Bullshit is useful

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Sean Hayden
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Bullshit is useful

Post by Sean Hayden » Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:03 pm

As you know I think attempts to blame Trump for the COVID-19 mess are largely bullshit. I'm not going to give reasons here --although calling attention to my refusal to do so is a fair criticism of what follows-- instead I want to talk about whether or not this kind of bullshitting might be useful.

The idea is simple: this bullshitting contributes to creating a more dynamic system, and this could increase the number and variety of outcomes, some of which may prove successful.

So, while the reality may not be that Trump is responsible for contributing the greatest harm during this outbreak, bullshitting about his role could still be useful. Maybe finding reality is too slow?

We have to create opportunities faster than objectivity allows, and so we bullshit.

What do you think of this bit of bullshit? :biggrin:

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by Hermit » Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:13 pm

Well-poisoning is not useful. Thanks for the demonstration.
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen J. Gould

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by Sean Hayden » Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:17 pm

I don't know what you're getting at there.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by Cunt » Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:25 pm

Maybe I get it, from another context...

When I started getting fit, I went to a 4 chan site called /fit/. It is full of bullshit.

Because I knew that, and read it with that in mind, I was able to tease out tremendously useful info, which led me to mastery over a subject which everyone claims to 'know enough about'.

So what does my 'mastery' mean? It means health bullshit just bounces off me, rendered harmless by my experinece with genuinely successful health-nuts bantering about it.

If I had gone to strictly good sources, the lack of banter would have not only made it less interesting, but also would have made it more likely to be ruined by advertisers. (such as is often the case with 'fitness' websites)
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Joe wrote:
Wed Nov 29, 2023 1:22 pm
he doesn't communicate

The 'Walsh Question' 'What Is A Woman?' I'll put an answer here when someone posts one that is clear and comprehensible, by apostates to the Faith.

Update: I've been offered one!
rainbow wrote:
Mon Nov 06, 2023 9:23 pm
It is actually quite easy. A woman has at least one X chromosome.
Strong ideas don't require censorship to survive. Weak ideas cannot survive without it.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by Sean Hayden » Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:32 pm

At least you were able to substitute bullshit about Trump for another bullshit in order to deal with the point: bullshit. :biggrin:

It's kind of a weird thing to think about. It's a simple evolutionary story for bullshitting. Don't think of the individual, except in the sense that we don't know we're bullshitting (that's fun), think of the outcomes that impact all of us e.g. shifts in leadership. Is bullshitting ultimately useful because of a possible injection of variability into how our social structures play out?

Obviously there could be many other reasons for bullshitting. I'm just bullshitting right now.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by Animavore » Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:37 pm

Image

His words matter.
Libertarianism: The belief that out of all the terrible things governments can do, helping people is the absolute worst.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by Sean Hayden » Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:42 pm

Of course they do. He's a horrible person.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by Cunt » Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:56 pm

Mansplaining strikes me the same way. It's not that we all don't already KNOW how a toaster works, but when the new guy tries to explain it (with his new understanding) we all get to see how 'smart' he is or isn't.
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Joe wrote:
Wed Nov 29, 2023 1:22 pm
he doesn't communicate

The 'Walsh Question' 'What Is A Woman?' I'll put an answer here when someone posts one that is clear and comprehensible, by apostates to the Faith.

Update: I've been offered one!
rainbow wrote:
Mon Nov 06, 2023 9:23 pm
It is actually quite easy. A woman has at least one X chromosome.
Strong ideas don't require censorship to survive. Weak ideas cannot survive without it.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by laklak » Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:54 pm

Some fucking idiot ODs on a prescription medication that's hardly even available in the U.S. and it's Trumpy's fault.

All right then.
Yeah well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by Seabass » Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:02 am

laklak wrote:
Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:54 pm
Some fucking idiot ODs on a prescription medication that's hardly even available in the U.S. and it's Trumpy's fault.

All right then.
Really? If Hillary were out there telling people to drink bleach to cure or prevent coronavirus, would you give her a pass?
"Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." —Voltaire
"They want to take away your hamburgers. This is what Stalin dreamt about but never achieved." —Sebastian Gorka

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by Cunt » Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:04 am

So if Cuomo also said hopeful things about CQ, is he partly at fault? Or is his culpability trumped by Mr. President?
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Joe wrote:
Wed Nov 29, 2023 1:22 pm
he doesn't communicate

The 'Walsh Question' 'What Is A Woman?' I'll put an answer here when someone posts one that is clear and comprehensible, by apostates to the Faith.

Update: I've been offered one!
rainbow wrote:
Mon Nov 06, 2023 9:23 pm
It is actually quite easy. A woman has at least one X chromosome.
Strong ideas don't require censorship to survive. Weak ideas cannot survive without it.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by laklak » Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:10 am

Seabass wrote:
Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:02 am
laklak wrote:
Mon Mar 23, 2020 11:54 pm
Some fucking idiot ODs on a prescription medication that's hardly even available in the U.S. and it's Trumpy's fault.

All right then.
Really? If Hillary were out there telling people to drink bleach to cure or prevent coronavirus, would you give her a pass?
Yes. Stupid is as stupid does, and we're going to lose a LOT of stupid people (and, unfortunately, some not so stupid ones) before this is over.
Yeah well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by laklak » Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:27 am

Besides, Trump didn't tell anyone to go take CQ.
Yeah well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by laklak » Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:40 am

OK there's more. They took chloroquine phosphate, which is a fucking aquarium additive, not a drug. They're fucking idiots and it's their own fault, I have zero sympathy.

Would it be Trump's fault if someone took, I dunno, Chlordane insecticide? Hell, it's got "chlor" in the name, must be the same thing.
Yeah well that's just, like, your opinion, man.

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Re: Bullshit is useful

Post by JimC » Tue Mar 24, 2020 2:11 am

laklak wrote:
Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:40 am
OK there's more. They took chloroquine phosphate, which is a fucking aquarium additive, not a drug. They're fucking idiots and it's their own fault, I have zero sympathy.

Would it be Trump's fault if someone took, I dunno, Chlordane insecticide? Hell, it's got "chlor" in the name, must be the same thing.
However, it's still irresponsible for a President to make unsupported medical suggestions from a position of ignorance...
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