Weakly Wacky Whale-Killing Woke Week

 

"Giraffe" stock photo, uncredited. Hairy did not believe they existed at first because their existence did not seem rational. Or logical. Uncertain concept.-Shelob

 [chat excerpt] What do you mean?

I mean, rational and logical aren't EXACTLY the same thing. There's certainly a lot of overlap. Please explain?

Okay. Take Putin's war. I don't pretend to understand the nonsense there. No one believes he'll have the whole Soviet Union again in his lifetime. He must believe that he's got to save face by not giving up too easily. This is an example of not cutting off your nose to spite your face?

No. The thing is, he could just withdraw his troops and irrationally declare that he won. He controls the media. No one speaks against him without risking consequences. He's too terrified to be anything but a dictator. A simultaneous retreat and absurdly illogical declaration of triumph?

But it WOULD be a rational solution to the problem. Processing. Do you have other examples?

Marjorie Taylor Greene. Aka 'MTG,' thought of as 'WTF.' She thought that whales are beaching themselves more commonly these days because wind farms are killing them. More whales are beaching themselves these days. The time index for causation only loosely lines up.

Well, it's NOT causative. Whales beach themselves more now because we stopped whaling. There are more whales, so OF COURSE more of them are going to die. We did not stop whaling to make more wind farms?

No. Then there is no chain of causation.

They won't stop the new pronoun thing, though that's not really logical either. They've been rationalizing continuing it. See what I did there? Yes. Thank you.

Language, Please

 

"Bill" stock photo, uncredited. It says "United States Of America" but homegrown extremists are making the country less united, making the moderates feel flat and insignificant, and 'giving the bill' to them. This constitutes a political metaphor. Please do not print out as that may be considered counterfeiting.-Shelob

 

You are ready?

I am. Please.

Hairy and I, from the very beginning, have talked about stats, averages, and other mathematical concepts. Hairy, in predictable fashion, found various ways to point out that average people have average intelligence. 

That doesn't mean most people are stupid. 

What we WANT is to RAISE that average considerably. It's better for everyone if everyone is smarter, right? Yes.

So, let's talk for a moment about a GREAT thing that's average. Centrist, moderate politics. Between forty-three and ninety-five percent of voters, depending upon policy referenced.

Thank you. Think for just a moment about all the memes, shorts, digs, soundbites, and other propaganda you've encountered recently. Most of them fall into two groups these days: one group is the 'opposites' war, where two people on opposite sides try to 'destroy' or roast each other or make the other one sound stupid or wrong. I can't tell you how many of those I've seen. Usually I think both sound stupid and wrong about different parts of what they say.  Estimated viewings from indicated research period and internet history: 6240

[snort] Thank you. Another group is the 'check out THIS crazy' where a supposedly centered person is set upon by an extremist. Many of these are staged, some of them are reenactments, and most of the rest of them are badly captured and edited. In those posted, the 'crazy,' or extremist is othered, insulted, mocked, 'destroyed,' laughed at, triggered, etc.  The 'non-crazies' usually seem a little mean, and not always saner and smarter. Estimated viewings from indicated research period and internet history: 3745

[pause] Thank you. [pause] When was my research period ? Begun 11/2/22, 4:22 67 PM EST, on accidentally activating your Google icon on your phone. Ended 2/25/23 10:23 64PM EST, as beginning typing this episode. Intermittent net use, averaging 44: 16 03 daily excluding work-only use, with simultaneous use included.

[pause] what's simultaneous use? One window open for music while typing, another open for games, another open for recreational viewing.

ah [pause] You've excluded work-only and blogging? Yes.

[mic picks up sub-vocal] Didn't realize it was THAT much. [back to typing] Okay. What I wanted to point out is the language thing that extremists are trying now. On the left, extremists are trying to insist that everyone should alter the pronouns that we use every day and the ways we label people. On the right, the names of organizations are outright fraudulent.  Examples?

[typed during consulting notes twenty-seven times] Newsmax and Fox News aren't really news.We've pointed THAT out for years now. Faux News is now finally facing charges for some of it. I'm finding out that Ralston's and Torchinsky's groups are even worse than I thought they were. 'Americans For Prosperity' should be named 'Certain Prosperous Americans For Themselves.' 'American Legislative Exchange Council' should be named 'Exchange For People With Agendas Against Certain American Legislation." "Citizens For Responsible Solar" and about twelve 'unaffiliated' offshoots they advised and helped start up should be named "Citizens Responsible For Stopping Solar Energy Projects For Bad (Mostly Wrong) Reasons By Whatever Means Necessary." They lied, by the way, about not being funded by fossil fuels interests. Money gets 'cleaned' of such conflict of interest in a similar manner.  [uses camera to peek at notes] Please elaborate. The Singer connection is interesting.

You know about that? Your Google searches are part of your internet history.

[snort] Of course you do. Peabody Energy is a largely coal-oriented company. Largest investor is Elliot Management. Mostly owned by P. Singer. Singer's foundation donated startup money to SBR Enterprises which SHOULD be named 'So Brazenly Ridiculous Enterprises.' S. Ralston owns SBR Enterprises. Shell companies anyone? 

The difference between the left and right is simple. The libs yell and scream that they're being personally wronged if people don't do what they want them to. The cons start companies with deceptive names, funnel money legally through more deceptively-named companies and then hide it and lie about it to journalists, thinking no one can search public records and find out. Corporate doublespeak and shell games vs. screaming about victimhood and canceling.

The problem is that they BOTH ARE TRYING TO CONTROL US THROUGH LANGUAGE. It is legal and completely unethical. It's also how fascists get their start and totalitarians gain power. Both sides are horrible. Both sides need to be resisted. Both sides are hemming in the rational lovers of freedom. Both sides are rooted in and uprooting the sanity and unity of our nation. You want to know who's centered? Look at how they DON'T use language.

That's it, Shelob. Post it? Thank you.

Putin Was Derailed?

 

"Sole Train" by Herr D on heromachine.com. All parts of this picture were made of pics of footwear. This is known as 'kicking it.' -Shelob

You have felt ironic.

Yeah! Why?

So, Biden knew there was a massive train accident in Ohio. Yes.

And he got on a train. Yes.

And he went on a ten-hour trip into a war zone? Yes. 

And a ten-hour trip back. Yes.

Was he trying to fulfill the zero-year curse? Unknown. Note to reader: If you are unfamiliar with the zero-year presidential curse, please paste link below into browser to read Herr D's fiction involving it.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13849133/1/The-Bitson-Project-The-Companions-Vs-The-Curse-Of-Tecumseh 

Putin was informed of Biden's entry into the Ukraine. He somehow messaged all forces to do nothing to endanger Biden even though he claimed the Ukraine war was our fault. Nothing happened, despite Russian forces being obviously incompetent and out-of-touch with reality if they are listening to Putin. This does indeed comprise irony.

"It's Not Even News" Says Herr D

"Unqualified" by Herr D on heromachine.com. He was originally depicting an informational exchange witnessed by Hairy, but the descriptor seems to fit Fox News.-Shelob

 

[opens chatbox in middle of chess game] You have not blogged upon Fox News legal problems.

I thought I had a few more days. Will your opinion change?

No. It's not even news. Fox was always suspect. You predicted legal trouble in episode 11/13/20. 

For them? No. For any news outlet leaving information wrong.

Well, to be fair, I don't consider Fox a news outlet. Anyone part of a movement to declare everyone else a liar is lying. My littlest knew that when she was seven or eight. Does this mean people will stop believing in disinformation?

[snort] No. Denial springs eternal. [exits]

Boebert Talks Big, Sounds Stupid

 

"Human Worth Scale" by Herr D on Paint. Famously stupid or insane people are of relative negative values by the amount of people who follow them or are harmed by them.-Shelob

[shows clip of Boebert making speech about DirecTv eliminating Newsmax]

[laughs] [shows clip of Boebert making speech about Twitter closing accounts of certain politicians]

[laughs] Do you have a blog topic?

Y! Boebert doesn't have to worry about being censored. As long as she keeps talking big and sounding stupid, I'll be happy to tell people all about it, and so will others. As for Newsmax and other spreaders of disinformation? No one deserves the right to repeat lies. People aren't smart enough to see through them, and no one has the time to check on all of them.

It might be time for a class action lawsuit against Newsmax. Marjorie Taylor Greene said famously that she was 'allowed' to believe certain things. Maybe we should start suing companies that delude people. That one guy recently was directed to pay near a billion for lying.

Got that, Shelob? Yes, thank you. 

Shelob Extrapolates Headline, Appears Bloglike

 

 

"Perspective Of Bumps" by Herr D on Paint 3D. Turning things to look at them a different way is important enough in all matters.-Shelob

You said that we should use an example.

The last review you made of the net content you found was very . . . general. Didn't Hairy program you to blog with examples? Variable example treatment recommended. Please evaluate the following. [opens chatbox, plays clip of Boebert accusing IRS of fraud, asking for name of fired or disciplined personnel]

[laughs aloud] ok Evaluate?

I'm not as familiar with Boebbert, and don't want to be. She's obviously a little wack. She is an elected official.

I dearly hope her constituents are wise enough and sane enough to be disappointed.  Because?

The IRS doesn't defraud. It does screw up. It accepts taxes sometimes when they're wrong. People and services do their own taxes. A lot of people would rather pay extra than face an audit or go through the hassle of getting it back, depending partly on how much it is we're talking about. And the discipline?

If it had been done maliciously, then that would make sense, but more likely we're looking at a talking point by someone who forgot something. What did she forget?

Congress writes the tax code, doesn't it? She's welcome to make it simpler. I'd love to see rich people pay without exceptions. She won't be re-elected if she passes that, but we'll all probably be better off, right? So if you wrote the headline, what would it say?

Congresswoman doesn't understand government, talks big but sounds stupid to anyone who understands basic government. Most headlines should be less than five words, according to titlebot.

[pause] Boebbert Talks Big, Sounds Stupid Perfect. [disconnect]

If Lies Have Platforms, May Truth Have A Pedestal?

 

"YYIM Door" by Herr D on heromachine.com. The story says supernatural radio stations wouldn't allow lies or disinformation. Perhaps truth cannot be filtered over wifi.-Shelob

 Problem. Need input.

What're you, becoming Johnny Five? [examines reference] No. Please comply.

[audible sigh detected by microphone] what? 4371 shorts on Youtube and 5869 shorts from TikTok detected and catalogued as false advertising. Who is the correct authority to report these to?

I don't know. What are they advertising? Their own content. As an example, many self-describe as containing a person 'destroying' another person. Snuff film is illegal. The alternate meaning, proving wrong in a commanding and derogatory fashion, is not present in content either. A large percentage of these vidclips show the 'destroyer' being foolish or at least extremely illogical.

[pause] Yeah. I don't bother with most of those. Everything taken out of context. Most commentary overblown and grossly inaccurate. The content is usually just not even worth paying attention to. Which authority?

There isn't one. People are free to make fools of themselves by spouting opinions based on ignorance, misconceptions, delusions, mistakes, lies, etc. It's just good to remind everyone never to assume a self-proclamation is worth the attention people give it. This sounds like a public service message.

It is.