Obfuscated Ramblings

This post is highly personal, as a warning, but I make a general point at the end (after a --), I promise.

You were warned.

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It's interesting how social movements work. In some cases, they happen due to the relentless efforts of a group of people who understand that the norm is objectively unsuitable. In other cases, they happen due to the half-assed efforts of well-spoken idiots who can command the attention of a herd of sheep.

Isn't it interesting how things SJW's consider taboo and bigoted - things like biological gender binaries, privilege, and the innumerable forms of shaming - are considered the norm, but nobody has really said much about it in the real world until recently? Isn't it interesting that nobody outside of tumblr seems to care about these things? Isn't it interesting how you could take either of these topics and spin them in such a way that you could get people screaming in protest against them when they weren't even aware of them to begin with?

Browsing the notes of a particular biology-butchering post going around, I noticed a sickening number of people simply accepting the preachy faux-science as fact simply because the poster was relatively well-spoken. They responded to a short, quippy post about male and female organs - labels developed specifically for better scientific understanding, completely unrelated to sociological ones - with a veritable essay about the sociological implications of the <1% of people who don't fit into the "binary."

Responses consisted of "owned!" "bam!" "good work!" "bless this post!" "science!"

Just taking a wild guess, the thought process of these people was not to compare each point on a case by case basis - it was to read the words of one they already agreed with (due to similar outspoken people who appeared to have good intentions for social rights) and agree with it unconditionally, so long as nothing was obviously against their apparently malleable ideals.

"He sure posted more words than them! Owned!" "Bam! Lots of things that look like facts!" "Good work typing a lot in comparison!" "Bless this post for suiting my interests!" "I sure don't know jack shit about science!" 

I responded to it in the past, but I can neither find my old post nor do I care to sift through more of this plebian rabble to find it in the notes. So I'm going to respond to it again!

Male and female relate to gametes only. Male and female are defined on gametes if a species has two kinds, and one is smaller. The smaller one is male. Thus ends the biological definition of male and female.

Wrong, you textbook example for a fallacious argument!

The statement is essential correct from the small frame of reference he tricks you into looking at: the single cell that a human begins as. To that extent, yes! The only way you can tell the difference is that one chromosome's size. If you believe that this remains the only tangible difference between a male and a female towards the end of their development then you need to go back to the fourth grade.

Fourth graders don't have to worry about this shit. Sex ed starts next year!

That one difference that is implied as apparently COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT TO EVERYTHING IN BIOLOGY according to this faggot propels the entire process of the cell's growth into a male or female organism! Can mistakes happen? Most certainly! Is this considered normal? NO

You heard right! If you have two X chromosomes and you have a dick SORRY, YOU'RE NOT NORMAL. Does that make you a horrible abomination? Of course fucking not, it just means you aren't normal you sad sack of crap shut the fuck up and stop trying to make this about you

The argument posited by julian mckfuckface is that these abnormalities constitute a normal scientific categorization of gender (sex? I don't even know which term is PC anymore). This is despite the fact that the vast, vast, vast majority of people are either male or female in this way. Scientists still refer to it as a disorder.

If you want to be sugar spice and everything fucking dandy about it though, let's not use the word 'disorder.' People take it offensively even though all it means is a condition that is statistically anomalous. Literally, not in order. There is literally no denying that this is a fact, can we carry on now?

Chromosomes and stuff are how evolution builds a body to hold male or female gametes in the context of human sexual dimorphism. Different species do chromosomes differently, or use something else like how warm the egg is. Gametes are fundamental, X/Y chromosomes are just mechanism. Different species don’t necessarily have only one kind of male-plan body or female-plan body.

Stop changing the subject, some people can't keep up!

...Or is that your plan? Wait, it totally is! Argumentative fallacy #whogivesafuck: using a completely irrelevant point that is tangentially related in some manner to drive a point. Doing this doesn't add to your argument, but it sure draws attention to it in a compelling but really fucking dumb way!

WE'RE ONLY TALKING ABOUT ONE SPECIES, YOUR EXAMPLES ARE INVALID.

Evolution doesn’t exactly build a body as “male” or “female” either.

evolution doeSN'T BUILD ANYTHING AT ALL THAT'S NOT HOW EVOLUTION WORKS YOU ARE AN IMBECILE

There’s a lot of slippage in the process that constructs male-plan and female-plan bodies, and that’s clearly “deliberate” (evolution could tighten up the error checking, but has chosen not to). Complicated genders and complicated bodies seem to be an evolutionary advantage, in small numbers, such that there are enough cis straight people left over to breed.

Okay this is actually sad though I have to explain how evolution works.

Natural selection, the fundamental mechanism in the theory of evolution, does not literally target and eradicate a particular DNA combination like a fucking immunity system. It's called natural selection, not "deliberate, specific selection."

If I poured a bunch of red paint into a bucket of marbles and I told you to dig through it and remove all the marbles that had any spec of red on them within a time limit, would you be able to get rid of all of them? What if the bucket was fucking enormous? What if I kept adding red marbles, or putting back the ones you took out?

Would you ever finish? No!

This is where I got mad at this naive traipse through middle school biology. They not only don't understand how evolution works, taking it as a flawless mechanism that removes everything deemed evolutionary disadvantageous immediately, but NOBODY FUCKING POINTED IT OUT. EVERYONE AGREED WITH IT LIKE IT DIDN'T JUST VIOLATE EVERYTHING THEY EVER HEARD ABOUT EVOLUTION.

CHARLES DARWIN WOULD LIKE TO HAVE A WORD WITH YOU

HE SAYS FUCK YOU FOR MISINTERPRETING HIS LIFE'S WORK SO THAT YOU CAN COMPLAIN ABOUT SEX

Now you have learned some biology. Time to learn some sociology.

OHHHH GOOOOD FOR YOU

YOU ACT LIKE YOU MADE A POINT BUT ALL YOU MANAGED TO DO WAS BE A COMPLETE FUCKWIT

"I'M A FUCKWIT AND SO CAN YOU" JULIAN MORRISON YELLED ATOP HIS LITERAL PILE OF BULL SHIT. THE CROWD GOES WILD. SCIENTISTS ARE CONFOUNDED. CHARLES DARWIN SPRINGS FORTH FROM HIS GRAVE AND UNLEASHES A DEADLY PLAGUE UNTO THE EARTH.

The latter half of his post isn't worth addressing because it all stems off the premise that he was right in the former half.

Right, let's make this short and sweet.

First, for those who aren't aware, The Onion is a satirical news organization. 

People are aware of what happened regarding The Onion's joke about Daniel Tosh. I'm going to assume people are also aware of the spark that started it all and the flak associated with it.

What I don't quite understand is the following logic:

A lot of people argued about how bad rape is to the point that people said it's objectively worse than murder. The whole thing stemmed from a rape joke of a girl interrupting a comedian on stage, remember this.

Now, we have a parody site making a joke and the some of the same folks who were crying bloody murder are now laughing about it. Mind you, there are a few folks who still say rape is wrong no matter what, but for this purpose, we're looking at the former.

Logic - "Rape jokes are not okay and no one deserves rape. Well, alright, it was funny when it was towards someone who made a rape joke. The guy got what he deserved."

Isn't this basically agreeing with the opposition, though? Hypocritical, selective of who the victims are?

Alternatively: Overcomplicating simplicity

((A word of warning - the next few paragraphs consist of a lengthy narrative premise that I'm sure more than one of you probably don't want to fucking read. I'm a wordy douchebag, but I'll summarize each part of it with a statement in bold.

Sharing this video.

To give some background information for those not currently aware, Anita Sarkeesian has generated some controversy among the video game community, and on the internet as a whole, for promoting narrow-minded feminist views on the misrepresentation of women in video games.

She already runs a youtube channel where she criticizes a lot of things for their "misogynist agenda." You should go watch a couple too if you feel like watching something stupid - I suggest the one where she tries to convince you that Lego is trying to push young girls into domestication.

But this video isn't her. It's a woman gamer, responding to her. And it's a rant in itself, so hey, it's still relevant to this blog /o/

Hat: ...I personally find it embarassing to say I would like a character that much so MAYBE THAT'S WHY I DON'T THINK ABOUT IT TOO MUCH Hat: I'm not the type to fan[gender] Hat: Or at least I prevent myself from it because no

Kid: Well, I love a lot of characters Kid: But I don't fawn over them and do stupid stuff. o vo

Hat: Fair enough Hat: The more I try to comprehend it the more it steeps dangerously into the territory of fawning Hat: So I'll cut it there

I attempted last night to try and discern what it was about certain fictional characters that was so appealing. I'm not questioning the fact that people fanboy/girl over things - after a long time of being exposed to things like anime and video game culture, it's not an alien idea to me anymore. What is still foreign, however, is the reasoning. It's been explained away as not abnormal, given the magnitude of people that have personal attachments to fictional characters in various media (sometimes to an extremely personal degree), but why?

Kid: It's just... the idea of fictional characters, what manner of thought the guy was thinking of making it Kid: What they're like were they real, it's all nice Kid: I tend to get attached to too many characters

Hat: I can sympathize, to a degree Hat: Probably not the same degree as you

Kid: Ehe, should I describe it as some sort of Kid: Whimsical imagination Kid: All characters have a heart and soul. u vu

Hat: I would say it's open-minded if nothing else.

Some people would handwave the idea. "It's just fiction," "it's meant for entertainment and nothing else." And for those people, it only makes sense that they would find it silly to grow a real attachment to ficitonal characters. I've never agreed with this point of view, but it's always been beyond me to explain myself. Was it really just a selfish frivolty to have such a preference for what others decry as "just entertainment?"

I did read something once, though. Unfortunately, I cannot remember where, nor can I remember the exact wording, but it did inspire an answer to the above predicament.

Hat: I'm paraphrasing here: Fiction and entertainment is a form of expression and creation Hat: To be able to enjoy it on such a level that it takes your mind further than simple joy or pleasure is a marvel of the human mind

Kid: Ah Kid: I'm always constantly in a state of... something similar to a dream sometimes Kid: The human mind is quite something else

Hat: Indeed Hat: This is when I cheese. The speed at which it can create entire worlds of thought simultaneously given a simple signal or cue is remarkable Hat: To say nothing of what the idea of a character - a symbol representing an entire personality, a unique being Hat: can do when you learn of it Hat: The only thing really stopping people from taking that to the step that, say, you would Hat: Is some idea about social norms and it being silly Hat: And I'm finding truth more and more in that short phrase a friend of mine said that one time Hat: "It's important that people learn to be embarassed" Hat: Cheesy things are abhorred because they make people feel things Hat: They're so blatant and raw in motive Hat: "Pure" is a better word for raw but I'm going to use raw Hat: That cringing thing people do when things are too cheesy is feels happening without their permission

To handwave fiction as inconsequential and unimportant is to deny a uniqueness of humanity: a concept of reality so advanced that we can literally create entire worlds around a simple thought in a matter of seconds. The synesthesia of imagining a landscape when hearing a song, or the ability to shape a personality from simple an image of a person - these are things that shouldn't be wasted or frowned upon. I've found that, similar to being unable to reason why one would have an attachment to fiction, I am unable to find a reason why such a thing should ever be questioned. People call it weird to enjoy certain things to such an extent - it's geeky, or just outright strange. But why?

Kid: Emotions are strange, aren't they Kid: And so are Kid: ... Especially Kid: The ones toward something so fictious Kid: Hell, the idea of feeling for something that isn't rational Kid: It's strange Kid: As in, say, not entirely logical

Hat: From a utilitarian standpoint it's completely silly Hat: It could probably be explained from a psychological standpoint easily Hat: But from a normal standpoint it's still completely silly

Kid: Stimulation? Kid: Increases dopamine? Kid: Hurm.

Hat: I would say Hat: mimicking the elements of something tangible that would normally invoke a certain emotion Hat: is enough to "fool" the brain into associating it with that. Hat: After all, everything in the mind is made of connections and associations Hat: You look at someone and call them by name because you know their name, not because their tangible being exudes it Hat: I would guess that over time, being exposed to so many real things, the mind has created preconceptions for what parts of those things induce certain reactions Hat: To the point that it no longer cares whether or not that thing is real - it just assumes it

There is a sociological stigma surrounding this sort of thought that is almost simulacrous in nature. When asked why it's weird, the only response is "because it's weird," or "people will think you're weird for it." And when asking those people, the answer is just repeated infinitely - one never reaches the origin for such a train of thought. The stigma is literally nonexistent, except in reference. In essence, it is a great example of a second-order simulacra - an idea without a concrete origin; a concept that exists only in reference, and born of society.

Hat: Anyway that's the closest I'm ever going to get to explaining abstract art, which I still think is completely silly

Kid: I can only understand abstract art when I think about it not too deeply Kid: It just goes

Hat: I guess that's the silliest thing of all - Hat: There seems to be an oscillating curve of understanding shit Hat: at its highest when "not thinking about it at all" Hat: at its lowest when "trying to figure it out" Hat: and high again when "analyzing it on a very basic level"

Kid: It's more like... Kid: I guess just letting your mind free Kid: I don't know what to say Kid: Free as in Kid: You don't strain it Kid: You just make the easiest connections

Kid: And have it associate with the first thing to come to mind Kid: It's the whole "don't think, feel"

Hat: It comes full circle again, huh Hat: "analyzing it on a very basic level" is the same as "not thinking too hard about it"

When it all comes down to it, it's all a result of overthinking. Creativity is only hindered by ill-born restraints placed on it by what one considers to be "normal" or not in society. People feel shame easily, even when the reason for it is the most baseless thing of all. Taking a moment to let go of all restraint and shame - letting yourself be embarassed, for once - the most obvious things finally come to light.

Obvious things that make up the entirety of this post - and I'd venture to guess, as obvious as they all are, they don't cross nearly as many minds as they should. For those that dwell on, or even identify themselves as logical people, ironically fall prey to these pointless restraints most of all.

Hat: When you let it happen, revelations about things just kind of rattle off at crazy speeds

Kid: Pretty much

Hat: I mean that in the long term as well Hat: I'm learning shit every day about stuff I thought I knew already Hat: Like, I state them matter of factly like it's something I've always known, Hat: But it's really something I just reached the conclusion of. Hat: Like you said, making the easiest connections Hat: They're said with such certainty that it sounds like I know what the hell I'm talking about, when in reality I'm literally making it up on the spot as something that should have made sense a long time ago

Kid: Like right now? eheh

Hat: Yes

Kid: Well Kid: It's easy to understand something. It's sort of like math, really Kid: While you know the nuts and bolts, you sometimes figure out what the entire thing's deal is Kid: People tend to make double takes and realize things they should have done Kid: Long after they've done it, of course Kid: It's more of a "looking at it with a renewed perspective" Kid: The revelations thing is involved with the perspective Kid: Depending on what you've done and how many things you've seen or changed your views Kid: It opens more options, more viewpoints Kid: It bugs me a lot when people say "why can't I be creative" Kid: When those who are creative aren't doing much different; they're just saturation bombing things with "what ifs" Kid: Then deciding to take what sounds great to them Kid: Makes sense, doesn't it? o:

Hat: mm Hat: I feel like when someone says that, that's the point when their rationale kicks back in Hat: Which is, loathe as I am to admit, pretty much the exact counter to creative expression Hat: Again with things that only sound weird when I say it this way, but Hat: If you think about it, to create something that can fool the mind into thinking it is reality, you have to be that detached from reality yourself Hat: Which is a vicious cycle that is both inherent and controversial in human nature Hat: Like, you have the ability to do this, but it makes no fucking sense. Hat: Your perception of reality is so advanced that you can shape it in an unrealistic way

Kid: Huh. That is weird, having something that doesn't make sense, then someone who does it try to make sense of it Kid: Hah, if you look at it in another way, it's more "hrm... how do I find a *way* to explain this" and they're winging it with what comes to mind Kid: Because I'm just stating how mine works, though it's likely not 100% accurate

Hat: And the way I did try to explain it from a psychological perspective earlier, ultimately, went in a circle. Hat: And ended up where yours was. Hat: That being, simple reactions to simple stimuli Hat: Resulting in a range of complex creations Hat: And still that makes no fucking sense.

Kid: Anime and video games are one hell of a drug

The short version is something you've probably heard before: there's no reason to be ashamed of something you enjoy. There are those who accept this phrase as a word of wisdom, but do not adhere to it - they hide their interests and hinder their own thought processes when they get "too silly," and some even ridicule others who get heavily involved in their own creativity. But that isn't logical, much less rational - that's just lying to yourself for convenience's sake.

Call me a hypocrite, but I only just came to this conclusion recently. It was a result of loosing my grip on social normalities, if only for that brief discussion. I am not encouraging for people to act strange around people on purpose, of course - this was not meant to be a long-ass excuse for being dumb. But the understanding of this sort of thing is a weight off of anyone's shoulders, even if they must still carry themselves with perceived normality. Those that do use it as an excuse to shove it in peoples' faces are the very reason for the stigma, in fact - but that's a topic for a later time.

Let's get a couple things straight here before we begin.

I will admit that I am a fan of trolling, when it's done tastefully. It highlights the ignorance of the target party with very small amounts of insincere effort from the troll. It's a masterful way of teaching someone a lesson in humility and perspective, and it's energy efficient! What's more, it tends to get people off the internet when they simply need to grow a brain before logging back in.

Point number two: I am not a fan of blatantly offensive humor. Things like rape jokes, or racism, or sexism, whatever else - it basically ruins the point of what I consider to be "good trolling" and it ends up just being hiding behind the mask of anonymity to be a complete jackass. And that's rather cowardly and stupid. Don't mistake one for the other.

But anyways. That is my sort of preface to my talking tonight, and whether or not you wish to read is totally up to you. Because hey, a Read More.

First off, let me apologize for advocating the creation of the board in question without seeing through to its potential consequences. That was probably a lack of foresight on my part, even if it's a relative fix for the problem it addressed in the first place.

Before I begin this spiel, let me first highlight three of the top 10 or so thread titles in this board, as of this post:

"I'm just not the guy I use to be.. the Leader I am now is not the Friend I once was." "It's all unraveling, right in front of my eyes..." "I don't want to live anymore"

dollars plz

If those three titles give you a headache, then read on for a shared opinion. If they strike concern in your heart, then read on to get a better understanding. If you are one of the people that wrote those threads, then buckle up and get some popcorn, I'm talking about you!

First, some background for the unaware. On this online community, The Dollars, or more specifically Dollars-BBS, we recently decided to create a board category called "Personal." Due to the large number of people sharing personal stories and issues on the "Random" board, we figured it warranted its own category.

The one thing we didn't take into account was that creating it not only deferred people to it, but it encouraged people to post in it, even if they wouldn't have. This is an interesting psychological phenomena I will expand on later in this stupid thing.

Literally every day or so we get a new drama-imbibing attention whore to join the ranks of those we struck down before them, blindly jumping into the fray with the first-world problem of the day. To be fair, sometimes it's not all bad - sometimes they really do have an issue to share, but they're just bad at wording it without making it sound like a bad fanfic. So I'd like to make one thing clear.

Nobody speaks in prose.

Nobody does it, I swear.

Nobody that isn't doing it for the poetic justice, that is.

I can't take people seriously when they start doing that. I'd be more inclined to hear someone out if they said "Hey guys. I'm having a really tough time right now, and I need some advice" rather than "I feel like my whole world is shattering around me... the glass shards of my psyche are etching bloody scars into the abyss of my-" I can't even continue typing that. I'm sorry I tried.

In novels, when characters speak like this, they're very well-worded. They know what they're talking about, and what they say doesn't come out as profound because they wanted it to be - the profound nature of it comes from the context and the timing, and most of all, the character speaking naturally. When you reverse this and start with the intended effect rather than the true intention, you're fucking doing it wrong. And I'm more inclined to believe you don't have a real problem.

But see, it's almost like a calling. By creating the board in the first place, it attracted those individuals who would do this on a normal basis anyway: post anonymously on some online community, expecting some cheap, impersonal praise, support, and ass-kissing, just by being able to speak like the hero of a 3rd grader's favorite TV show. Either that, or they think they're being smart - see my last post on dumb people observations.

But this time I bring examples! Take a look!

As stated in the title, I no longer wish to continue living any further. Too painful to try and continue on with what has become an existential hell that is my life.

...

My sister feels that she is some sort of little princess pop-star and that gives her the right to speak and dress in any way that she pleases and the she is exempt from any sort of work or responsibility

...

At school, I feel as if I'm one of the only intelligent individuals there. While I have surrounded myself by people who have an IQ over 8 and enjoy Anime and Manga such as myself, I can't help but feel misery in the sense that I'm watching my closest friends sucked into this hopeless race to nowhere that is the exit agin system.

All from the same post. Someone literally stated they want to kill themselves because they think they're smart and nobody else gets that.

I don't know,

That sounds Dumb.

But what do I know, I don't think I have the required IQ to determine things like that accurately, but I do enjoy Anime and Manga like a smart person would apparently. I do like dem desus

Fucking kawaii

It was concluded with the following:

Now that you've heard my tale feel free to try and talk me out of ending my life. Can be through insults, kindness, anything really. I'm just hollow anyway.

Translation: "Now comment! Comment on my dumb fucking angst poetry, puppets! Lavish me with your attention, I command it!!"

...

I don't know.

Maybe I'm making too big a deal over what is obviously a younger kid going through those first awkward phases of their life: That realization that they suddenly have an understanding of a few vague details of the world around them; The moment when they begin to lose trust in your peers and their integrity, and begin to think foolish of anyone who doesn't have the same advancing mindset as their own; The moment they adopt that pretentious sort of disposition that only a 13 year old anti-socialite would employ?

I find it fascinating; not in the "oh I have a better opinion than they do about things because I can cross analyze it and herpaderp I took Intro to Psych I'm basically a doctor" sense - but rather, that I know full well that I had these thoughts once when I was younger. ...Maybe not to the same degree. I don't think I ever wanted to die for being smarter than people; that always struck me as complete bullshit.

But anyhoo,

I strayed from the original topic, didn't I? I hardly even remember where I meant to go with it. I suppose this post fits the title of the blog to a tee - it devolved into a rambling about retrospection with its purpose completely obfuscated without deliberately tracing its intent.

I suppose I am left with a question, regarding these people that have roosted on our boards as their personal drama shitting blog: How am I supposed to deal with them? Do I call them idiotic, even if it's completely understandable for someone their age to be naive and silly? Do I try to guide them, knowing they won't listen since I'm not pandering to their sympathies? Or, god forbid, do I cater to them and indulge their drama?

Maybe I should just troll them and be done with it I don't know

Alright, how do I phrase this? Do I sugarcoat it and refer to "overly serious" and "down to earth" people, or do I get straight to the point and say "dumb" and "smart" people? I guess it doesn't really matter in the end - for the sake of the argument, they are synonymous in this situation. We noticed a trend in people we've had discussions with, comparing between people we enjoy talking to and people who cause concern over their implied mental health.

People who are "smart" have the most dubious personalities when we talk with them. They can act like assholes, total idiots, etc. on a whim, but only rarely do they ever speak with the full potential of their true intellect. People who are "dumb" always sound like they're using their full brain capacity, and actually have the potential to sound smart more often than the smart people.

It's a weird observation, and sort of generalized just to pound that ironic idea into your head for maximum reader feels. Let me clarify, starting with the stupids.

Let's keep in mind that I may not only be talking about little childrens (younger than 16 or something) here, who have an excuse for being like this. This encompasses a wide age range, and is why it's "stupid" and not "naive". People in this category tend to take things very seriously - and not just situations that call for it, either. It's not that they can't take jokes, necessarily - it's that they need to think about their personality before saying anything, like they have to keep up this image because their true self doesn't meet a personal standard. They speak professionally, even in casual situations, as if it earns them respect; they use unnecessarily ridiculous diction as if it gives off the impression of someone who knows what they're talking about; they never deviate from their one established tone.

You'll see people like this throwing around words and phrases that are profound and sound great - in context. Out of context, they're empty and bereft of all original meaning, and indicative of someone who just really wants people to think they really know what they're talking about. People who use stock phrases like "ableism" and "I hate humanity" or shit like that: a startling portion of these people actually know jack shit about social stigmas and nihilism, respectively. In fact, if you try to pick them apart and have them explain their points one by one, they cannot. If there's one thing I can give them credit for, it's being able to spin an accusation on its head and scapegoat - oftentimes the accuser will become the bad guy.

But then there's the sort of person who knows what they're talking about. I'm not trying to set a high standard by calling myself one of these people, it's almost like I'm saying "I have at least an average intelligence." And if you can't say that about yourself, you need to remember that the average is lower than you think. But I digress.

"Down to earth" people can express their own thoughts, by themselves. They don't need stock phrases and a thesaurus to sound smart or coherent: because they use their own damned thoughts in the first place, it's hard to be incoherent. And because of this, it strikes one thing off their maintenance list - putting up with an image. These sorts of people are the most capable of throwing around insincerities, because ironically, the ability to be fallacious comes from a proficiency in being honest - you can't falsify that which is false in the first place. If an idiot acts like an idiot, he's not changing anything.

It almost ties into the concept of trolling, in a way. People call everything a troll nowadays - someone being dumb, someone playing a prank, someone legitimately upset, someone making a good point, someone greeting someone on the street, someone buying a drink at the local gas station... it's overdone. People have forgotten what it really means, because to understand that, you have to understand irony. And to understand irony, you kind of need to understand the basic point behind this spiel. Point being, the difference between a troll and someone who is actually a moron is that the former knows full well what they're doing.

To bring it around and back to actually being something of use to real life instead of just being whiny rambly bullshit everyone already doesn't care about, there's a lesson behind it.

BE YOURSELF :V

No like seriously

Stop smirking you asshole this is important get a fucking pen are you listening

Don't be that person that relies on a reputation in a community to get respect. That's not how reputation is supposed to work - you don't build up a devoted following of gullible assfaggots that'll murder any dissenters on cue. We have a band of idiots like that on the Dollars, and that's mainly where a lot of this observation is coming from. Have your own opinion and personality: it's at least one million times easier to roleplay yourself than an angst-ridden loner who has all these problems everyone needs to cater to, or a super-capable leader guy who talks like an encyclopedia and needs his e-peen polished every damned day.

Because trust me. If this discourse wasn't enough to convince you,

We can tell when you're trying.

Yay sort of related Tangents. Ahem.  A little bit of (vague) background. (I apologize for this, my circumstances are rather... unique in comparison to others, and I don't like going into detail about it.)  I've moved about 7-8 times within the last 7 years, much of said moving occurring during 6th grade - Freshmen year of High School. My direct family and I have lived with both of my older aunties at some point. And both times? They've been nothing but unsupportive, overbearing, spiteful, etc. etc. Oh, and I should mention that when we had to move the first time in the 7-8 year span I cited, they essentially pillaged my old home for anything of value for themselves. Lovely relatives indeed. And they had their kids steal things from us too. While we moved and everything. I know this, simply because later on I found our stuff in their houses.  I'll talk about the first Aunt we lived with. For simplicity's sake, I'll refer to her as Aunt S. When shit hit the metaphoric fan, we moved in with her. Why, I will never know. The entirety of my stay there ended up with my boy cousins coming into the room my mom, my brother and I had to share, and they would try to steal what money and things they could find. Mind you, we were basically homeless, with jack shit except some clothes, and whatever else we could store somewhere, anywhere. Aunt S never bothered to offer us any financial help, help us find a place, etc. etc. Actually, to be honest, she tried to make our lives more miserable. She'd encourage her kids coming into our room and stealing, fucked with my mom's car so it wouldn't work (which she eventually got towed because we hadn't been able to get bankruptcy filed to keep it yet when my mom got it fixed), tried to keep track of every little thing we did, etc. I appreciate that they let us stay for a bit, no lie. But I could've done without the oppressive bitch mode. Did I also mention she'd bitch at us all the time, even though we helped clean and contributed to bills when we could?     Half way through 6th grade, she and my uncle kicked us out. At 11:32 pm at night, because they were arguing. (What they were arguing about? Unrelated to my mom, bro and I.)  We moved elsewhere for a bit (helped by one of my mom's friends), after on and off collecting our things over the course of the next few days.  

After that.  We moved in with Auntie.....R? I guess that's easy enough. Yeah, haha, huge bitch. We were there for exactly 3 weeks before they kicked us out. Hi, yeah, they stole from the people with nothing too.  Also tried to keep track of everything we did and acted like they could control what we do. Fast forward to present day. Today. Auntie S is now divorced, lives in an apartment she can't afford, owns a car she can't afford, neglects caring for my boy cousins to go try and elbow her way into social events, and is still typically unpleasant. Auntie R lives in a different house, has a bit of a gambling problem, and she's still annoying. (She's loud. I'm quiet. add it up. ) Auntie S expects other people to be kind to her while she does nothing to be kind to others, she is basically a huge snob everytime my grandmother tries to get the family together as a whole, bitches about everything and how terrible her life is, and then when she needs money, she tries to ask my mom for some. Answer is, no.   Auntie R. She's actually the more tolerable of the two. 6 years later she's decided that olol maybe i should actually help my sister and her family. Oh golly gee.   Too bad she "borrows" money all the time from my mom, and then when my mom needed to collect to pay rent last month, she kept saying," later later later", until we were left in a 3 day scramble to get 500$ so we wouldn't be evicted. and then she still asks to borrow money from my mom. The solid answer to her now is No.

I don't know. I don't care for them. I can't make myself care. Honestly, there was a lot of backstabbing, mistreatment, arguing, etc. that went on that I didn't even include for the sake of not spilling my entire life out here. But I don't believe for an instance blood is thicker than water.

Yeah, I understand, people are passionate about their work. I won't say I wasn't at one point either. I just feel as if people could take a breather once in a while, you know? The art may be wrong, but so are a lot of things in the media what with artistic liberty and all that sort. They make mistakes, no matter how basic it may be. While some take the time to research the subject (archery, fencing, martial arts, boating, PHYSICS), others borrow from what they learned in popular culture. It just feels like nitpicking when you go into a full blown rant instead of just giving them a gentle nudge or a passing note.

... On that note, people who study physics and historians roll in their graves with enough force that you can probably harvest energy off them if you were to install some sort of wheel in their caskets. We can solve the energy crisis. /o/

Fuck yeah, broken physics cause perpetual motion.

At the same note, some of those offensive jokes might be a tad offensive, but it doesn't hurt to lighten up. I'm not saying to take all the jokes in stride and have them ignore the limits, but rather, just don't be so... what's the word for it... so much of a killjoy, I guess. If something is truly in bad taste, then call out on it. If it's only a slight jab, I don't see why you need to go "OMG, PEOPLE ARE _____, THIS IS WRONG BECAUSE REASONS."

So yeah, whenever you feel the need to rant, maybe take a deep breath and think for a moment. We're all angry at the amount of idiocy that's everywhere around us, yeah, calm your mammaries.

...

In a somewhat related note, I'll never understand the whole shipping wars either. The whole "OMG MY OTP > YOUR OTP" and the ensuing fics are just... eh. Makes sense why some people don't like others who associate themselves with fandoms as a whole.

Using Homestuck as an example. I mean, I like it because it's fun to read. Damn fun. Not really much else. Then I see people ranting about the people in fandom who are pretty gung ho about their love of seeing/writing/drawing/asdfsdafing everyone x everyone doing the horizontal monster mash  and I just sit back and wonder what the hell is going on.