Governor Walker of Wisconsin survived his recall election.

[Triple Zero]

Man, what a privileged childhood I had, that allows me to

spit on those less fortunate

(something I've never done, btw, despite that completely false quotation)

So you're saying that the people you spat upon were quite fortunate for it?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Aaaand your failure to contribute anything of value to a thread in AI is right around .975, you and the parrot below you. (no, I didn't do the damn math..  that's just silly on a forum that likes to embellish and talk in absolutes anyway)

It's not THAT, DP, so much as the fact that you demonstrated what kind of person you are, a while back, and that nobody's really invested in spending much effort talking to...Well, a monster.  Not a scary monster.  Just a monster.

Because people can't step back, evaluate, and make course corrections in the way they interact with the world and the people in it, especially when it's a group of people they respect but disagree with on some things. 

Sorry, dude.  I can't speak for the others, but I still can't get past the "poor children deserve whatever they get" bit.

[LMNO]

I'm pretty sure that was satire.  I hope so, anyway...

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I'm pretty sure that was satire.  I hope so, anyway...

Which?

[LMNO]

I think I just hallucinated a post...

I need more sleep.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I think I just hallucinated a post...

I need more sleep.

No, I need more sleep.  The post I killed was in fact reacting to satire badly, as *I* am tired enough to not be able to read.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

So if unions spend money on something people consider frivolous, it does not effect all unions legitimacy.

If protests spend time on something people consider frivolous, it effects all protests legitimacy.

I'm not saying that...But let me just ask you this:  What HAS protesting accomplished in the last generation?

Besides getting many massive corporations to drop out of ALEC, put wealth inequality in the national consciousness, temporarily stopped SOPA, made "capitalism" a dirty word, caused an exodus from major banks and influx into credit unions, saved a significant number of people's houses from being foreclosed, not much I suppose.

All good points.  But in almost every case, they changed names (of bills, organizations, etc), and started again.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

The thing to remember is that people like Disco Pickle are highly motivated by fear. People who come from shitty backgrounds and manage to make a decent life for themselves are usually extremely invested in crediting merit over external factors, because it gives them a sense of control and alleviates their fear of sliding back into poverty. It also tends to make them the kind of elitists who look down on those who lack whatever chance came along for them, because in order to maintain the illusion that their improved situation is purely merit-based and therefore invulnerable, they have to believe that those who have not made it out of poverty have not done so because they aren't working hard enough or because they are somehow of lesser moral character.

This is also why so many people who have made it into the middle class from the lower class believe, earnestly, that they are pre-rich. Because they, through sheer merit (they believe), crawled up out of poverty, it makes perfect sense to them that, through application of that same merit, they will continue to rise through the class strata. Later in life, when this fails to happen, they are often bitter at some structure they imagine is constraining Capitalism and therefore holding them back from being rich, not understanding that Capitalism is chugging along exactly as it was designed.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

So if unions spend money on something people consider frivolous, it does not effect all unions legitimacy.

If protests spend time on something people consider frivolous, it effects all protests legitimacy.

I'm not saying that...But let me just ask you this:  What HAS protesting accomplished in the last generation?

Besides getting many massive corporations to drop out of ALEC, put wealth inequality in the national consciousness, temporarily stopped SOPA, made "capitalism" a dirty word, caused an exodus from major banks and influx into credit unions, saved a significant number of people's houses from being foreclosed, not much I suppose.

All good points.  But in almost every case, they changed names (of bills, organizations, etc), and started again.

It's an invigorating game of whack-a-mole after the past decade(s?) of apathetic mouthbreathing. Granted they are rabid weasels not moles, and the table is the size of an olympic pool, but at least people are starting to realize what they were trying to swim in.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

The thing to remember is that people like Disco Pickle are highly motivated by fear. People who come from shitty backgrounds and manage to make a decent life for themselves are usually extremely invested in crediting merit over external factors, because it gives them a sense of control and alleviates their fear of sliding back into poverty. It also tends to make them the kind of elitists who look down on those who lack whatever chance came along for them, because in order to maintain the illusion that their improved situation is purely merit-based and therefore invulnerable, they have to believe that those who have not made it out of poverty have not done so because they aren't working hard enough or because they are somehow of lesser moral character.

This is also why so many people who have made it into the middle class from the lower class believe, earnestly, that they are pre-rich. Because they, through sheer merit (they believe), crawled up out of poverty, it makes perfect sense to them that, through application of that same merit, they will continue to rise through the class strata. Later in life, when this fails to happen, they are often bitter at some structure they imagine is constraining Capitalism and therefore holding them back from being rich, not understanding that Capitalism is chugging along exactly as it was designed.

MONEY IS MERIT!!!!!!!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

So if unions spend money on something people consider frivolous, it does not effect all unions legitimacy.

If protests spend time on something people consider frivolous, it effects all protests legitimacy.

I'm not saying that...But let me just ask you this:  What HAS protesting accomplished in the last generation?

Besides getting many massive corporations to drop out of ALEC, put wealth inequality in the national consciousness, temporarily stopped SOPA, made "capitalism" a dirty word, caused an exodus from major banks and influx into credit unions, saved a significant number of people's houses from being foreclosed, not much I suppose.

All good points.  But in almost every case, they changed names (of bills, organizations, etc), and started again.

It's an invigorating game of whack-a-mole after the past decade(s?) of apathetic mouthbreathing. Granted they are rabid weasels not moles, and the table is the size of an olympic pool, but at least people are starting to realize what they were trying to swim in.

But they like it, Net.  They beg for more.  Hell, they beg for less.  "PLEASE RESTRICT MY RIGHTS ON ACCOUNT OF TERRORISTS AND HOMOS AND FOR THE SAKE OF DA CHILBRINS!  And while you're at it, I'd like my share of the nation's debt to double up again, why the FUCK not?" 

Sure, you get the word out to the 30-40 people who still GIVE A SHIT, but the other 312,000,960 Americans just vote Walker back in or campaign in favor of Sheriff Joe and Goldman Sachs and Chase and say things like "HEY, THE STOCK MARKET IS BACK UP!  WE'RE ALL RICH!", as their creditors empty out their house, just ahead of the Sheriff with his foreclosure notice.

See, Net, the problem isn't the 1%.  The problem is in fact the 99%, who are DUMB enough to LISTEN to the half-baked gibberish the 1% are pumping.  The 99% that want that 401K to grow like a mad bastard, leading to hilarious short-term thinking in the board room, the 99% who believe that when those smudgy people get theirs, that they themselves will be allowed a place at the trough.

It's not hopeless because people don't KNOW, it's hopeless because people KNOW and LIKE IT.

It's like we live in a nation of Schmoos, all begging for their place in the frying pan.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

See, Net, the problem isn't the 1%.  The problem is in fact the 99%, who are DUMB enough to LISTEN to the half-baked gibberish the 1% are pumping.

If people ARE that dumb, well you wouldn't blame mentally retarded people for getting abused by an intelligent sociopaths, would you?

It's not hopeless because people don't KNOW, it's hopeless because people KNOW and LIKE IT.

Well which is it? Are they too dumb to see the half-baked gibberish for what it is or competent enough to grasp how they're getting screwed and choosing it?

I have trouble understanding how anyone could fall into the latter category.

[Don Coyote]

See, Net, the problem isn't the 1%.  The problem is in fact the 99%, who are DUMB enough to LISTEN to the half-baked gibberish the 1% are pumping.

If people ARE that dumb, well you wouldn't blame mentally retarded people for getting abused by an intelligent sociopaths, would you?

It's not hopeless because people don't KNOW, it's hopeless because people KNOW and LIKE IT.

Well which is it? Are they too dumb to see the half-baked gibberish for what it is or competent enough to grasp how they're getting screwed and choosing it?

I have trouble understanding how anyone could fall into the latter category.

They WANT that certified pre-owned Lexus with the SUV and full sized pickup for when they go camping or boating with their yacht.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

See, Net, the problem isn't the 1%.  The problem is in fact the 99%, who are DUMB enough to LISTEN to the half-baked gibberish the 1% are pumping.

If people ARE that dumb, well you wouldn't blame mentally retarded people for getting abused by an intelligent sociopaths, would you?

I said "dumb", not "brain damaged".  It's not that they CAN'T think, it's that they WON'T think/

It's not hopeless because people don't KNOW, it's hopeless because people KNOW and LIKE IT.

Well which is it? Are they too dumb to see the half-baked gibberish for what it is or competent enough to grasp how they're getting screwed and choosing it?

I have trouble understanding how anyone could fall into the latter category.

It's both.  It's that they have allowed themselves to be conditioned to think that the things that are fucking them are their last hope.  The only evidence of which I need offer is the teabaggers, and the recall election in Wisconsin, in which 300,000 union members voted for Walker.

You have trouble understanding that because you DO think.  It's like a non-smoker not being able to imagine why someone can't quit smoking.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

See, Net, the problem isn't the 1%.  The problem is in fact the 99%, who are DUMB enough to LISTEN to the half-baked gibberish the 1% are pumping.

If people ARE that dumb, well you wouldn't blame mentally retarded people for getting abused by an intelligent sociopaths, would you?

It's not hopeless because people don't KNOW, it's hopeless because people KNOW and LIKE IT.

Well which is it? Are they too dumb to see the half-baked gibberish for what it is or competent enough to grasp how they're getting screwed and choosing it?

I have trouble understanding how anyone could fall into the latter category.

They WANT DESERVE that certified pre-owned Lexus with the SUV and full sized pickup for when they go camping or boating with their yacht.

Fixed for accuracy.