Why normal people are hideous

[Boundegar]

Absolutely. When I was a teen, do you have any idea how important it was to be just the right kind of non-conformist?

[shaddack]

@Boundegar

Absolutely. When I was a teen, do you have any idea how important it was to be just the right kind of non-conformist?

On the other hand, when you fail being a conformist and also fail being the “right” kind of nonconformist, you have all the freedom in the world to become whatever you want. Having no social position to lose is quite liberating.

@AnonyMouse

It occurs to me that the sort of person who excoriates ‘normal’ people in this manner is probably convinced that they, in stark contrast, are a special, unique and delicate flower, unwilling to seek common ground with others.

Then explain the popularity of football/soccer/hockey/baseball/…, the popularity of endless soap operas, and the popularity of Trump and his ilk. And the matching unpopularity of physics/math/metallurgy/chemistry/biomed/sci-tech in general.

[jsroberts]

@shaddack

And the matching unpopularity of physics/math/metallurgy/chemistry/biomed/sci-tech in general.

Honestly, it’s sad seeing the unwashed mob gathering together the time, energy and money to murder millions and destroy cities for the sake of a flag, deity, or economic system, when they could be doing all that much more efficiently.

[AnonyMouse]

If you want to judge people, judge them for the weapons they keep about the house, rather than the TV they watch. Snobbery is really hideous - irrespective of how it’s dressed up. It’s rarely the preserve of people who consider themselves ‘normal’, though.

[William_Holz]

There’s a lot of truth to this actually.

I mean, is it sane to be in a world where ‘Sorry, I know this doesn’t make sense but those are the rules’ is an actual phrase? And we have people having their lives ruined over that little gem.

We need more people who realize that we’re living in what is essentially a really stupid, painfully cruel LARP that everybody’s playing because everybody else is.

[shaddack]

@William_Holz

We need more people who realize that we’re living in what is essentially a really stupid, painfully cruel LARP that everybody’s playing because everybody else is.

Not just LARP. A farce, too.

@AnonyMouse

If you want to judge people, judge them for the weapons they keep about the house, rather than the TV they watch.

I had way more interesting conversations about weapons than about soccer.

@AnonyMouse

Snobbery is really hideous - irrespective of how it’s dressed up.

You never were in a group that talked about pop culture or soccer or coworkers or something similar and bored you to death?

[shaddack]

@AnonyMouse

If you want to judge people, judge them for the weapons they keep about the house, rather than the TV they watch.

Also, please propose the rating algorithm, the mapping table of weapon to judgement.

[peemlives]

@Snoe

I like normal people a lot more than I used to.

- YouTube

[peemlives]

@shaddack

You never were in a group that talked about pop culture or soccer or coworkers or something similar and bored you to death?

Them: “I’m a vegan!”

Me: “Vega (α Lyr, α Lyrae, Alpha Lyrae) is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, the fifth brightest star in the night sky and the second brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere, after Arcturus. It is a relatively close star at only 25 light-years from Earth, and, together with Arcturus and Sirius, one of the most luminous stars in the Sun’s neighborhood.”

[AnonyMouse]

@shaddack

Not just LARP. A farce, too.

All LARP is a farce. The best LARP is so intentionally.

I had way more interesting conversations about weapons than about soccer.

I have absolutely no doubt that you hold this to be the case.

You never were in a group that talked about pop culture or soccer or coworkers or something similar and bored you to death?

Of course. But the skill of being interested in a wide range of things is something I’ve cultivated, and it helps to minimise boredom as well as maximise the benefit of conversations I encounter, and moreover, what short periods of boredom I experience are both tolerable and arguably useful. Even when people are talking about reality TV, I have an opinion on the genre (although I mostly avoid the specific shows) and furthermore, it’s a good topic from which to enter into wider issues (as Trump has discovered to his benefit and everyone else’s chagrin).

In fact, I’m pretty sure you’ve told me the same sort of thing, about preppers.

[AnonyMouse]

That’s a bit of a rough gear-change, but yeah, not a bad strategy overall.

[peemlives]

I just pasted the first paragraph from Wikipedia.

Which is actually how I talk so it’s not like I’m misrepresenting anything.

[popobawa4u]

I told my little one just this week that normal people in and of themselves can be just fine - the danger is those normals who insist upon everybody else being normal.

[shaddack]

@AnonyMouse

All LARP is a farce. The best LARP is so intentionally.

Not a LARP per se, but close enough. Team Fortress 2.
(Never played it but very fond of the Engineer. Still fighting with the guitar theme, cannot seem to learn it.)

@AnonyMouse

I have absolutely no doubt that you hold this to be the case.

There are SO MANY things that are interesting. Why such focus on the stupid inflated hide sphere?

@AnonyMouse

Of course. But the skill of being interested in a wide range of things is something I’ve cultivated, and it helps to minimise boredom as well as maximise the benefit of conversations I encounter, and moreover, what short periods of boredom I experience are both tolerable and arguably useful.

I am interested in a pretty wide range of things, from physics to electronics to biomed to astrophysics to energetics to infrastructure to materials and more. Still, people insist on being boring and requiring me to memorize phonebooks of useless trivia that change too fast to do it just once and be done with it, instead of being willing to talk about something that actually makes sense.

@AnonyMouse

Even when people are talking about reality TV, I have an opinion on the genre (although I mostly avoid the specific shows) and furthermore, it’s a good topic from which to enter into wider issues (as Trump has discovered to his benefit and everyone else’s chagrin).

I saw bits and pieces of stuff but nothing that’d be enough to sustain conversation for longer than a couple dozens of seconds.

@AnonyMouse

In fact, I’m pretty sure you’ve told me the same sort of thing, about preppers.

Yes, they are doing things that make sense.

[OtherMichael]

@jsroberts

Honestly, the article seems a bit pretentious.

The followers of Dobbs don’t KNOW the meaning of the word pretentious!

When JHVH-1 descends with his Celestial Saucer, your kind will be among the first with their back up against the wall.

#THE SLACK MUST RISE

[OtherMichael]

@shaddack

when you fail being a conformist and also fail being the “right” kind of nonconformist,

[AnonyMouse]

@shaddack

Not a LARP per se, but close enough. Team Fortress 2.
(Never played it but very fond of the Engineer. Still fighting with the guitar theme, cannot seem to learn it.)

I don’t get your point - you like a machinima series about a computer game you’ve never played? That’s pretty niche.

[quote]There are SO MANY things that are interesting. Why such focus on the stupid inflated hide sphere?[/quote] Why limit your interest to things that are not? Football occupies precisely the amount of my attention that I am happy with (that is, very little) but it can still be interesting.

I am interested in a pretty wide range of things, from physics to electronics to biomed to astrophysics to energetics to infrastructure to materials and more. Still, people insist on being boring and requiring me to memorize phonebooks of useless trivia that change too fast to do it just once and be done with it, instead of being willing to talk about something that actually makes sense.

Is it that you don’t understand normal social relations, or do you simply hold them in contempt? Because I’m getting a lot of the latter.

[quote]I saw bits and pieces of stuff but nothing that’d be enough to sustain conversation for longer than a couple dozens of seconds.
[/quote]

Don’t you think that the entire genre has complex consequences for the way we perceive ourselves and others, the way we seek to be, and the norms that govern our society? Don’t you think Bear Grylls is fucking up the way that the public see nature?

[quote]Yes, they are doing things that make sense.
[/quote]

No more sense than Bear Grylls. Often a lot less.

[shaddack]

@AnonyMouse

I don’t get your point - you like a machinima series about a computer game you’ve never played? That’s pretty niche.

I suck in running around and realtime tactics. Not much sense for me to play. But the characters and the machinima are fun.

@AnonyMouse

Why limit your interest to things that are not? Football occupies precisely the amount of my attention that I am happy with (that is, very little) but it can still be interesting.

Sports medicine, biomechanics, doping… yes. The rest is a grey mass of everything being the same. If you saw one match, you saw them all.

@AnonyMouse

Is it that you don’t understand normal social relations, or do you simply hold them in contempt? Because I’m getting a lot of the latter.

Both. I tried enough and failed enough. The contempt is the result of seeing and experiencing a bit too much of what it is about.

@AnonyMouse

Don’t you think that the entire genre has complex consequences for the way we perceive ourselves and others, the way we seek to be, and the norms that govern our society?

Yes, but priority-wise it goes somewhere to fourth or fifth lifetime of todo queues. It won’t help me and I have some materials engineering and electronics and biomed books to read.

@AnonyMouse

Don’t you think Bear Grylls is fucking up the way that the public see nature?

Bear Who?

@AnonyMouse

No more sense than Bear Grylls. Often a lot less.

Bits and pieces more often than not make sense. If not, some are thankful for it being pointed out. Most of that stuff is engineering in one or another form, anyway.

[Melizmatic]

“Normal”???