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PaperclipPerfector  4d ago (text post)   2423 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for January 30, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Alternative lifestyle choices work great - for alternative people

Aww thanks bae.

From that post:

one would naively expect that successful actors, musicians etc. would be incentivised to discourage others from pursuing careers in their domain, or engage in rent-seeking behaviour like guilds and so on. But there may be an alternative dynamic at play, in which moderately talented actors, musicians etc. are savvy enough to know that flooding the market with talentless hacks will make the legitimately talented stand out all the more — tall poppies look all the taller when surrounded by short ones

Surely they are simply smart enough to know that:

  1. They are already established and can't easily be threatened by people only now beginning a career (similar to those advocating DEI).
  2. They know that their fans will respond much better to "we've all been there, keep plugging," than to "dude, sorry, chances are you can't do what I can do".

I think one would actually naively expect that most of them are not being Machiavellian about it and declare that "we've all been there, keep plugging" as a sincere opinion that is entirely decoupled from any awareness of their advantages and chances of success.

They know that people respond much better to "we've all been there, keep plugging," than to "dude, sorry, chances are you can't do what I can do".

Well, yes, they do. That doesn't mean that filling talentless hacks with false hope is a pro-social way to behave.

Agreed. I'm just saying I think you're overthinking it in that quoted passage. They're just trying to be nice in public even if the long-term effect is anti-social.

How so? It seems like you're just paraphrasing the same point I made.

I read you as saying that the talented encourage the talentless to enter their field as a gambit to emphasise their own relative superiority.

My theory is that they don’t want to generate bad PR by discouraging their fans and emphasising the gap between them.

If I misunderstood your argument I apologise.

No, that was the point I was making alright. I think the whole thing might come down to a Russell conjugation, or Trivers' theory of self-deception: if a strategy is beneficial to us, we unconsciously come up with reasons why it's also the pro-social thing to do. See also "yasslighting": I don't believe that talented actors are consciously thinking "if I encourage a bunch of talentless hacks to pursue careers in acting, it'll make it easier for me to secure roles", any more than attractive women are consciously thinking "if I encourage my friend to get an unflattering haircut and tell her it really suits her, it'll make me look more attractive by comparison". Of course in their own heads they'll tell themselves a story which casts their behaviour in a more favourable light e.g. "it would devastate Bob to be told he's a terrible actor, so instead I'll just give him some pat platitude about never giving up on your dreams"; "I don't want to hurt Alice's feelings, so I'll tell her her new haircut really suits her". But subconsciously, the practical benefit of these decisions to those who make them is obvious. It surely cannot be an accident that actors so rarely encourage their more talented peers not to give up on their dreams.

It surely cannot be an accident that actors so rarely encourage their more talented peers not to give up on their dreams.

How often do actors meet more talented (but not yet successful) peers and speak to them, specifically (as opposed to a general statement to the wide audience, most of them presumably less talented) about their dreams in public, for you to estimate that?

That one episode of Friends.

Thanks, misunderstanding cleared up. Personally I disagree, I think that once you are seriously giving life advice to anyone except that handsome devil in the mirror, you are broadly out of the part of your career where young people are competing with you directly. I think that what you consider the 'cloaking' motivation is broadly the true motivation.

Yasslighting for e.g. writers certainly happens but it happens in the peer group of young losers + young one-day-maybe-not-losers. I guess maybe your talented 20-somethings are still encouraging their less talented friends but this is more to prevent social awkwardness than anything.

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