Random Thoughts (Political Edition)

Selfies are simply a symptom, did you check out the link I pasted? Social scientists think that narcissism is become more and more ubiquitous in the [developed] world, not just Lev and I.
I still disagree. Every single generation in the history of time has complained about the next one. It would be monumentally unlikely for it to finally be true.
 
I'm complaining about my own generation :lol: We're a bunch of whackos. The 50s was probably the best decade - better music, better style, better manners, etc. Idk man, growing up in Russia I don't remember seeing so many useless helpless "men" as I saw in college here in the US, and it seems to be getting worse.

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Selfies: people have taken self portraits for years. Can it be annoying and narcisstic?

Sure it can (the teen who took one AT his Grandma's funeral deserves to have his phone broken in fucking half - do that shit at my parents/grandparents funerals and I catch you? You'd be lucky to leave with just a broken phone...) but a occasional selfie when you just can't find someone to take a photo of you doesn't seem all that bad.

The 50s was probably the best decade - better music, better style, better manners, etc.

That is highly subjective and dependent on population demographics and location. For some, the 50's was by no means a good decade, even in the US, even as progress in civil rights laws were being made at a steady pace. ;)

It's like when people are like "Rick, Don't you wish you could go back in time to experience what it was like in the 30's, 40's or 50's?"

I do my politest version possible of "Are you fucking insane, that time period would be fucking hell for someone like me!"


On the other hand, I could see how living and growing up through that era could make one "tougher" compared to the relatively easy life (in comparison) that later generations had....

The cars though....they were cool.
 
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I still disagree. Every single generation in the history of time has complained about the next one. It would be monumentally unlikely for it to finally be true.

That part is correct and it was actually always true because the world is changing so new generations do things somewhat differently to the older generation and "if you aren't doing things my way you are doing it wrong" is a pretty common way of thinking. However we can very clearly see and feel effects of the isolation and disconnect between humans that modern IT infrastructure provides. Just think about internet trolls and the shit show that YT comments tend to be, a huge part of communication is non-verbal which is completely missing in text. Also there isn't much of a chance of getting punched in the face for being a dick on the internet. Problem is that the younger generation grows up with this kind of communication and ability to filter what they are exposed to so many of them are simply not equipped to deal with it. It's not that this generation is worse than that it's that due to the general lack of in person communication and isolation that internet allows certain social skills are simply not developed.

Add to it overprotective laws, 0 tolerance policies for *any* bullying, CPS being called on a 7 year old walking alone for a few blocks or playing in the yard with mom watching, parental controls on everything and general overprotective parents and you get the picture.

Hell I'll give you a perfect example, I got an 18mo old toddler, she wanted some bread that I just took out of the toaster and it was ofc hot as balls. Wife freaked out when I gave her the still hot piece of bread "but she'll burn herself!" "yeah and she will learn that if daddy is saying its too hot she need to listen"
 
Saw this on a Sam Harris retweet,

"Evangelicals who oppose gay marriage and abortion are not inspired by religion. It's because of poverty."

Why do you never hear this?
 
I'm complaining about my own generation :lol: We're a bunch of whackos. The 50s was probably the best decade - better music, better style, better manners, etc. Idk man, growing up in Russia I don't remember seeing so many useless helpless "men" as I saw in college here in the US, and it seems to be getting worse.

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Careful. There were a lot of people in the 1950s who did not want to enlist, the 1960s didn't happen all of a sudden. Your description of what the 1950s were like is very normative and limited. I can point you to several books that document how people who strayed from the norms were treated back then (homosexuals, women who refused to be limited to their domestic role, political dissidents, book authors and movie directors whose work was considered controversial).

So no, the people you call "helpless men" are not a trend or a development of the 21st century. They are people, just like you or me, who for decades were silenced and pushed into closets where they were invisible. The only difference is that now they enjoy some of the freedoms and equality that others enjoyed.

(and just as a side note about 1950s music: a lot of it was great, and a lot of it was stolen from African American artists who, as we know, invented rock'n'roll, and got no credit or money for it. There were fucked up TV shows, where black performers were forced to put a lot of makeup in order to appear white on TV. Yeah...great decade :/
 
This is like butting into a conversation about Ford having better engines than Dodge with a comment about Ford's poor brakes. Yes, that may be true, but it's entirely irrelevant to the discussion of engines.

BTW, are you on the "cultural appropriation" bandwagon short bus?
 
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This is like butting into a conversation about Ford having better engines than Dodge with a comment about Ford's poor brakes. Yes, that may be true, but it's entirely irrelevant to the discussion of engines.

BTW, are you on the "cultural appropriation" bandwagon short bus?

Sigh...you are a lost cause. I've started to compile a list of things happening in the world you don't believe in (notable mentions: rape culture, gender studies, systemic racism, English majors, and now cultural appropriation), but you believe in some potential scenario that the government will take your guns away. I get it - it's a matter of perspective and how you see the world. You are so lucky that you were born a straight white male, but it makes you blind/insensitive to the injustices that others experience because they just happen to be a little different. And while you can say that this is just a standard critique that a lot of liberal educators use without any proof, you are actually Exhibit A and have provided ample evidence throughout your political posts littered with disrespectful air quotes around concepts/people you look down upon.
 
Sigh...you are a lost cause. I've started to compile a list of things happening in the world you don't believe in (notable mentions: rape culture, gender studies, systemic racism, English majors, and now cultural appropriation), but you believe in some potential scenario that the government will take your guns away. I get it - it's a matter of perspective and how you see the world. You are so lucky that you were born a straight white male, but it makes you blind/insensitive to the injustices that others experience because they just happen to be a little different. And while you can say that this is just a standard critique that a lot of liberal educators use without any proof, you are actually Exhibit A and have provided ample evidence throughout your political posts littered with disrespectful air quotes around concepts/people you look down upon.
Did you see the video of the crazy black girl berating and assaulting a while dude with dreadlocks because his hair style is "cultural appropriation"? Please explain that one to me, I'd love to hear the excuses you come up with for that girl.
 
Did you see the video of the crazy black girl berating and assaulting a while dude with dreadlocks because his hair style is "cultural appropriation"? Please explain that one to me, I'd love to hear the excuses you come up with for that girl.

I did see it, and I won't make excuses for it. She was in the wrong. But let me try to explain it in terms you might understand. Just because you found a couple of videos of assholes doing something wrong, doesn't mean that cultural appropriation is a myth, or that all critics of it are assholes too. In the same way that when a white gun-owner goes on a shooting spree I don't ask you to speak for "your kind" or to make excuses for it. Not all white gun-owners are crazy. If you want people to agree with that, then you also have to realize that you can't reduce critics of cultural appropriation to the few bad examples you found on the Internet. It's a two way street - you want your liberties and freedoms, but that means you have respect other people's right to those as well. You are also in no position to judge or evaluate the legitimacy of one's ideas and beliefs just because they fall outside of your own definition of what good culture or citizenship means.
 
I did see it, and I won't make excuses for it. She was in the wrong. But let me try to explain it in terms you might understand. Just because you found a couple of videos of assholes doing something wrong, doesn't mean that cultural appropriation is a myth, or that all critics of it are assholes too. In the same way that when a white gun-owner goes on a shooting spree I don't ask you to speak for "your kind" or to make excuses for it. Not all white gun-owners are crazy. If you want people to agree with that, then you also have to realize that you can't reduce critics of cultural appropriation to the few bad examples you found on the Internet. It's a two way street - you want your liberties and freedoms, but that means you have respect other people's right to those as well. You are also in no position to judge or evaluate the legitimacy of one's ideas and beliefs just because they fall outside of your own definition of what good culture or citizenship means.

You gonna have to explain to me what the problem with cultural appropriation is, frankly I don't see one.
 
You gonna have to explain to me what the problem with cultural appropriation is, frankly I don't see one.

The problem is you might offend yourself:
http://www.nationalreview.com/artic...ar-hispanic-halloween-costume-katherine-timpf
?Sorry, that costume will not be approved as it is very offensive,? the school?s official account tweeted back. ?Please let your friends know.?

Sewerynek tweeted back asking why, explaining that he?s ?Colombian and everything but the guitar is from the country.?

?The fact of the matter is, a culture is not a costume,? the school account responded. ?While you may not find it offensive, others may.?
 
See, this is the kind of retarded shit I'm talking about! There are countless other examples too.

Pocahontas Halloween costume? Cultural appropriation.
Asking the guy next to you in class a math question? Offensive if he happens to be Asian.
Cornrows and dreadlocks? You racist bastard, you!
Clapping? Don't even think about it.
Breakfast cereal? You chauvinist pig!!
Acting nice to women? Sexist. Acting rude to women? Sexist. Catch-22.
Hip-hop music? Racism or cultural appropriation or something... or both.
Caitlin Jenner not being offended by someone dressing up as Caitlin Jenner is offensive!

And don't even get me started on the "safe space" tantrums on college campuses.
 
See, this is the kind of retarded shit I'm talking about! There are countless other examples too.
That's right! Next Halloween why don't you rock some blackface, show em it's bullshit!

:lmao: You guys need to quit freaking out over every dumbass thing on gawker or brietbart or wherever. It's not indicitave of some great generational trend or something. It's only indicative of dumbasses being more interconnected than ever.

Prime examples being this tumblr bullshit, the Tea Party, Ron Paul fanatics (looking at you LeVeL), safe space nuts, so on and so forth.
 
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