elliptic @[email protected]

how does one make dumb people not dumb, without it immediately making it seem to them that it's some libtard agenda to brainwash them and take away their guns?

dunning kruger effect also.

one thing strikes me about the most vocal rank & file trump supporters, the 'joe six-packs' of the world... how uneducated they seem to be.

let's not mince words: reallllly fucking dumb. failed by their upbringing, and unable to properly educate themselves about anything. easily misled because they don't have the tools to know better.

the depressing thing is, it's literally millions and millions of people.

how does anyone even begin repairing a large segment of society like that?

lmao at all the people who started using signal only because elon musk told them to.

this just shows you how our species is largely incapable of doing anything on their own without someone prompting them to.

"we're just a virus with shoes" as bill hicks once said.

new year's resolution:

i hate new year resolutions, but i'm putting cultists on mute. I've generally abhored the idea of muting people, but i can't charge them rent for taking my attention, so it's a pragmatic decision.

The Making of QAnon: A Crowdsourced Conspiracy

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2021/01/07/the-making-of-qanon-a-crowdsourced-conspiracy/

fox news channel back into full 'whataboutism' mode after they probably looked at their ratings for pretending that they never supported trump.

Great example of what people should be doing more of.

Shows a stark contrast. Son of Korean immigrants cleaning up the mess a crazed mob of mostly white people left behind.

There are some lessons there.

https://apnews.com/article/andy-kim-cleans-capitol-siege-c5a303337cd63e4312ef7e1a17509371

"Nothing is so unworthy of a civilised nation as allowing itself to be governed without opposition by an irresponsible clique that has yielded to base instinct."

-- Anonymous first leaflet of the White Rose resistance group, June 1942, opposing complacency and conformity during the Nazi regime in Germany.

"Much of the research literature has reintroduced classic cognitive dissonance theory to provide theoretical justification for a sequence of behavior change–belief change. The focus has been upon maintenance of conversion within groups when prophecy appears to fail."

Bernard Spilka (2003). The Psychology of Religion.

-- Kenneth S. Bordens, Irwin A. Horowitz (2001). Social Psychology. Lawrence Erlbaum. p. 223

Elsewhere, ColonelTPerez on Parler has told his followers to "get our affairs in order, prepare our weapons, and go get 'em"

This is in reference to the 19th.

"By turning over all their possessions, members were making an irreversible commitment to the cult. Once such a commitment is made, people are unlikely to abandon positive attitudes toward the group. After expending so much effort, questioning commitment would create cognitive dissonance. It is inconsistent to prove devotion to a belief by donating all of your possessions and then to abandon those beliefs. In other words, to a large extent, cult members persuade themselves."

most republicans, especially the trumpers, are in the bargaining stage of the grieving process, and they'll probably be there for a while.

just imagine when the depression stage hits, when the realization that they've been the bootlickers they were always supposedly against. oof.

it's a good time to revisit the concept of cognitive dissonance.

In 2021, can we stop saying so-and-so "claps back at" so-and-so

claps back

just stop, please

trump's base of support in washington is starting to walk back their positions.

will be interesting to see how some of these people who have gone so far out on a ledge for that cult, struggle to rationalize their pivot, desperately trying to avoid any form of apology or reckoning. fox news has been playing this like they were never supporting trump.

it's really fascinating to watch this cult eat itself.

Played DEATH STRANDING for the first time.

I like (+ love many aspects of) the game except for the BT fights -- which unfortunately are not fun at all. Being that BT encounters are central to the whole game, it caused me to stop playing entirely, in what I assume is very early in the game. I love the overall concepts at work (everybody playing making the game world better a little bit at a time)... but those BT fights, fuck off. Feels RNG, and punishes careful movement. No regrets quitting

i'm not a font wizard, but seriously, why does iosevka have almost weekly updates (or at least it seems that way)

folks, do whatever you need to get by in these trying times, unless it ends up with you in the middle of the road trying up hump a stranger's leg.

i'm not an anxious person. but typing my 2fa codes in time makes me slightly anxious...