Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

Dude, as he has replaced shitty people who actually understand what should and shouldn't go out with completely shitty sycophants and morons who will do whatever he says, he has increased the danger he's in. He hasn't changed at all. It's just that he's actually making the decisions now. And he's a fucking moron.

TM

Folie a White House.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

Ha ha! You're just so very precious with your post hoc rationalizations. Replying to what I was actually saying was just TOOO BOOOORRRRRING for you! So instead, you decided to deliver a lengthy unhinged rant replying to something I DIDN'T say? Brilliant.

O.K., let's go back to that post. "Stated otherwise, are you the kind of person who values most what others think of their abilities? Because that’s how you seem to measure 'smart'.” Um, what?!?? What gigantic gaping orifice of yours did you pull that out of? I said absolutely nothing about how I "measure smart" and, as you acknowledged, my post did not address the substance of that issue at all. Was this supposed to be some sort of Jedi mind trick?

You: You seem to measure smart by putting value on what others think of your abilities.
Me: I seem to measure smart by putting value on what others think of my abilities.
You: Your measurement betrays insecurity.
Me: My measurement betrays insecurity.
You: These are not the droids you are looking for . . . .

Or were you just having a disassociative episode, responding to the voices in your head? I'm having increasing concerns about your cognitive abilities. Because, once again, the "point" that you wanted to rebut was one that neither I nor anyone else here was making.

Or maybe you thought your unbelievably obvious little epiphany about how some people think it is more important to get votes or money than to be book smart was so fucking brilliant that you just needed another chance to say it again, as it were some Magical Gem of Wisdom. Which is fine, but that is not going to stop me from pointing out that, when you do that, you come off like some half-wit douchebag with a motivational social media page, peddling the most basic and obvious conclusions as if they were rare diamonds. The same type of people who have Instagram pages devoted to repeatedly preaching about how important #LOVE is, and how #BLESSED we are every day to fill our thoughts with #GRATITUDE.

Do better.

I am actually bored by you. I was being honest.

With that "smart" comment, I was citing the fact that I think you're on par with an Instagram influencer with a coke addiction.

I have a distant relative who sells silly self-help and coaching stuff to corporations. This person is on every form of social media. My mother showed me some of this person's work and we had a great laugh about the person. "How tacky," "how embarrassing," "why is em dressed like Steve Jobs in a green phase?"

Anyway, then it occurred to me. This person might be smarter than me. Via corporate slogans and associated gibberish, this person rakes in cash and travels the world.

I've since thought, "Fuck, this is like the 'If I had 10 divisions of those men...' speech given by Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (Hi, Ty!)."* I'm sitting here assuming I'm smart, when I've failed to realize the transactional nature of life.

You can make fun of an influencer, but given a lot of those influencers lead lives much better than yours, and many have reached a realization you and I never will because of our own concern with how others' would perceive us (among other reasons), can you or I judge them? Isn't it more accurate to say that we're pretty much on par with a gross guy selling self-help coaching, but we just don't realize it?

If I was forced to choose between being you or me, on one hand, or being some odious self-help personality on the other, what makes you think I'd choose you or me? Because we're "smart" enough to make fun of that snake oil salesman?

____
* Obviously, on a much lighter level. I do not think this distant relative is capable of war crimes. But maybe? Who knows... I'm always surprised these days.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

It's not inane at all. GGG raised Sarah Palin. She's a perfect example. I'd say she's pretty fucking dumb, because, well... I'd never want to talk to her.

But that's my opinion.

Supposed (and I highly doubt this, but play along) she realized she was badly spoken, not terribly bright, but had just enough intelligence to reach the conclusion, If I keep talking the way I talk and saying the things I say, unapologetically, I'll leap forward in my career, wouldn't she be "smart"?

No. She'd be a person of moderate intelligence who used other gifts to be successful.

At what age did you start speaking English? So many of your posts seem to be lengthy explorations of notions that words should mean something other than what everyone else thinks they mean.

Another example would something I experienced first hand. I tried a case a bunch of years ago against lawyer whose writing was awful, whose vocabulary was terrible, but who (surprise here) connected with juries in a way I simply cannot do. He beat me, like a gong. When we polled the jury, I was advised I looked like a bullshitter and tried to carve around issues, and I looked like someone who didn't believe his client (I didn't - my client was sleazy). The kid who whacked me connected with the jury, but he wasn't and never will be terribly smart in the way I'd measure a person to whom I was speaking socially. But in that room, who was smart? I think I was the dumb guy and he was pretty smart, even if he didn't know it.

Maybe he had a certain kind of smarts, or maybe he had a way of connecting with juries that really worked for him in that context.

'Another example would be something else I experienced first hand. In college, I played intramural football. I got A's in all my classes, but I was a mediocre football player. A teammate of mine was admitted to the school only because his mother donated a new student center; he drooled and stared out the window in glass and only answered to "Hey, Stupidface." But he was 6'7" and built like a truck, and he was a monster on the football field. His LinkedIn profile says he graduated and got an MBA from Yale and is now the Ambassador to the Seychelles. He wasn't and never will be terribly smart in the way that other people are, but on that football field, was he smart?'

No, but it sounds like he played football well.

If most things are becoming automated, and they are, and the value of what's traditionally considered "smart" is losing value, and it is, aren't we moving toward a world where "smart" and "effective" become synonyms, rather than opposed, as they have often been historically?

Not if we are going to be speaking English.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Not if we are going to be speaking English.

English is fluid. Definitions change over time. That's part of the point.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Maybe he had a certain kind of smarts,

This is another part of the point. It also admits fluidity in the definition.

[LessinSF]

l liked the letter until the don't be a fool bit, and I agree with his approach since.

Get our military out of intransigent, never-ending Middle East disputes about (and I can see Afghanistan and Iran from here, so my opinion carrys extra weight!) clan territory and whether 1300 years ago Abu Bakr or Ali ibn Abi Talib should have been the successor to a clininically insane, illiterate, ignorant pedophile. And use the power of our purse instead.

LessinBukhara, Uzbekistan

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

English is fluid. Definitions change over time. That's part of the point.

Patent attorneys can be their own lexicographer, but you'd need to take some classes to get there.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

I've since thought, "Fuck, this is like the 'If I had 10 divisions of those men...' speech given by Kurtz in Apocalypse Now (Hi, Ty!)."*
____
* Obviously, on a much lighter level. I do not think this distant relative is capable of war crimes. But maybe? Who knows... I'm always surprised these days.

Is this where I tell you I don't see any method at all?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by LessinSF

l liked the letter until the don't be a fool bit, and I agree with his approach since.

Apparently it pissed off Erdogan, so it didn't work very well.

And re his approach since -- to paraphrase someone else, is it a usual part of military operations to bomb your own ammunition depots after you hastily abandon them to keep them from falling into the hands of your NATO ally?

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Foreign independent contractor, all work performed abroad: Withholding is not required, so W-8 not needed? Or do I still have to get W-8 on file?

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

English is fluid. Definitions change over time. That's part of the point.

The destruction of words is a beautiful thing.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

"Moderate" Republican: we are in a mess, Trump is screwing our economy with these tariffs, he's let a bunch of ISIS terrorists loose, he's turned on our friends, comforted our enemies, and he's really pretty racist and disgusting to boot. And he and his kids look like they've filled their swimming pools with foreign money and are swimming in it. And all their emails and phone calls are insecure and on non-government servers! I wish we didn't have Trump.

Fox: But Joe Biden has a son who got a bunch of money for little work.

"Moderate" Republican: Oooh, reminds me of Hillary. I guess we have to vote for Trump again.

The Never Trump Dance

Please nominate a Democrat we can vote for!

No not that one.

Atrios

[Hank Chinaski]

As to intelligence, I screwed up and opened this thread about 20 pages back accidentally- silly me.

I started reading the sebby fight posts from all you all and it actually seemed to be part of the current argument.

The above paints a picture relative to intelligence. discuss.

[Replaced_Texan]

I don't really know how to process the ineptitude, corruption, blatant lies, and crazy bullshit that is coming out of the White House every other damned minute.

What the fuck are those idiots doing still there???

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

I don't really know how to process the ineptitude, corruption, blatant lies, and crazy bullshit that is coming out of the White House every other damned minute.

What the fuck are those idiots doing still there???

It’s going to be all about turnout: https://www.moodysanalytics.com/-/me...tion-model.pdf

Think of them as a group of Ron Burgundys without cue cards. Or people who just did a bunch of whip-its.

Folks in the Rust Belt don’t care what the Admin does as long as they think it might Bring ‘Merica back. Whether the Admin knows this or is just a pack of morons is immaterial. They can say anything and it’s just More Crazy.

“Trump said Erdogan is a secret lizard, and the moon landing was filmed by Stanley Kubrick!”

“Pass me the salt.”

“He sold Alaska to Argentina and Wilbur Ross took out a billion in naked CDS against the bonds!”

“I’ll have the red.”