So that's the day we'll be running huge ad blimps all over the crowds reminding them to vote November fourth?
Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats
- Thread starter GasBandit
- Start date
It's been getting worse lately. Not wearing a mask is practically plumage announcing that you may become violent if provoked.
Hey, @MindDetective - just out of idle curiosity, do you know of any research suggesting a refusal to wear a mask is an indication of tendencies towards oppression/discrimination/xenophobia? My reasoning being as follows:
[people who attach value to oppressing/segregating "others"]
-> I enjoy lording my superior position over those of lower station than myself.
-> I will conspicuously separate those of lower station than myself to "rub it in." Yellow star or cross, pink triangle, scarlet "A," separate water fountains, whatever.
-> Society has asked me to wear a mask, claiming that doing so will help others.
=> What? Wear a mask? Is someone trying to say they're better'n me? Well I won't have it! Help, I'm being oppressed!
[people who do NOT attach value to oppressing/segregating "others"]
-> Society has asked me to wear a mask, claiming that doing so will help others.
=> Covering my face is a burden, but not an undue one, and I attach no other meaning to doing so. <wears mask>
--Patrick
Hey, @MindDetective - just out of idle curiosity, do you know of any research suggesting a refusal to wear a mask is an indication of tendencies towards oppression/discrimination/xenophobia? My reasoning being as follows:
[people who attach value to oppressing/segregating "others"]
-> I enjoy lording my superior position over those of lower station than myself.
-> I will conspicuously separate those of lower station than myself to "rub it in." Yellow star or cross, pink triangle, scarlet "A," separate water fountains, whatever.
-> Society has asked me to wear a mask, claiming that doing so will help others.
=> What? Wear a mask? Is someone trying to say they're better'n me? Well I won't have it! Help, I'm being oppressed!
[people who do NOT attach value to oppressing/segregating "others"]
-> Society has asked me to wear a mask, claiming that doing so will help others.
=> Covering my face is a burden, but not an undue one, and I attach no other meaning to doing so. <wears mask>
--Patrick
I would argue that it is a form of virtue signalling (look how tough I am or look at my independence) or a way of branding oneself as part of an in-group (possibly both). Mask-wearers are the 'other' and those free of masks are 'my people'. Once an out-group is identified, it is easy to dehumanize them (this is true for people on the left as well. See deplorables.) Once you go down the path of dehumanization, you can go some dark places in society.
Oddly, the out-group usually has a higher suspicion of carrying disease, but there is also a long history of disbelief in practices that protect against disease, from vaccines to hand-washing to masks. So those refusing masks don't even see it as a form of protection, just a mark of weakness and/or 'those people'.
I had forgotten about the disbelief/"sign of weakness" thing, even though I remember watching someone else at camp tell me, "That's not poison ivy!" while rubbing it all over his belly (spoiler alert: it was poison ivy), though I was wondering if any research had been done specifically to show whether there is any correlation between the strength of a person's desire/need to assign others to out-groups v. the degree of panic/denial at being assigned to an out-group by others...i.e., is the strength of their desire to dish it out proportionate to their inability to take it, and vice-versa? Or would that just be a facet of Defensive Projection?
--Patrick
--Patrick
That's getting too far outside my area of expertise to say. There might be a correlation, but it might be hard to tease out the confounds.
Yeah, the whole entire no-mask thing is performative. Whether or not the individual believes that wearing the mask would help is irrelevant; if you're wearing a mask, you're one of the "sheep" and who wants to be like them? Compound this with poor understanding of how diseases work, intense social pressure to conform, and the hinterland's general refusal to put faith in expert opinions that aren't approve by their social groups and you've got out groups that not only believe that wearing the mask is stupid but are perfectly willing to punish you for wearing one.
As for research on this @PatrThom ... yes, but I don't think the actual articles are publicly availible yet. Check Google Scholar every so often; it's a great public resource for it.
Dave
Staff member
Nebraska - during a pandemic - got almost 200k signatures on a ballot initiative to approve medical marijuana. Polls show 60-70% of the residents want it. Nationally that number is about 67%. But the backwards idiots we have in our state decided that we the people would be confused by what this all means, so it was stricken down.
Such a fucking red state. "We want the people to vote on things!"
Medical marijuana. "Not THOSE things! We don't like THOSE things!"
Such a fucking red state. "We want the people to vote on things!"
Medical marijuana. "Not THOSE things! We don't like THOSE things!"
Hold up, this doesn't sound like a red state thing at all.
@blotsfan, better?
figmentPez
Staff member
It's now 19 years since September 11th, 2001 (and 11 years since this thread started) and I genuinely wish we would "forget it." It's a historical event at this point.
I'm not denying it's historical importance. I just want people to stop acting like it's a recent event in the way that it's really not.
(TBH, this is mostly a rant directed at my Facebook feed)
GasBandit
Staff member
At this point, I think we need to remember it in the context of how we let fear drive us into the arms of unacceptable increases of unchecked governmental authority in the same of security.
Sure there are a lot of good lessons to take from 9/11, but nobody will learn them that needs to.
Dave
Staff member
I think that it's stupid to remember 9/11 while playing down the killing of 64 TIMES that amount from Covid. And no, I'm not talking about anyone here. I'm talking about all of the right who are almost to a person SUPER jingoistic and "NEVER FORGET!" while also saying "COVID is not a real thing."
Like I said, my point was a rant about my Facebook.
We don't need 9/11 to do that. There are plenty of examples, most notably the Red Scare and McCarthyism.
What I want to see 9/11 remembered for is how the USA literally had the good will of pretty much the entire world on its side on the morning of 9/12, but instead of using that good will to strengthen its relations with everyone else on the world stage and earn worldwide respect, the USA woke up that morning all wild-eyed and flecked with spittle, spouting conspiracy theories and itchin' ta scrap. We could've been a Ryan Reynolds, but we ended up being Tom Cruise.
--Patrick
Remember- The Republican challenger used Russ Feingold's vote against the Patriot AGAINST HIM.
Russ Feingold, the best Senator Wisconsin ever had.
Russ Feingold, the best Senator Wisconsin ever had.
GasBandit
Staff member
I mean... it's Paul Krugman.
Look, I know what kind of special idiot Krugman is, but what kind of lying bullshit is this?!? Gitmo?! The uptick of hate crimes against anyone and everyone who even looked like they might be Middle Eastern that are still happening? The months-long public meltdown that was on every new channel when they opened a mosque "too close to" Ground Zero? W.T.F!
The multiple foreign wars resulting in untold civilian casualties and plunging entire regions into chaos that is still a problem today.
Yeah, Americans were SUPER calm about 9/11.
Dear Senator Cruz,
I grew a ball the size of a Soft Ball. They cut it off and gave me chemo.
I still resist Trump.
I grew a ball the size of a Soft Ball. They cut it off and gave me chemo.
I still resist Trump.
Well, i can’t walk or sit without a lot of sharp pain, and i lost my job to covid so ive been on unemployment since May, and after the reduction of assistance i can just barely pay the majority of my bills, which means I will likely lose my car and apartment, but at least the senate is taking care of the important stuff.
figmentPez
Staff member
There's a reason parts of the NE are pushing octopus as the new lobster: not only is it easier to find now, it's going to be easy to find in 5 years when the waters of New England are too warm for lobsters.