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Bigotry is abound, apprently, within these boards.  There is a level of supposed tolerance I will have no part of.  Obviously, it seems to be well-embraced here.  I have finally found something more fucked up than what I'm used to.  Congrats. - Ruby

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Who are "They"?

Started by AFK, December 21, 2006, 06:59:35 PM

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AFK

Go!

edit:  I have to think about it first thus why I haven't contributed anything yet....

p.s. -- this is LHX's doing.   :wink:
Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

LMNO


P3nT4gR4m

"They" are the powers that be

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walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

LHX

'They' is the part of us that isnt being us when we say 'They'
neat hell

LMNO

Quote from: LHX on December 21, 2006, 07:09:40 PM
'They' is the part of us that isnt being us when we say 'They'

Believe it or not, that's the most accurate description I've heard yet.

LHX

Quote from: LMNO on December 21, 2006, 07:11:04 PM
Quote from: LHX on December 21, 2006, 07:09:40 PM
'They' is the part of us that isnt being us when we say 'They'

Believe it or not, that's the most accurate description I've heard yet.
lol
thats like the culmination of all these metaphysic and occult discussion

a retarded sounding sentence
neat hell

AFK

"They" is the 'x' in the algebra of life.
--if "they" = "us" than Y = ?
--if "they" = "not us" than Y = ?

"They" is also part of the Calculus of Society.
--sometimes differentiation
--sometimes integration

...
Cynicism is a blank check for failure.

LHX

Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on December 21, 2006, 07:14:11 PM
"They" is the 'x' in the algebra of life.
--if "they" = "us" than Y = ?
--if "they" = "not us" than Y = ?

"They" is also part of the Calculus of Society.
--sometimes differentiation
--sometimes integration

...
i had to read this about 7 times, but i think youre on to something with that
neat hell

P3nT4gR4m

"They" have given the world a vast body of wisdom by saying things

eg. They say "it's best not to rock the boat" or They say "you're using only ten percent of your brain"

"They" are responsible for all the "old wives tales", such as "sitting on a public toilet seat can make you pregnant"

"They" are alledgedly behind pretty much every conspiracy theory you care to mention

Sometimes I wonder if "They" are just one person.

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

LHX

if it wasnt for them, we wouldnt be here

fuck this i think i ran my ship into the black hole of cyberspace



im logging off for a few seconds
neat hell

DJRubberducky

Aw fuck, now I really have to steal my housemate's copy of "Acts of Meaning".  It actually studies the whole idea of shared paradigm and where it all came from - who's the "they" in "they say" and all that.

I'll actually contribute something meaningful once I make sense of the book.  I always blow standardized tests out of the water...except in reading comprehension.  My brain just doesn't make the same conclusions the testmakers do, I guess. :)
- DJRubberducky
Quote from: LMNODJ's post is sort of like those pills you drop into a glass of water, and they expand into a dinosaur, or something.

Black sheep are still sheep.

vexaph0d

i'd like to give a meaningful explanation of "they," but i'd rather just be honest. "they" is what you, or i anyway, say when there's something going on that you don't like and have no power to change, and you're too lazy to actually find out who or what is responsible.  it's easier to say "THEY did it."

"they" don't really exist.  "they" are a convenient abstract proxy, like "God" but even closer to our minds, that exists because of our inherent need to encapsulate and compartmentalize everything.  "their" identity changes as fast as the context of the discussion, but seldom (except in sloppy speech) do those in the discussion lose track of who "they" are at any given point.
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Jenne

They is what we were before we were us.

They refers back to a subset of those who are not us, but could be us, at any point in the past or future.

I don't find the referentials negative at the outset, as in the us factor, either.  It's all in context.

Maybe that's just the linguist in me talking.

Triple Zero

well i think it's important that we differentiate between the two types of "they" we often use on these boards:

1 - just coming back from the bathroom, John finds that half his friends have gone out to get some pizza "where did they go?", he asks to the rest.

2 - They want you to be as productive as possible until you're 70.

the first case is just the regular way of referring to a group of people in third person. nothing much out of the ordinary with that (i guess).

the second case, and i agree with vex here, often used when people are too lazy to find out what's really going on. though if you just want to make a point, it can be very useful to take a shortcut like that.
though in such cases i think it would be a bit more useful to word your statement in terms of he Machine or something, if you want to speak as They/Them as some actual anonymous entity, just to make it obvious that you couldn't point out who "They" are, but that They are made up of the sum of stupidity of humanity or some other emergent property of our race.
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e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.

LMNO

In the second case, you're speaking of a meme, a "sense".  It seems to be an anthropomorphication (christ, is that a word?) of a paradigm that has been set in motion by general attitudes, not by specific people. 

Humans seem to want to make non-sentient things "human".  This is one more example.