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  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,508
    No that's how it works in the details.

    I think it is extremely environmentally unfriendly to have a big server running all these calculations just to make money available, but hey, it's not like the Internet itself doesn't need infinite servers to keep running and we all know what kind of sketchy things you can find on that...
    m7600WarChiefZeke
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    m7600 wrote: »
    jjstraka34 wrote: »
    I guess I'm a little ignorant on the whole idea of "mining" this currency, but it sounds like it supposed to mimic the real-life process of mining valuable minerals, but instead of chipping away at rocks, it's measured by how much computing power you can dedicate to it?? If that's the case it's even weirder than I thought. Does this somehow produce wealth to the people issuing the currency??

    I like to think of it more like a giant jigsaw puzzle. It could have thousands or even millions of individual pieces, but it's not infinite. And no two pieces are alike, each one is completely different from the others. But the pieces are not given to you, you have to make them. Now, you can't give each piece any shape that you want. On the contrary, there is only one way to make each piece, and that is by proving that it has certain characteristics. In other words, you have to prove that the piece exists, and that proof will give you ownership of the piece. The proof in question is a mathematical proof, like a theorem. In principle, you could do this with pen and paper. But it would take too much time. It's better to just have some hardware brute force it until it can find the solution. But here's the catch: every time a new piece is produced, the proof for the next piece will be much harder. So you need more powerful hardware. And so on, and so on... and, each time a new piece is made, the next one will be worth much less, even though more energy was spent to prove that it exists.

    Well, that certainly made more sense in my head before I posted it, now it reads like gibberish.

    It's not gibberish, but it is probably a good example of why this is NEVER going to be anything but a niche, underground currency. Regular money is too complicated for most people to manage. This is several layers (upon layers) beyond that. It's too byzantine. Which isn't to say money can't be made off it as an investment.
    m7600WarChiefZeke
  • m7600m7600 Member Posts: 318
    Completely unrelated, but since we're on the subject of make-believe money, this reminded me of a job I once had. I only worked there for three months because it was stressful AF, and I wasn't that desperate. It was a job at a call center dedicated to stock promotion. Like telemarketing, but instead of trying to sell you something, I would call you to promote a certain stock on the NYSE. We didn't even sell the stocks, we just promoted them. Basically we called up people and told them that it would be a great idea to invest in XYZ, yadda yadda. It sounds stupid AF, but the paycheck wasn't that bad. Of course, we called a lot of John and Jane Doe's, but our biggest targets were always those typical business hot shots, such as CEOs of a given company. Those folks almost never accepted our calls, most of the time we couldn't get passed the secretaries. But every once in a blue moon, we got a hold of one of them. I remember vividly the first time I got to talk to one of those, it was some boss from a company in New York. Less than two minutes into the conversation, he said "I don't care about your pitch, what's the symbaaal?". He just wanted me to give him the stock's symbol. I tried to keep pitching the stock to him and he was like "I'm a busy man, what's the symbaaal, WHAT'S THE SYMBAAAL!?"

    I quit after three months, mostly because my boss was a real prick. But it was rather stressful in general. And this job wasn't even in the United States! I got the job because I had relatively good English.
    sarevok57
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    m7600 wrote: »
    Completely unrelated, but since we're on the subject of make-believe money, this reminded me of a job I once had. I only worked there for three months because it was stressful AF, and I wasn't that desperate. It was a job at a call center dedicated to stock promotion. Like telemarketing, but instead of trying to sell you something, I would call you to promote a certain stock on the NYSE. We didn't even sell the stocks, we just promoted them. Basically we called up people and told them that it would be a great idea to invest in XYZ, yadda yadda. It sounds stupid AF, but the paycheck wasn't that bad. Of course, we called a lot of John and Jane Doe's, but our biggest targets were always those typical business hot shots, such as CEOs of a given company. Those folks almost never accepted our calls, most of the time we couldn't get passed the secretaries. But every once in a blue moon, we got a hold of one of them. I remember vividly the first time I got to talk to one of those, it was some boss from a company in New York. Less than two minutes into the conversation, he said "I don't care about your pitch, what's the symbaaal?". He just wanted me to give him the stock's symbol. I tried to keep pitching the stock to him and he was like "I'm a busy man, what's the symbaaal, WHAT'S THE SYMBAAAL!?"

    I quit after three months, mostly because my boss was a real prick. But it was rather stressful in general. And this job wasn't even in the United States! I got the job because I had relatively good English.

    Outbound cold calling in sales is beyond stressful. I did it for two summers in high school selling long-distance telephone service (when that was still a thing). I wasn't the BEST at it, but I was probably in the top 10%. Which meant somewhere between 6 and 8 sales a day. The problem was, you had to meet this goal every day. In the mafia, you are only as good as your last envelope. In sales, you are only as good as your numbers that day. It's no way to live, in my estimation.
    semiticgoddess
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,508
    Isn't all telemarketing just a scam. You work in a call center making phone calls to people selling a product you don't really understand with only a basic sheet of paper with standard answers. The business value of that is just soo poor. I did that as holiday job when I was 17 but I stopped after 1 day. You get so much abuse through the phone...
  • DinoDinDinoDin Member Posts: 1,567
    This is probably the best explainer piece I've read in the press about cryptocurrency/blockchain: https://thecorrespondent.com/655/blockchain-the-amazing-solution-for-almost-nothing/86649455475-f933fe63

    The author ends up very skeptical of it, so you could argue the story is biased. But in my opinion it's actually a very honest, even-handed analysis for people who know little about this.
    m7600
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    edited February 2021
    lroumen wrote: »
    Isn't all telemarketing just a scam. You work in a call center making phone calls to people selling a product you don't really understand with only a basic sheet of paper with standard answers. The business value of that is just soo poor. I did that as holiday job when I was 17 but I stopped after 1 day. You get so much abuse through the phone...

    In this case it was LITERALLY a scam, but that's an entirely different story. One day we were all just told we weren't selling it anymore and the entire operation shifted to credit cards at the drop of a hat. Think Wolf of Wall Street in the early scenes when he is starting his company, but in our case, the employees weren't actually making any significant money. I once tried to impress a girl (hey, I was 16) who was struggling by saying I'd take a call for her and get a sale, and I actually did. You CAN bulldoze your way to getting one just like in the movie. But it felt wrong then, it seems even worse now. The fact that it was staffed by people 15-20 years old was by design, I imagine. Too young to fully understand how it was screwing people.

    The abuse part, you either take it personally or you don't. It was all along the lines of "get a real job". It wasn't really any worse than working at a department store or restaurant.

    I'm not sure how prevalent the industry even is anymore. I really can't say though. I haven't answered a call that isn't a contact in my phone already for at least a decade. It was simply the best summer job in the area for teenagers that didn't involve fast food.
    semiticgoddess
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    lroumen wrote: »
    Isn't all telemarketing just a scam. You work in a call center making phone calls to people selling a product you don't really understand with only a basic sheet of paper with standard answers. The business value of that is just soo poor. I did that as holiday job when I was 17 but I stopped after 1 day. You get so much abuse through the phone...

    Not really, but yes. Certain local businesses can get traction with it such as landscaping or driveway work. Newspaper sales use to be make their bank this way as well, at least here, but that is pretty much dead.

    In dead times, advertising agencies may attempt it as well. For every 100 cold calls, you may get 10 companies interested in a pitch and out of those 10 maybe 1 will sign a contract. You have to expect a lot of rejection if you telemarket but that one customer can lead to steady income through referrals or even just signing more contracts down the line.

    But ya, script reading cold calls are always sketchy. Thank god for Lenny:
  • m7600m7600 Member Posts: 318
    DinoDin wrote: »
    This is probably the best explainer piece I've read in the press about cryptocurrency/blockchain: https://thecorrespondent.com/655/blockchain-the-amazing-solution-for-almost-nothing/86649455475-f933fe63

    The author ends up very skeptical of it, so you could argue the story is biased. But in my opinion it's actually a very honest, even-handed analysis for people who know little about this.

    That's a good article, and I appreciate the author's effort to dissipate all of the woo-woo surrounding the concept of a blockchain. My only criticism is that we don't know who Satoshi Nakamoto is, the article should have said this. Nakamoto could be an individual (very unlikely), or a group of people.
  • sarevok57sarevok57 Member Posts: 5,975
    edited February 2021
    ah bitcoins and the good ol' get rich quick schemes eh?

    perhaps it may be story time...?

    so i've always been obsessed with early retirement, working the status quo life and even thinking about it really makes me want to vomit, i dont know why, by my very soul is against it, although at the same time, if i ever do go back to work ( lol, and hopefully it stays as a lol ) i really have no qualms working a 16 hour day if necessary but anyways....

    4 years ago, i finally started dabbing into the stock market, at first i was completely against it because i wanted tangible, hard assets like real estate, or a business, something that i could actually touch, but ironically, my dad at the time ( who has absolutely 0 money management skills ) was getting into stocks himself, which made me interested because if he was able to get in, then i should have no problem doing so

    so i started with a practice account and dabbled with that for a couple of years, while reading books on how the stock market game works and terminology of all them fancy stock words like yields, and shorts and dividends and what not

    and then after a couple of years of practice it was time to start using some real money, and once i started using the real money, i learned quite a bit on how the stock market goes, and luckily i was able to go through a recession which is also a great tool to help you learn how the stock market can just pull your pants right down to your ankles...

    First thing i learned is trying to get rich quick; if you are in that boat, you might as well just buy lottery tickets because you have virtually just as good a chance as hitting it big, a lot of people like buying a huge amount of penny stock or an IPO that is worth pennies with the idea that one day it will be worth 100$ so they can make millions, but do you know what the chances are of such a scenario? basically 1 in millions, just like the lottery

    in fact, every time i tried making big money quick using penny stock, i was burned hard, and in fact march of 2020, oooo, that one stung, no lube, and right where the sun don't shine, and it was quite ironic, i had a list of 38 or so companies that i would watch so i decided to short one of them, and just my "luck" out of the 38 companies that i watched i chose 1 of the 2 companies that actually went up, while the rest went down ( aka meaning if i would have shorted any other company i would have been fine, ah, bad times )

    after that big loss, i learned something; if you want to get rich quick, then you are asking to get broke quicker, now, sometimes people do succeed on the good ol' get rich quick scheme, and sometimes people make millions in a month, but the question is; how long does that wealth last for? what do they do with those earnings? usually those same people who got rich quick lost it all, because either A) they have the fire in their belly to more of those schemes, B ) greed is now over taking them and they are thinking emotionally instead of financially or C) they have no idea how money works and then they just start blowing it on stupid stuff until they are broke

    now adays, i never get involved with any get rich quick scheme, and sometimes i even see opportunities where i could have made 400 000 bucks in one year ( last year in march of 2020 CPG was at less than a dollar a share, i could have dumped 100 000 bucks into that and if i were to have sold it this week, i would have profited over 400 000 dollars ) but i didn't because trying to be involved in those schemes just holds too much risk and that is not investing intelligently

    the reality is; you don't want to get rich quick, but i suppose at the same time you don't want to get rich slow, but one advantage about financial literacy is the longer you take time to earn your wealth, the smarter you are going to become with your money, and the smarter you are with your money, the more buying power your money will have

    in fact, when i semi retired at the age of 25, my net worth was less than 100k, and then when i retired a couple of years ago in my early 30s, my net worth was around 250k perhaps, and the reason why i could retire off of 250k is because i understand how money works, and i took the time to learn how it works, and sometimes knowledge of money can be more valuable than money itself

    in my opinion, if you start your financial journey and you want to become rich or successful or financially free or what not, it will take you at least around 10 years, which may seem like a long time, but the harder and more diligent your strive to learn the faster that time will go

    so with that i kind have a saying that is geared toward this;

    get rich quick so you can become broke quicker

    or

    get rich eventually and stay rich forever

    now this doesnt mean that this is etched in stone, but you would be surprised how often it happens like this,
    now when it comes to krypto currency in my opinion i wouldn't touch that stuff with a pole that is a light year long, right now the price is so damn high, and even though i actually know someone that made enough money off of krypto currency that he never had to work again from all the money he made, it was mostly for the reason that he got in early, before everyone else

    now with that being said, it is still possible that kryptos can still get higher in price and money can still be made, so if people are still interested in this stuff and they want to put money into it, my suggestion is put no more than 5% of your portfolio or nest egg or whatever into a crypto currency, because at 5% i see it as a win/win situation because either A) all your money goes to 0 or near 0, but since it was only 5% of your nest egg, you aren't slaughtered, just roughed up a little bit, or miraculously B ) if it does go up, whether is 10%, 50%, 100%, hell even 1000% ( although i highly doubt it ) hey, you made money, it was a nice little boost to the nest egg, and now you can take that lucky lottery money and put it into proper investments

    Edit: got to love how B ) is the short cut for B)
    Balrog99m7600smeagolheart
  • m7600m7600 Member Posts: 318
    On a different note, here's something I've been mildly obsessing about for some time now: Cicada 3301. Ever heard of it? Here's a good introductory video (actually it's four videos).



    They say that they want to recruit "intelligent individuals". But that doesn't say much. What's the recruitment for? What is it that they want to accomplish, exactly? Who are these people? Are they an independent political group? A government organization? A network of criminals? A group of vigilantes? A cult?
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,367
    edited February 2021
    m7600 wrote: »
    On a different note, here's something I've been mildly obsessing about for some time now: Cicada 3301. Ever heard of it? Here's a good introductory video (actually it's four videos).



    They say that they want to recruit "intelligent individuals". But that doesn't say much. What's the recruitment for? What is it that they want to accomplish, exactly? Who are these people? Are they an independent political group? A government organization? A network of criminals? A group of vigilantes? A cult?

    The Russians are great at crypto bullshit. I'd be shocked if they weren't behind this. Americans are saps when it comes to 'hidden knowledge' so we're a prime target for this kind of thing...
    Post edited by Balrog99 on
    smeagolheart
  • BallpointManBallpointMan Member Posts: 1,659
    Big news of the day: The US just launched a strike against a Syrian base.

    That's bad. Foreign adventurism is bad. So while I didnt like Trump's cozying with dictators, I also didnt like his reckless actions with Iran. Same goes here.

    That said, right (and left) twitter are rife with a few disingenuous takes. Thing like "Biden attacked Syria and isnt giving us stimulus money"

    Not really. The COVID relief package is in the hands of Congress. Biden cannot personally give anyone money, he can only sign the legislation that does.

    He also didnt specifically kill 15$ minimum wage. That was the Senate Parliamentarian that decided it was against the rules to include minimum wage in the budget act known as reconcilliation (the only vehicle Democrats have for passing COVID relief without any Republican Support).

    Manchin and Synema have both said they will not support overruling the parliamentarian, and neither will support ending the filibuster. So there's just no way to pass minimum wage right now.


    Lastly - some Conservatives are trying to argue that Trump was "for peace" and Biden is "for war". While I think Biden is potentially more willing to engage globally than Trump was, Biden still hasnt risen the level of assassinating a very high ranking figure in a foreign government. Once he does, I'll be happy to compare the two more direcly.
    semiticgoddess
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    edited February 2021
    It's worth people reading up on this. It was not a major strike, it was in retaliation, a human rights group has verified only combatants were targeted and killed, and our presence in Iraq is, at this point, pretty minimalistic, at only 2500. So, I mean, the point from the above post stands, this isn't even in the same ballpark as the assassination of Soleimani, which had us one bad change in Trump's mood from all-out war with Iran.

    From a purely political standpoint, barely anyone is even going to know it happened, simply because Biden is not issuing bombastic threats to Iranian leaders over Twitter. When you ask yourself the next four years why certain things the Biden Administration is doing don't get covered, it's because they aren't screaming and hollering about them 24/7 and purposefully calling attention to them:

    https://apnews.com/article/us-syria-airstrike-kills-1-34b4d7ac56fa8d0d2db8dc2ec8e921d6

    As for the domestic priorities, the Democrats once again reveal their most glaring weakness, which is showing up to a fight with a rulebook when the other side is wielding tactical nukes and would wipe their ass with the rulebook in the same situation. They don't mean much when only one side decides they want to follow them. At that point, it becomes self-sabotage. Most Americans couldn't tell you how a bill is passed with a gun to their head, much less explain Senate procedure. So rolling out talking points about a process no one really knows or cares about isn't all that helpful.

    For all the talk about liberals being the smug ones, Democrats frame their policy arguments as if people are smarter than they actually are, and Republicans constantly dumb it down to the exact level the public is actually at. Talking about how you were stymied by the Senate parliamentarian is not a winning argument.
  • MichelleMichelle Member Posts: 549
    jjstraka34 wrote: »
    Most Americans couldn't tell you how a bill is passed with a gun to their head, much less explain Senate procedure.



    :) There are a few benefits to being older than dirt.
    Balrog99semiticgoddess
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    edited February 2021
    jjstraka34 wrote: »
    Most Americans couldn't tell you how a bill is passed with a gun to their head, much less explain Senate procedure.



    :) There are a few benefits to being older than dirt.

    I don't want to be all "old man yells at cloud" (I'm not old......yet) but educational TV used to be.....educational. The Discovery Channel was shows about nature and science. The History Channel was shows about actual history. They (and other channels) are now pretty much wall to wall reality shows that have not even a hint of relation to the original aims of the channels. It's no wonder we elected a reality show President.
    Grond0Balrog99semiticgoddess
  • smeagolheartsmeagolheart Member Posts: 7,963
    He also didnt specifically kill 15$ minimum wage. That was the Senate Parliamentarian that decided it was against the rules to include minimum wage in the budget act known as reconcilliation (the only vehicle Democrats have for passing COVID relief without any Republican Support).

    Manchin and Synema have both said they will not support overruling the parliamentarian, and neither will support ending the filibuster. So there's just no way to pass minimum wage right now.

    Crazy how the Senate Parliamentarian had no problem with permanent trillions in tax cuts for the rich but raising the minimum wage is a bridge too far.

    ---

    A Trump appointed judge ruled that the CDC's eviction moratorium was unconstitutional. Millions of Americans at risk of eviction and being sent to the streets.

    The ruling began when a group of Texas landlords and property owners sued the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services in October over the Eviction Moratorium Order that was issued by the Trump administration in September.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/26/texas-judge-finds-national-eviction-moratorium-unconstitutional-.html

    semiticgoddess
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    He also didnt specifically kill 15$ minimum wage. That was the Senate Parliamentarian that decided it was against the rules to include minimum wage in the budget act known as reconcilliation (the only vehicle Democrats have for passing COVID relief without any Republican Support).

    Manchin and Synema have both said they will not support overruling the parliamentarian, and neither will support ending the filibuster. So there's just no way to pass minimum wage right now.

    Crazy how the Senate Parliamentarian had no problem with permanent trillions in tax cuts for the rich but raising the minimum wage is a bridge too far.

    ---

    A Trump appointed judge ruled that the CDC's eviction moratorium was unconstitutional. Millions of Americans at risk of eviction and being sent to the streets.

    The ruling began when a group of Texas landlords and property owners sued the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services in October over the Eviction Moratorium Order that was issued by the Trump administration in September.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/26/texas-judge-finds-national-eviction-moratorium-unconstitutional-.html

    Truthfully, it was, and at the time Trump and the GOP knew it was but signed the executive order anyway to win votes leading into the election.

    It was an overreach, and stuff like rent relief needs to be done at the state and municipal level. Now the federal government can set up a fund that states and municipalities can access if they meet certain guidelines, but they can't flat out say landlords are not allowed to evict tenants.
    semiticgoddessGrond0
  • MichelleMichelle Member Posts: 549
    I don't know where else to put this so if it is not appropriate for this thread please move it or delete it.



    Don't dismiss the chest thumping, crotch scratching Neanderthals, there are some gems there.
  • BallpointManBallpointMan Member Posts: 1,659
    Trump spoke at CPAC today. He (and everyone else there) concluded the election was stolen, and are looking to expunge the members that voted for impeachment or to indict.

    Dont think the GOP is coming back over that cliff anytime soon.
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,367
    This is an interesting article out of Politico. Just wondering how much of this is true.
    @Arvia any insights?

    https://www.politico.eu/article/trapped-in-germany-covid-coronavirus-nightmare/
    Arvia
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,367
    Trump spoke at CPAC today. He (and everyone else there) concluded the election was stolen, and are looking to expunge the members that voted for impeachment or to indict.

    Dont think the GOP is coming back over that cliff anytime soon.

    Yeah this isn't going away. They're talking on conservative radio like it's common knowledge that there was massive election fraud now. I went for a haircut the other day and made the mistake of mentioning that I couldn't wait until we didn't need masks anymore. Little did I know that I was opening up the door for a full-on boomer rant about masks not working, the vaccine killing nuns and stolen elections. I tried to throw a little logic her way when I could, but I mostly just bit my tongue and listened.

    How did the general populace get this sheepish? It's not just the right either, they're just the worst offenders now. It's like people's brains have been infected with mindworms containing their buzzwords of choice and nothing else gets in. There doesn't seem to be any room for debate or compromise about anything anymore...
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    edited March 2021
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    Trump spoke at CPAC today. He (and everyone else there) concluded the election was stolen, and are looking to expunge the members that voted for impeachment or to indict.

    Dont think the GOP is coming back over that cliff anytime soon.

    Yeah this isn't going away. They're talking on conservative radio like it's common knowledge that there was massive election fraud now. I went for a haircut the other day and made the mistake of mentioning that I couldn't wait until we didn't need masks anymore. Little did I know that I was opening up the door for a full-on boomer rant about masks not working, the vaccine killing nuns and stolen elections. I tried to throw a little logic her way when I could, but I mostly just bit my tongue and listened.

    How did the general populace get this sheepish? It's not just the right either, they're just the worst offenders now. It's like people's brains have been infected with mindworms containing their buzzwords of choice and nothing else gets in. There doesn't seem to be any room for debate or compromise about anything anymore...

    In normal times I'd just dismiss CPAC as the freak show it always is and has been, but, to be perfectly blunt, CPAC is all that the GOP is at this point. It's media personalities (and elected lawmakers who would honestly rather be media personalities) pushing bottomless grievance politics. It's always been a staple on the right, but never to this degree. I am not exaggerating when I say that the biggest issue on the right the last week has been the fact that Mr. And Mrs. Potatohead are no longer being sold separately by Hasbro. At a certain point, they are gonna run on a combination platform of segregation and bringing back 8-track tapes.

    It's been said that the best case for conservatism (by you yourself) is slowing things down and stopping change from happening too quickly. That's not what this is anymore. It's a desire to go backwards in every aspect of society by about 50-70 years. All this is anymore is social revanchism.
    Balrog99
  • MichelleMichelle Member Posts: 549
    I hope it is not true that the vaccine is killing nuns, not that I anywhere close to being a nun but the VA has me scheduled to get my first shot on Friday. Feel guilty about that a bit because I am only 51 and besides being diabetic I am not high risk. Kinda feel like I jumped in line here.

    They don't want to hear it, being a bit of a jerk here but I am not sure they can hear it. Logic means nothing to them anymore, they are all in. Kay that is a gambling term, which I know nothing of, but I feel it is self explanatory so I can use the phrase without feeling guilty.

    There has been an alternate(and very false) reality created, it is at the point where we have to accept that and act accordingly or be run over by one man, his lies and his multitude of followers.
  • jmerryjmerry Member Posts: 3,822
    jjstraka34 wrote: »
    It's been said that the best case for conservatism (by you yourself) is slowing things down and stopping change from happening too quickly. That's not what this is anymore. It's a desire to go backwards in every aspect of society by about 50-70 years. All this is anymore is social revanchism.

    And fascism. Don't forget the fascism. After all, that "freak show" had its main stage in the shape of a Neo-Nazi symbol - a variant rune first used by the SS. It's not the sort of thing the average person would recognize, but I guarantee that some of the people who designed it and signed off on it knew exactly what that was.
  • jjstraka34jjstraka34 Member Posts: 9,850
    jmerry wrote: »
    jjstraka34 wrote: »
    It's been said that the best case for conservatism (by you yourself) is slowing things down and stopping change from happening too quickly. That's not what this is anymore. It's a desire to go backwards in every aspect of society by about 50-70 years. All this is anymore is social revanchism.

    And fascism. Don't forget the fascism. After all, that "freak show" had its main stage in the shape of a Neo-Nazi symbol - a variant rune first used by the SS. It's not the sort of thing the average person would recognize, but I guarantee that some of the people who designed it and signed off on it knew exactly what that was.

    After seeing the side by side comparisons of the symbol and the stage from above, it's very, very hard for me to believe it was some incredible coincidence, especially considering the political positions of most in attendance.
  • deltagodeltago Member Posts: 7,811
    jjstraka34 wrote: »
    jmerry wrote: »
    jjstraka34 wrote: »
    It's been said that the best case for conservatism (by you yourself) is slowing things down and stopping change from happening too quickly. That's not what this is anymore. It's a desire to go backwards in every aspect of society by about 50-70 years. All this is anymore is social revanchism.

    And fascism. Don't forget the fascism. After all, that "freak show" had its main stage in the shape of a Neo-Nazi symbol - a variant rune first used by the SS. It's not the sort of thing the average person would recognize, but I guarantee that some of the people who designed it and signed off on it knew exactly what that was.

    After seeing the side by side comparisons of the symbol and the stage from above, it's very, very hard for me to believe it was some incredible coincidence, especially considering the political positions of most in attendance.

    It's to troll the left into talking about stuff that isn't important to Americans that the GOP are attempting to attract.

    Same with the golden statue of Trump or Cruz's Cancun joke or comments about AOC/Sanders Mittens. They want the left to make the comparison or point it out uncouth and have that the clickbait narrative instead of focusing on the meat of the arguments. They want people to roll their eyes and proclaim 'is that the only thing they can fuss about?'


    Balrog99
  • Balrog99Balrog99 Member Posts: 7,367
    jjstraka34 wrote: »
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    Trump spoke at CPAC today. He (and everyone else there) concluded the election was stolen, and are looking to expunge the members that voted for impeachment or to indict.

    Dont think the GOP is coming back over that cliff anytime soon.

    Yeah this isn't going away. They're talking on conservative radio like it's common knowledge that there was massive election fraud now. I went for a haircut the other day and made the mistake of mentioning that I couldn't wait until we didn't need masks anymore. Little did I know that I was opening up the door for a full-on boomer rant about masks not working, the vaccine killing nuns and stolen elections. I tried to throw a little logic her way when I could, but I mostly just bit my tongue and listened.

    How did the general populace get this sheepish? It's not just the right either, they're just the worst offenders now. It's like people's brains have been infected with mindworms containing their buzzwords of choice and nothing else gets in. There doesn't seem to be any room for debate or compromise about anything anymore...

    In normal times I'd just dismiss CPAC as the freak show it always is and has been, but, to be perfectly blunt, CPAC is all that the GOP is at this point. It's media personalities (and elected lawmakers who would honestly rather be media personalities) pushing bottomless grievance politics. It's always been a staple on the right, but never to this degree. I am not exaggerating when I say that the biggest issue on the right the last week has been the fact that Mr. And Mrs. Potatohead are no longer being sold separately by Hasbro. At a certain point, they are gonna run on a combination platform of segregation and bringing back 8-track tapes.

    It's been said that the best case for conservatism (by you yourself) is slowing things down and stopping change from happening too quickly. That's not what this is anymore. It's a desire to go backwards in every aspect of society by about 50-70 years. All this is anymore is social revanchism.

    Conservative is not the same as reactionary. It's like the difference between liberal and revolutionary. One is extreme (and usually bloody), the other is not. I sure hope people come to their senses once the stress of this virus is finally over. The way I see it, we'll either have four or five years of party time (the Roaring 20's) or 5-10 years of far-right bullshit (the McCarthy 50's). I know which one I'm hoping for...
  • m7600m7600 Member Posts: 318
    Balrog99 wrote: »
    How did the general populace get this sheepish? It's not just the right either, they're just the worst offenders now. It's like people's brains have been infected with mindworms containing their buzzwords of choice and nothing else gets in. There doesn't seem to be any room for debate or compromise about anything anymore...

    My theory is that, despite the fact that we're living in the most advanced moment in history in a technological sense, in a cultural sense we're basically in the Dark Ages.

    True, every epoch has had its fair share of crazy ideas. But when some of the craziest ones become mainstream, such as the belief that the Earth is flat, or that space is fake, or that dinosaurs never existed, then something has gone terribly wrong at the cultural level.

    Political discussions look like sophisticated theories by comparison. It's very difficult to agree on any given political issue with someone if we can't even agree on the shape of the Earth.
    Balrog99DinoDinGrond0dunbar
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