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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   16986 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 12, 2026

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You see the same dynamic in fitness hobbies. Genetic advantages are obvious to everyone, for the other guys who are bigger and stronger, but most guys will tell you that they themselves have mediocre genetics and that all their accomplishments are the result of hard work. Related, I suppose, to the Fundamental Attribution Error: actions by others reflect innate traits, actions we take reflect contingent situations and decisions. I'm in good shape because I put in so much work, fat people and weak people and slow people just need to put the work in.

In my BJJ gym, I've noticed it extends to the point that guys nearly all perceive themselves to be smaller than they really are. The big guys think they are closer to normal, the median guys think they are small, the little guys think they are tiny. When a bigger guy, often the same size, wins the smaller guy, often the same size, he writes it off as "He's bigger than me I never stood a chance" and doesn't think the bigger guy worked harder than him at training. When a bigger guy beats a smaller guy, he thinks of it as his hard work and skill that made him better.

One of the reasons why people BS so much is that their own mind is constantly hard at work at lying to them, the conscious experiencer, before it lies externally. To be a good bullshitter you have to drink your own kool-aid first. Most of them have no inclination or reason or ability to discern between their own honest thoughts and less honest thoughts. They don't catch their own mind in the act. This is one of many reasons why the world would be a better place if every person spent an hour in meditation every day.

Absolutely. It's the elephant and the stake in the ground. It's hard for people to understand that they've grown and changed since high school.

Yeah there's that too, but that's partly a separate thing; outdated schemas/models/modes of mind. It may play a significant part in people's BS though. Good thinking.

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