhuman, just a random joe with the demonic idea possessing him harder than most of his peers.
The slightest glimpse into real violence leaves a lasting negative taste in one's mouth (unless you're a psychopath).
Their ideological drivers are smart. They know humans don't like violence. That's why the decades-long campaign of dehumanization of the right is (was, has been) necessary. Violence against Nazis is not real violence. That's why this word is being used. It's a marker. Once you are marked a "Nazi", you are excluded from the human empathy mechanism, and the left by now is very well trained to do this. It may have taken a long time, but now it is done. The code is written, uploaded and running. The barrier is down. There's no pit in anyone's stomach about killing the Nazis, only the righteous rage towards the enemies of humanity.
then, call in the national guard.
Haven't you heard yet? National Guard is now owned by a certain Portland judge, and she in the Supreme Commander. Nothing can be called anywhere unless all Antifa-loving judges agree with it. So, you have nobody to call.
JarJarJedi
29d ago
They are not direct ancestors maybe, but close relatives. Cousins or something like that. The totalitarian mindset is the same, the world model is the same - there's a group of people which is the reason of every evil and must be suppressed by all means necessary. It's true that for the modern Left the inclusion of the Jews into this group is consequential to them being so close to foundations of the Western civilization (which is the real target) that it's impossible to not include them, while for Nazis the Jews were pretty much the sole focus. But looking beyond those surface differences, the ideological skeleton behind it is surprisingly similar. And I don't think this is a coincidence.
JarJarJedi
1mo ago
But they don't compete. They blend. Her grandpa hated the Jews and she hates the Jews. His grandpa knew the country can be only saved if certain troublesome groups are eliminated and the political debate is curtailed - and he knows the same. It's not a competition, it's an evolution.
JarJarJedi
1mo ago
Post-war Germany adopted this, at the Allies' command, and went full hog
Yes, but. Initially, the former Nazis were hard suppressed. Then, they were softly and quietly let back into the normal life. Of course, no openly proclaiming their views allowed ever, but you could be, e.g., ex-Nazi - especially if it's low level position - and hold a government job. Even be a lawyer or a judge. I assume most of them are dead by now, but how ironic would it be if an ex-Nazi judge would imprison a Jew under the censorship laws meant to prevent the recurrence of Nazi atrocities?
JarJarJedi
1mo ago
See, that's the difference. The left feels, with no supporting evidence (not that any were ever necessary), that the right wants to kill them. The right knows, on many past examples and repeated, incessant public confessions of the leftists themselves, that the left wants to kill them. And not only wants but does.
JarJarJedi
1mo ago
Don't forget that you can be convicted of serious charges in a "he said she said" case, on witness testimony alone
That's scary. Though the cousin being a felon and the accusers being women probably paid a serious role. It shouldn't have, but I am sure it did.
Is there any way to have known, back in medieval times, that there were two massive continents across the Atlantic ocean?
I imagine since there were Vikings - and probably others - that reached them by then, there could be sources that at least describe the presence of land there. Though probably not about what kind of land and whether that is the same land mass as Asia probably nobody knew definitely by that time. In fact, one could imagine a world where Bering land bridge stayed above water - would it then indeed be Asia?
JarJarJedi
1mo ago
- Roth IRA limits are not that high. ~250K currently, with for two-income family - or moderately well earning one-income - is not a lot. Once you hit that, no Roth for you.
- After 60, there will likely be a significant amount of medical bills. No insurance, as far as I know, covers 100% - especially not Medicare. So getting the money out of the HSA wouldn't be a big problem, however unlike Roth you can get this money untaxed on the way in and on the way out.
JarJarJedi
1mo ago
Are Russia trying to send the message that they will be able to kick various Europeans right in the testicles if the war becomes hot(tter)?
I'm not sure who this message would be addressed to. EU military, unless they are hiring literally idiots, already knows what drones are, and saw how Ukraine and Israel used them to perform deep-inside attacks. Deducing Russia would be capable of doing the same, should they want it, is not something that needs any special messaging. The general public is not itching to have any conflict with Russia anyway - I mean, they don't like Russia, but they'd prefer to limit themselves to expressing grave concern and maybe sending some money to Ukraine (not too much), but that's the extent of it. And they certainly wouldn't understand this message anyway - it would require proven connection to Russia (which would be an act of war by then) to have it enter into normie awareness, or at least willingness of the press (which means of the government) to proclaim it so - in which case the normies would ask - if Russia is already attacking us, why you guys aren't doing squat? And nobody really wants these questions asked or answered.
It could be a test, or it could be just some local drone operators not giving a flying frick about any regulations and just YOLOing it around the airport. It's not like it takes a genius with 10 years of training to fly a hobby drone...
Drone fired by Yemen's Houthis wounds 22 in southern Israel, in a rare breach of missile defenses
Wait, if it's a drone shouldn't it be "drone defenses"?
Hamas reportedly preparing for street-to-street fighting as Israeli forces near Gaza City centre
As opposed to? They have been street-to-street fighting for the last 2 years. That's the only mode of fighting that is available to them - it's not like they have tanks corps or navy or anything but infantry hidden in the residential neighborhoods. So the headline is "Hamas is reportedly preparing to keep doing what they've been doing for 2 years now". Well, gee, thanks BBC for informing us.
Gaza aid flotilla rejects Israel's demand to dock in Ashkelon, calls request part of blockade
I just wonder, what they are planning to do if they actually reach Gaza? Whatever shit they have on their ships, nobody needs it, Gaza has a lot of supplies going in. I mean sure, a lot of people would be happy to relieve them of the goods and sell them on the nearest market, but then what? Take selfies and back home? Or try to get killed and make a huge stink out of it? What's the game plan? I mean, Israel Navy probably would intercept them, feed them sandwiches and deport them again, like the last time, but I'm just curious what's the idea.
JarJarJedi
1mo ago
I'd rather expect they are about to hear something that is not going to please them, probably "we thank you for your service, bye now" for some of them. And Hegseth does not want an organized opposition and the press circus before he does the deed. It will happen afterwards, but that'd be too late.
JarJarJedi
1mo ago
It's too late for you, it must be done on pre-natal stages. You can still have severe liver damage up to fatal, if you like, but that's all you're getting from acetaminophen now.
The funny part is that this set of people is almost identical to the set of people that think America is irredeemably evil and everybody from a less-developed country is automatically morally superior to every American by the virtue of not being tainted by the evil that thoroughly permeates the American society.
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