My lesbian friend is now trans and is trying to convince me that I am too by SillyGoose in LGBDropTheT

[–]gadflyinajar 13 insightful - 1 fun13 insightful - 0 fun14 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah, we wonder why our arguments aren't getting through to these nutjobs, but it's because they're basically taught a 2+2=5 approach to reasoning. I could scarcely believe it, I might try and find the textbook this is taken from. The fact that I could so easily read the paragraph describing this "method" and see it as plainly ridiculous, and yet it made it into the book feels like gaslighting. Somehow it made it through enough editors, professors, and schoolboard committees to be "prescribed", so what right have I to criticize it? Is it more likely that I'm right and all these people are wrong? These days I worry more and more that I'm the crazy one, browsing tiny forums like this while the rest of the world revels in the smell of their own farts. Sure can't help but want to call out the emperor for his missing clothes, though.

My lesbian friend is now trans and is trying to convince me that I am too by SillyGoose in LGBDropTheT

[–]gadflyinajar 15 insightful - 1 fun15 insightful - 0 fun16 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It depends on the quality of school, but I don't mean to discourage you when I say that any non-STEM classes that I'm aware of are currently barely even what they say they are. Things like poli-sci and history border on the worst, next to Sociology. My sociology class (which was mandatory) taught me, directly from the textbook, that there were two kinds of research in the field. The first is the scientific method. The second is "Intuitive Retrospective", where you look at data, and try to figure out through your "lived experience" what you think the cause of the correlations are. This is a logical fallacy, and they are currently filling up scientific journals with drek based on this reasoning at a lightning pace.

This is maybe fine, just a bit frustrating for a while, keeping in mind that you don't seem to care much about the classes this impacts. Just keeping your head down and answering the questions the way they want you to answer will get you through it. I never took any classes on law, but I imagine when you get to something based on the concrete present rules of law they can't gaslight you. Try to keep in mind that teachers are people too, I'm in my early 20s and already many of my friends are on the professor track. I love them, but these people are not the brilliant genius tweed-jacket intellectuals who can never be wrong that academia thinks they are. These people are not much older than you. If you've got a good head on your shoulders you can often realize whether or not what they're saying makes any sense at all, so do your own research and remember how to think. That should also serve you well as an attorney.

A well documented trend by Chunkeeguy in GenderCritical

[–]gadflyinajar 17 insightful - 1 fun17 insightful - 0 fun18 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

These people just make shit up.

How can I make sure my mental illness/fetish is validated with hormones at the earliest possible opportunity? by Chunkeeguy in GenderCritical

[–]gadflyinajar 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This is NOT what medicine is for. As someone who truly cares about science, I find it worrying that the "pro-science" team on Reddit is more than happy to attend a clinician in search of a diagnosis in mind. These are the same people that will lambast their offenders for supposedly "using Google for research LOL" because they don't agree with their increasingly turgid hivemind experts.

For any Redditors on this site looking to this comment for "content", I would like to know how likely you think a doctor is to reach a proper diagnosis both with and without client manipulation. I see this on ADHD forums as well. I'm diagnosed ADHD, but I go without meds because I tried them and didn't like them very much. I see posts all over reddit and on every local forum where people "suspect" that they have ADHD and need meds, so they ask very very nicely which doctors in their local area are likely to sign away "schedule 1" addictive drugs with little questioning. Reddit is full of hedonistic drug addicts, it's their target demographic.

Disagreements with my boyfriend by ppja1995 in LGBDropTheT

[–]gadflyinajar 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm a huge fan of capitalism in general, because the freedom of markets as well as the increase in standard of living is to what I attribute much of the social change in the 1900s. I am afraid however, that by studying and really understanding economics, we might have opened a Pandora's Box. The commodification of art is a result of the "optimization" of things, but optimized art seems like an oxymoron. In any case, now most art is meant to solely garner fans and keep them, with the hopes of building a franchise. What's the most optimal way to do that? Pander. I also think maybe something in the human mind goes awry if you're pandered to so much, like a weird sort of para-social echo chamber effect, but I wouldn't know how to prove it.

Disagreements with my boyfriend by ppja1995 in LGBDropTheT

[–]gadflyinajar 8 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 0 fun9 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The most interesting thing to me is people's tendency these days to show someone a video of another person agreeing with them as evidence for a claim. It's painfully clear that people's opinions aren't their own, and that they are simply copying each other in a startling obsession with being socially correct.

The logic is this, and when you spell it out to them they're inclined to still continue thinking this way: I'm losing an argument. This must be because they haven't seen the video/influencer I've seen (because I was convinced of this by them). Therefore, when I show them the "content", that will prove I'm correct.

They don't even stop to CONSIDER that the person/people they're listening to could both be incorrect, AND be reaching their conclusions in the same fashion, holding the same authority as themselves. It's a hivemind in denial of the hive. When you aren't convinced by the stupid fucking tik tok clip they sent you (that just makes a claim), you're accused of being intellectually dishonest, because you should have been convinced. In reality, nobody should be convinced of anything by anything that isn't evidence or an argument.

It's soooooooo awkward by Chunkeeguy in LGBDropTheT

[–]gadflyinajar 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'm not so sure these days. Racism is in vogue, under the guise of wokeness. I don't doubt if she tweeted something like "My aide only fucks white men" the overwhelming response would be "fucking cis people, you go zir!" It's unfathomable how we got here, but I would bet against you on this.

Sunday Social - open chat! by NutterButterFlutter in LGBDropTheT

[–]gadflyinajar 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah, honestly this occurred to me recently but as sort of a feeling I couldn't place in words, that familiarity of it. You phrased it well. I'm pretentious enough that in my writing that I show my friend (who is WAY more into writing than me) for criticism, I pretty much subvert expectations nonstop. The book is satire, which is good because if it wasn't, I'm sure that constantly pulling the "lol THIS but different!" card with tropes would get annoying. In my own head I think I internalized "Why copy/paste anything", which has helped me a lot with making my story enjoyable (At least as far as I can tell, I try to be my worst critic). In reality, genre-fiction has tropes. I doubt I will be the man to change that. Maybe it's just that I don't get why anyone would want to be a "genre-fiction" writer, but I'll have to think more about that because the idea isn't fully formed.

While I am bothered by it, I'm not more bothered by it than I am excited to see where this leads for her. My internet complaint is just venting, and less even about her than it is just tiredness of seeing woke stuff everywhere. I get that it's juvenile to be like "UGH GO AWAY WOKE GO AWAY WOKE" because there will always be ideas I disagree with, but I'm just so bored of it all and it seems to be unavoidable. I think that's mostly what bothers me about it. I feel like woke stuff gives me a headache at this point. I think I'd like to just forget that trends exist and live in the woods somewhere with Amish people or something.

Sunday Social - open chat! by NutterButterFlutter in LGBDropTheT

[–]gadflyinajar 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yeah, philosophically speaking one could run down either ten pages of unproven ethical theory, or parrot one Christian platitude, and come to the conclusion that not only is "Lying by omission" the same as lying, but that "Not immediately vomiting every thought that I have the moment I have it, even if someone else is speaking" is lying by omission. THEN that all lying is inherently immoral, which would take either three more books or a cliche, while assuming I haven't ever heard this concept "Lying is bad" before in my life. I don't see why anyone should do this.

By the way, I do plan to tell her if her story is shit when it happens. "My job right now" is what I said, (Notice I am extremely careful with my wording) because the blank page is more important to conquer than the fucking circlejerk pseudo-moral bullshit involved in telling everyone that everything they do sucks all the time. The first shit anyone does in anything is usually hot garbage, and then subsequent attempts are better whether or not they received criticism. I just want her to build the habit first. I don't know if you've learned any creative hobbies, and I don't mean that in a condescending way, but rather I would be interested how anyone who has could disagree with this. Finishing things is how you improve, and since I genuinely want her to be a good writer, she needs to finish bad things first. If I wanted her to be a bad writer, you bet I would shit on it right out the gate. For context, I'm studying Math education, I say this not as a credential because fuck credentials but because if you think people get good at things by suffering immediate criticism then I would have reason to contest that.

Sorry for the rant, I'm very vulgar because I enjoy vibrant conversation, not because I'm internally denigrating you personally. I think conversation is allowed to be a bit spicy, so genuinely forgive me if it harms my character.

Sunday Social - open chat! by NutterButterFlutter in LGBDropTheT

[–]gadflyinajar 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

lmao did I say it was unconditional? Your reading comprehension needs some constructive criticism. I'd also be curious if you could tell me where I've lied to my girlfriend.

Sunday Social - open chat! by NutterButterFlutter in LGBDropTheT

[–]gadflyinajar 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

My(straight/maybe bi) girlfriend(bi) wants to be a novelist, (I'm also trying to write something) and I support her so much in it, but as she was describing the bare basics that she finally got down most of it was just "It's a fantasy world, but like this group of people are like the bad white cis people and this group is like the good trans people and also the former are capitalists. Also there's a magic system." She reads a lot of the "Woke YA" genre where everyone is trans and disabled. To be clear I didn't so much as complain for a second as she was telling me about her worldbuilding, because my job as her boyfriend right now is to support her and make sure she accomplishes what she sets out to do, she can get real critique elsewhere. Supporting the fuck out of her, but man, it just all seemed so copy-paste to me. Weird thing is that she's had an at-length conversation with me about my own thoughts about transgender BS and agreed with me, admitting that she and everyone else just goes along with the stuff "to be nice" but that she hides that she knows its not true. So she doesn't seem to think wokism makes any sense at all, but she consumes weird woke propaganda non-stop and her fantasy novel just lacks any sort of ideological nuance. She's smart as fuck I don't understand why this stuff is so sticky when people start believing it. Love her to death though, I just avoid the subject matter with her specifically.