I was much happier on the Politics board in 2012

[Deleted]

I'm surrounded by lots of people who don't think like me. It's disconcerting and demoralizing sometimes frankly. I don't think of most of them as stupid, at least not most of the time. I will admit that has been a little difficult as of late in some cases. 

I tend to think of some of them as more short sighted than anything. Also ill informed in some cases, or at worst willfully ignorant. 

[zibazinski]

Well, after all, over 62 million people seem to be stupid so maybe I'm right. According to some posters. Plus, they're racist, sexist, have islamaphobe, you name whatever bad things you think about people, they've got it.

[zibazinski]

You're not allowed to have a difference of opinion or even a rational discussion without being called every name (in a general way so the mod can look the other way) that is evil in their minds. Then you wonder why the backlash? Why you can't convince people you're right and they're wrong. Even stupid people think they're smart enough to know insults.

[Deleted]

Jan 15, 2017 19:08:48 GMT -5 dondub said:

So I'm sure you can find some dumb people on the other side as well. 

Well Trump did get 62,789,879 votes.

(ok, Richard's turn)

Well... since you asked for some reality...

Over 128,824,246 votes were cast stupidly.



*note: notice that I didn't say "by stupid people". It's a distinct difference that they were cast stupidly. Even the smartest of people can make occasional stupid decisions. So casting a vote stupidly doesn't mean that the person must, therefore be stupid.

[djAdvocate]

Jan 15, 2017 20:05:48 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

I don't. Maybe in your world you're surrounded by people you think are intelligent, maybe because they think like you.

very few people think like me, so using your logic, i should think almost everyone is stupid.  but i don't.

the truth is that you don't really know how i think.  i'd ask you to stop assuming you do, but you won't.

[steff]

Personally, I prefer not to walk around assuming everyone around me or that I come into contact with is stupid, ignorant, a moron, a thief or a welfare rat or any negative thing.  I don't want to carry around that much hate and anger on a daily basis. 

If I see someone is any of the above, then I prefer to just walk away.  Again, I'm not so invested in anger & hate to always look for the worst in people.  Total strangers aren't worth that much energy or emotion.  In the end, who or what they are has little to no effect on my life, so why do I need to stick a negative label on them.  If a friend turns out to be something or someone I didn't realize they were deep down inside, again, I walk away. 

*this applies to real life people not message board personalities 

[Deleted]

On this type of conversation, a friend is having an online discussion with a woman who is saying the ACA keeps pregnant women from getting insurance, which is essentially the exact opposite of truth, since the ACA keeps pregnancy from being treated as a pre existing condition. But the woman is not believing it, despite any evidence offered. 

That I think is stupid. Ignoring evidence and persisting with misinformation.

[djAdvocate]

Jan 15, 2017 20:30:39 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

You're not allowed to have a difference of opinion or even a rational discussion without being called every name (in a general way so the mod can look the other way) that is evil in their minds. Then you wonder why the backlash? Why you can't convince people you're right and they're wrong. Even stupid people think they're smart enough to know insults.

people that are inclined to feel insult will feel insulted, ime.  i have no control over that.

[djAdvocate]

Jan 15, 2017 20:46:40 GMT -5 oped said:

On this type of conversation, a friend is having an online discussion with a woman who is saying the ACA keeps pregnant women from getting insurance, which is essentially the exact opposite of truth, since the ACA keeps pregnancy from being treated as a pre existing condition. But the woman is not believing it, despite any evidence offered. 

That I think is stupid. Ignoring evidence and persisting with misinformation.

i would describe that person as woefully misinformed.

i would describe the assertion about the ACA as stupid, but not the person uttering it.

i realize that this subtle distinction is often lost on posters, but it is not lost on the moderators.  i appreciate that about this board.

[Deleted]

When faced with evidence, ie no longer misinformed, and persisting in the lie... that's what crosses the line for me...

[djAdvocate]

Jan 15, 2017 20:51:56 GMT -5 oped said:

When faced with evidence, ie no longer misinformed, and persisting in the lie... that's what crosses the line for me...

"willfully misinformed"?

like sticking their fingers in their ears when presented with facts and yelling "blah blah blah" like an 8 year old?

yeah, that is pretty stupid. 

[djAdvocate]

Jan 15, 2017 20:20:25 GMT -5 oped said:

I'm surrounded by lots of people who don't think like me. It's disconcerting and demoralizing sometimes frankly. I don't think of most of them as stupid, at least not most of the time. I will admit that has been a little difficult as of late in some cases. 

I tend to think of some of them as more short sighted than anything. Also ill informed in some cases, or at worst willfully ignorant. 

many people don't make the distinction between stupid and ignorant.  but i do.

in any event, it makes little difference in the end, since the stupid and ignorant do about the same measure of harm.

[zibazinski]

Jan 15, 2017 20:50:45 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jan 15, 2017 20:46:40 GMT -5 oped said:

On this type of conversation, a friend is having an online discussion with a woman who is saying the ACA keeps pregnant women from getting insurance, which is essentially the exact opposite of truth, since the ACA keeps pregnancy from being treated as a pre existing condition. But the woman is not believing it, despite any evidence offered. 

That I think is stupid. Ignoring evidence and persisting with misinformation.

i would describe that person as woefully misinformed.

i would describe the assertion about the ACA as stupid, but not the person uttering it.

i realize that this subtle distinction is often lost on posters, but it is not lost on the moderators.  i appreciate that about this board.

😆

[zibazinski]

Jan 15, 2017 20:58:50 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jan 15, 2017 20:20:25 GMT -5 oped said:

I'm surrounded by lots of people who don't think like me. It's disconcerting and demoralizing sometimes frankly. I don't think of most of them as stupid, at least not most of the time. I will admit that has been a little difficult as of late in some cases. 

I tend to think of some of them as more short sighted than anything. Also ill informed in some cases, or at worst willfully ignorant. 

many people don't make the distinction between stupid and ignorant.  but i do.

in any event, it makes little difference in the end, since the stupid and ignorant do about the same measure of harm.

They certainly do.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jan 15, 2017 19:30:22 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jan 15, 2017 19:12:26 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Sure. I've seen countless clueless people.

cool.  no further questions, then.

Rules, DJ.

[Virgil Showlion]

Calling the public "stupid" is a veiled way of touting one's own intellect.

Stupidity is relative. Absent a reference, it defaults to the person decrying it. Hence "People are stupid." is equivalent to "People are stupider than I am." and in turn to "Look at how much more intelligent I am than the rest of everyone." It's arrogant.

Any time I find myself in such a mindset, I remind myself I've rarely ever gotten to know an individual--sat down and talked with them--and walked away thinking they were stupid. People have multitudinous talents, interests, and competencies. We aren't terribly rational in general, but rationalism is only a modest component of intelligence.

[zibazinski]

True that.

[dezailoooooo]

Jan 16, 2017 3:55:22 GMT -5 Ratchets said:

Jan 13, 2017 23:52:59 GMT -5 dezailoooooo said:

So u know he's a sleeze yet your comfortable with that  type being the leader of our country....the wall at 25 Billion is a good deal right, plus the cost of folks to mind it and cost to hire more agents to round up and deport more folks then Obama did.... or is those the ones u don't expect him to fulfill and your ok with....and his dissing  his soon to be own security services and publicly believe Putin and the Russians over our own folks..your ok with that too...and on and on we go....

Yes, I am obviously comfortable with that.  I have said before that I disagree with him on some issues, one of which is the wall that you seem so upset about.  I have said this before, but I will say it once again since you have such a short memory.  Here we go:

I could care less about a wall.  Or even a fence.  Or border crossing guards.  Are we not all people?  Who are you to say that me - Ratchets - cannot go and live in Germany for instance without meeting all these qualifications and stuff.  But people want a wall.  Obama deported more people than anyone ever right?  I've seen that statement here a few times.  So I guess folks on both sides of the aisle want a wall.  Sounds like you and him have that in common?

Let me see your other statement or question.  It looks like the other thing you are worried about is his him "dissing" the "security services."  Well maybe they need to be "dissed."  They keep coming up with these false reports, I've seen two now that are so unbelievable that you just have to laugh...these are folks that we are paying our tax dollars to support.  If the best thing they can do is this kind of crap then cut the whole agency IMO.  If your best is "some British guy said a bunch of stuff, but everybody who is there said something else" then you probably aren't the best spy in the world LoL.

Did you have any other bitches or complaints?  You left out Nazis and KKK and racists.  I was expecting something more I guess.

So with that said, yes I will and did vote for him.  Should I have voted for the sleaze who has proven she doesn't know what she's doing and also is on the opposite side of some pretty big policy stances?  I don't understand why you are still confused on this.

Sleaze who is unproven and I agree with.
Sleaze who has failed and I disagree with.

That seem like a no-brainer right?  Why is that hard to understand?  I think that's a very easy choice.

LOL..ok. ok....thanks for the reply...well u got your sleeze we'll have to see how sleezy he turns out or hopefully it won't be that bad..[hey I can dream right..] and my candidate...sit on a beach...play with the grand kids...though don't really expect her to just disapear.....think she will be active in something...have to remember..still has hugh likable factor here..I know , not u and others, but has me and mine and no don't think of her as a sleeze...whatever she has been accused of...and after $80 million of your and my $ investigations, found for anything..nada....she hasn't raped, his ex wife too, groped, barged into youngsters dressing..[his own daughter says expect that]tweeted over every diss sent his way...i'm still waiting by the way... but do wish your sleeze well...he'll i'm affected as well as my family and friends too..

[djAdvocate]

Jan 16, 2017 8:15:10 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

True that.

no, it really isn't.  it is actually complete bullshit.  and you should know that, by now.

we have had some pleasant discussions, and we have had some contentious ones.  if you go back and think about the contentious ones, i think you will find that we were equally to blame for them. 

"putting me on ignore" doesn't address YOUR contributing role to those discussions.  only mine.  until you fix your part in those arguments, you will keep having them with everyone else here.

of course, you can also view this as nothing to be fixed.  that is what i choose to do.  we are all people, with our individual needs and problems, and we bring that to the board.  everyone else can either suffer us or enjoy us.  but cutting people off and shutting them down is kinda silly on a public board, don't you think?  we are here to socialize, after all, aren't we? 

[djAdvocate]

Jan 16, 2017 3:55:22 GMT -5 Ratchets said:

Jan 13, 2017 23:52:59 GMT -5 dezailoooooo said:

So u know he's a sleeze yet your comfortable with that  type being the leader of our country....the wall at 25 Billion is a good deal right, plus the cost of folks to mind it and cost to hire more agents to round up and deport more folks then Obama did.... or is those the ones u don't expect him to fulfill and your ok with....and his dissing  his soon to be own security services and publicly believe Putin and the Russians over our own folks..your ok with that too...and on and on we go....

Yes, I am obviously comfortable with that.  I have said before that I disagree with him on some issues, one of which is the wall that you seem so upset about.  I have said this before, but I will say it once again since you have such a short memory.  Here we go:

I could care less about a wall.  Or even a fence.  Or border crossing guards.  Are we not all people?  Who are you to say that me - Ratchets - cannot go and live in Germany for instance without meeting all these qualifications and stuff.  But people want a wall.  Obama deported more people than anyone ever right?  I've seen that statement here a few times.  So I guess folks on both sides of the aisle want a wall.  Sounds like you and him have that in common?

Let me see your other statement or question.  It looks like the other thing you are worried about is his him "dissing" the "security services."  Well maybe they need to be "dissed."  They keep coming up with these false reports, I've seen two now that are so unbelievable that you just have to laugh...these are folks that we are paying our tax dollars to support.  If the best thing they can do is this kind of crap then cut the whole agency IMO.  If your best is "some British guy said a bunch of stuff, but everybody who is there said something else" then you probably aren't the best spy in the world LoL.

Did you have any other bitches or complaints?  You left out Nazis and KKK and racists.  I was expecting something more I guess.

So with that said, yes I will and did vote for him.  Should I have voted for the sleaze who has proven she doesn't know what she's doing and also is on the opposite side of some pretty big policy stances?  I don't understand why you are still confused on this.

Sleaze who is unproven and I agree with.
Sleaze who has failed and I disagree with.

That seem like a no-brainer right?  Why is that hard to understand?  I think that's a very easy choice.

no, that is perfectly sensible, and it is just as true for those that voted HC as those that voted DT.

[weltschmerz]

Jan 15, 2017 23:22:43 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Calling the public "stupid" is a veiled way of touting one's own intellect.

Stupidity is relative. Absent a reference, it defaults to the person decrying it. Hence "People are stupid." is equivalent to "People are stupider than I am." and in turn to "Look at how much more intelligent I am than the rest of everyone." It's arrogant.

Any time I find myself in such a mindset, I remind myself I've rarely ever gotten to know an individual--sat down and talked with them--and walked away thinking they were stupid. People have multitudinous talents, interests, and competencies. We aren't terribly rational in general, but rationalism is only a modest component of intelligence.

I would never say that people are stupider than I am. I'd say people are more stupid than I am.
"Stupider" really grates on the ear.

[Virgil Showlion]

Jan 17, 2017 15:16:04 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Jan 15, 2017 23:22:43 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Calling the public "stupid" is a veiled way of touting one's own intellect.

Stupidity is relative. Absent a reference, it defaults to the person decrying it. Hence "People are stupid." is equivalent to "People are stupider than I am." and in turn to "Look at how much more intelligent I am than the rest of everyone." It's arrogant.

Any time I find myself in such a mindset, I remind myself I've rarely ever gotten to know an individual--sat down and talked with them--and walked away thinking they were stupid. People have multitudinous talents, interests, and competencies. We aren't terribly rational in general, but rationalism is only a modest component of intelligence.

I would never say that people are stupider than I am. I'd say people are more stupid than I am.
"Stupider" really grates on the ear.

Glad to see you really zeroed in on the heart of my argument.