I Have Some Life-Changing Decisions to Make

[Vanadium Gryllz]

It seems to me that the ability to do one's own research is a skill in itself.

Although, yes, there is a whole lot of information on the internet that doesn't mean that what you find to read is going to be wholly or at all true. Particularly within the realms of socially hot topics such as military/race/sex/drugs etc. that have been being discussed here recently.

E.g. if I were to say 'OK well I don't know anything whatsoever about what being a woman in modern society is like. I'll do some research.'

I could either end up on a site like Reddit where there is a lot of MRA sentiment and I could read and believe that. Or I could end up on Tumblr with some radfems and I could believe what they say.

Now, the reality is probably that there is some sort of middle ground between these two opposite ideologies and that both sides may (or may not) have some worthwhile points hidden in there.

How/when do you decide what to believe?

[Rev Thwack]

Well, most people decide to believe whatever best supports their personal prejudices and presuppositions, happy to crawl into an echo chamber. I'd say you're better off being skeptical of everything and only believing things to the extent that you haven't yet found contradictory evidence, yet continuing to search for such and holding the belief that everything could be possible, just that not everything is likely.

[Don Coyote]

Yeah but, like literally if you does a search about "military service" the first page is either stuff for veterans, or how to join, or history. If you does a search on "what does my ASVAB score mean?" you get several hits from the offical ASVAB site, a couple of Army related sites, and a few Yahoo asks, and a few hits on military.com. If someone doesn't even want to trust what is on the official site or any .mil site, they have no fucking business in the military, especially if don't trust a .mil site. If you think you are so fucking smart that you know for a fact that military is just going to fuck you over, guess what, the military is going to fuck you over harder than anyone else in the service, and you're going to have a bad attitude, and then no one is going to help your punk ass.

If shitstain had even done some searches and made a thread about thinking about joining with a lot of questions about the information he had found he would have gotten a way different reaction. But as it is, I don't want someone like him serving. I'd rather not risk having to deal with his sgtir crap that he would probably still have a fucking private. I hate privates like that.

[Rev Thwack]

Oh, I don't disagree at all. I've already mentioned that him signing up would be bad, I was just talking more in generic circumstances than about poo violating the NAVY acronym.

[Don Coyote]

Oh, I don't disagree at all. I've already mentioned that him signing up would be bad, I was just talking more in generic circumstances than about poo violating the NAVY acronym.

Well that was essentially directed at Xaz.

[Vanadium Gryllz]

Yeah but, like literally if you does a search about "military service" the first page is either stuff for veterans, or how to join, or history. If you does a search on "what does my ASVAB score mean?" you get several hits from the offical ASVAB site, a couple of Army related sites, and a few Yahoo asks, and a few hits on military.com. If someone doesn't even want to trust what is on the official site or any .mil site, they have no fucking business in the military, especially if don't trust a .mil site. If you think you are so fucking smart that you know for a fact that military is just going to fuck you over, guess what, the military is going to fuck you over harder than anyone else in the service, and you're going to have a bad attitude, and then no one is going to help your punk ass.

If shitstain had even done some searches and made a thread about thinking about joining with a lot of questions about the information he had found he would have gotten a way different reaction. But as it is, I don't want someone like him serving. I'd rather not risk having to deal with his sgtir crap that he would probably still have a fucking private. I hate privates like that.

Those are good points. Going into the military with that kind of attitude doesn't seem like an ideal plan. Frankly from what I have read of you guys' comments there don't seem like many situations where joining the military would be a great idea.

Your second point is also good, I guess there's a difference between doing some research (and understanding it) vs. regurgitating randomly connected bits of information.

Well, most people decide to believe whatever best supports their personal prejudices and presuppositions, happy to crawl into an echo chamber. I'd say you're better off being skeptical of everything and only believing things to the extent that you haven't yet found contradictory evidence, yet continuing to search for such and holding the belief that everything could be possible, just that not everything is likely.

That sounds like a good way of thinking.

edit: What does sgtir stand for?

[Don Coyote]

Smartest Guy in the Room, ie the asshole that always knows more than anyone else on any topic, even or especially the actual experts.

The military is ok if you have the right collection traits. It's a decent job with decent entry level pay, despite what a bunch of fucking idiots scream about, that will generally love to send you places to get more training . But it's filled with people. And it's several large institutions. And it is a not a one size fits all occupation, but neither are all the others.

[POFP]

SGitR would be a compliment, at this point.

Obviously being open and vulnerable has put me on edge and made me defensive in unnecessary situations.

I'm gonna walk away, go outside some more, and come back in a few weeks or something after being refreshed. I can hardly even think anything other than whale sounds at the moment.

[Rev Thwack]

SGitR would be a compliment, at this point.

Obviously being open and vulnerable has put me on edge and made me defensive in unnecessary situations.

I'm gonna walk away, go outside some more, and come back in a few weeks or something after being refreshed. I can hardly even think anything other than whale sounds at the moment.

I love it... Playing the victim after being called out for dumb shit. Here's a tip... Those who actually learned something about their behavior when caught don't go on at length about how much they've learned and how it's affected them and how they are so good now about acting in all they've learned and aren't they special.



In other words, shenanigans.

[POFP]

SGitR would be a compliment, at this point.

Obviously being open and vulnerable has put me on edge and made me defensive in unnecessary situations.

I'm gonna walk away, go outside some more, and come back in a few weeks or something after being refreshed. I can hardly even think anything other than whale sounds at the moment.

I love it... Playing the victim after being called out for dumb shit. Here's a tip... Those who actually learned something about their behavior when caught don't go on at length about how much they've learned and how it's affected them and how they are so good now about acting in all they've learned and aren't they special.



In other words, shenanigans.

Playing the victim? No, I'm humbling myself because I know I'm wrong. Have you every tried that before? It does wonders for your ego and teaches you a lot about yourself.

[Rev Thwack]

SGitR would be a compliment, at this point.

Obviously being open and vulnerable has put me on edge and made me defensive in unnecessary situations.

I'm gonna walk away, go outside some more, and come back in a few weeks or something after being refreshed. I can hardly even think anything other than whale sounds at the moment.

I love it... Playing the victim after being called out for dumb shit. Here's a tip... Those who actually learned something about their behavior when caught don't go on at length about how much they've learned and how it's affected them and how they are so good now about acting in all they've learned and aren't they special.



In other words, shenanigans.

Playing the victim? No, I'm humbling myself because I know I'm wrong. Have you every tried that before? It does wonders for your ego and teaches you a lot about yourself.

Ahhhahahah.... "I'm not fishing for sympathy, I'm being humble. You should be humble like me. See how humble I am? Isn't it great that I'm so humble?"

[EK WAFFLR]

"Think you're really righteous? Think you're pure in heart?
Well, I know I'm a million times as humble as thou art"

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[axod]