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>This is Ba Sing Se levels of delusion for some people. A reference I never expected to see on HN. It's insane, but then you realize that a significant portio

>This is Ba Sing Se levels of delusion for some people. A reference I never expected to see on HN. It's insane, but then you realize that a significant portion of the US population _still_ only watches television news media and refuses to spend extra time looking at other sources, like Twitter.

simonebrunozzi 6y ago
Neither you or the parent poster explained what "Ba Sing Se" is. I quickly discovered that it is a reference to a city in "The last Airbender" [0]. I don't want to watch three seasons of it just to understand the reference. A very obscure reference might deserve an explanation to make the remaining 99.9% of the readers able to understand what you mean. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender#Ba_Sing_Se https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender#Ba_...
- winrid 6y ago
  It's a city where the entire population lives in ignorance of a global 100-year war, due to corruption in the government (even king does not know). https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Conspiracy_of_Ba_Sing_Se https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Conspiracy_of_Ba_Sing_Se
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- MathCodeLove 6y ago
  Not really very obscure. It's an incredibly popular show and I would be willing to bed that at minimum 50% of coworkers would understand the reference. I don't think it's very difficult to use context to understand what's being said by the commenter.
  - hellofunk 6y ago
    > at minimum 50% of coworkers would understand the reference Quick spot check in my company's Slack channel -- One person in our team of 12 knew what the reference met.
  - watwut 6y ago
    I never heard of it. Like, this forum today is the first time I heard that show exists or reference.
  - _ph_ 6y ago
    I have never heard of it either - I am from Germany and probably the wrong age group. Ask me for any Muppet Show references :)
- spike021 6y ago
  While I get your point, there are a myriad of things I don’t understand that get posted and commented on here. Usually if I don’t know something, then it’s a good chance to look it up and learn something new. I think it’d be counter-productive if everyone who didn’t understand a reference or technical concept on here wrote a comment asking for a shortcut explanation rather than maybe five minutes Googling and maybe watching a quick YouTube video (in this case).
- bnjms 6y ago
  “There is no war in ba sing se” is the equivalent of the older phrase “we were never at war with Eurasia”. Which is now more obscure but likely better understood on HN. OP is saying you’d need to be incredibly delusional to deny police are brutal and there’s a problem.
  - dtech 6y ago
    With all due respect, 1984 has a much higher cultural impact and awareness than ATLA. The show isn't that well known outside of current 20-30 year olds.
    - dragontamer 6y ago
      Frankly... among my generation of roughly 30 year olds, I'd expect Avatar the Last Airbender to have higher cultural impact than 1984 (which was written in 1949). Most of us were forced to read 1984 and didn't really enjoy it. ATLA however, is something that we organically grew up with through high-school / college and actually paid attention to. My group of friends would be aware of 1984 concepts... such as "Big Brother is Watching" (phrases / concepts which have escaped the book and become a thing of their own). But I don't think we'd recognize the phrase "At War with Eurasia". Honestly, the only reason why I remember "At War with Eurasia" is because I was a quiz-bowl player and was forced to memorize key phrases from many books I barely read. Even if I did read 1984 in my high school classes, it never actually stuck with me.
      - Tainnor 6y ago
        Fun fact: as a kid in 8th grade or so, we were supposed to read and summarise a book for English class Most picked easy books, I picked 1984, probably out of a desire to be edgy. Little did I know that my level of English at the time was not enough for that book. The result is that, since I never went back and re-read the book, I kind of only half-read it because half of it I didn't really understand. :D I think I got the general idea of it though.
        6y ago
- bryanrasmussen 6y ago
  Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the greatest series ever made which also has the benefit that it can be understood by kids, so it's worth investing 3 seasons in anyway. I guess I'm in favor of obscure references, I think even if I hadn't understood I would think that must mean something really delusional.
  - shpongled 6y ago
    I will second this. Even at 27, it's one if my favorite shows, I've watched it all the way through multiple times. It has everything you could want, with the side benefit of being incredibly wholesome and having a wonderful message.
Kiro 6y ago
Why unexpected? The Last Airbender is as mainstream as NCIS today.
- adjkant 6y ago
  In fairness, that happened for many quickly over the past month or two as it hit Netflix. A good deal of people still don't know much/anything about ATLA.
- aendruk 6y ago
  Not sure that helps much; I’ve never heard of NCIS. Some people just don’t spend their time watching TV.
  - Kiro 6y ago
    That's fine but considering NCIS is the most watched TV show of 2019 I'm sure it holds as a reference for "mainstream". Edit: I know downvote edits are frowned up but... I need to ask: why are people downvoting this? Do you not think NCIS is good example of a mainstream show?
    - bilegeek 6y ago
      Is that for one show, or the entire franchise? There's three shows; the original (16 years old and still going, wow!), Los Angeles and New Orleans.
      - Kiro 6y ago
        https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/most-popular-tv-shows-highest-rated-2019-2020-season-masked-singer-last-dance-1234612885/ https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/most-popular-tv-shows-highe... Looks like the original show only (at #2, after NFL). New Orleans is at #22 and Los Angeles at #28.
    - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
      Due to the glut of content available today, viewership is fractured. It doesn't take much to be the "most watched TV show" any more, just like it doesn't actually take many sales to top the music charts. Something can hold a record for viewership while still being something that most of the population (or most of a subculture like us here) remain oblivious to. Also, HN is a global community, and even though many television shows are watched internationally, their impact on pop culture overall can be drastically different. So, you can't assume a major show in your country will be readily recognized by your fellow nerds in another country.
keith___talent 6y ago
So the absolute truth is on Twitter? How significant is the portion of uninformed Americans? If an American watches TV news and reads Twitter are they half informed? WTF is your point: blame others, hate others, downvoting to remove a disparaging opinion. Do you feel powerful? You might be the cop.
- spike021 6y ago
  >refuses to spend extra time looking at other sources, like Twitter. Twitter as another resource was an example. But yes, you can look on Twitter and find many different perspectives about a topic. I would think someone who knows how to spend some time understanding multiple perspectives of an issue knows how to look in many different places for them. As far as the rest of your comment, I think you're going way off-base here. Sorry.
EasyTiger_ 6y ago
Twitter as some source of truth, really?
cameronbrown 6y ago
> refuses to spend extra time looking at other sources, like Twitter. I don't blame them, Twitter is it's own special hell and widely regarded as a bubble.
- AsyncAwait 6y ago
  Agreed, but it's not like cable TV isn't a bubble of its own.
secondcoming 6y ago
Twitter!? That cesspool is full of bots and trolls.
jsmonkey 6y ago
Twitter is probably the worst medium for developing a balanced, well-educated view of anything. Americans don't need more fast-paced social media, they need quality education and journalism that covers all sides of these issues. But of course that's not going to happen. For modern people with attention span of a goldfish it's too much of an effort to read long texts - thus they'll just keep watching the news, or reading short, one-sided tweets full of hate.
lazyjones 6y ago
What is the value in going on Twitter and actively looking for information that confirms your bias? This is what most people, of all political inclinations, are doing.
- smaddox 6y ago
  It seems like you're suggesting mainstream news sources are somehow different? Personally I prefer the explicit bias of individuals on Twitter, than the implicit bias of mainstream news sources.
  - lazyjones 6y ago
    Mainstream media's bias is no more implicit than that of many individuals on Twitter (e.g. celebrities) and at least my time is better spent reading about a subject on selected media that span a wide political spectrum. But there is a risk: you might get the impression that mainstream media reporting is disturbingly inaccurate, on all sides.

simonebrunozzi 6y ago

Neither you or the parent poster explained what "Ba Sing Se" is. I quickly discovered that it is a reference to a city in "The last Airbender" [0]. I don't want to watch three seasons of it just to understand the reference. A very obscure reference might deserve an explanation to make the remaining 99.9% of the readers able to understand what you mean. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender#Ba_Sing_Se https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender#Ba_...

winrid 6y ago
It's a city where the entire population lives in ignorance of a global 100-year war, due to corruption in the government (even king does not know). https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Conspiracy_of_Ba_Sing_Se https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Conspiracy_of_Ba_Sing_Se
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
MathCodeLove 6y ago
Not really very obscure. It's an incredibly popular show and I would be willing to bed that at minimum 50% of coworkers would understand the reference. I don't think it's very difficult to use context to understand what's being said by the commenter.
- hellofunk 6y ago
  > at minimum 50% of coworkers would understand the reference Quick spot check in my company's Slack channel -- One person in our team of 12 knew what the reference met.
- watwut 6y ago
  I never heard of it. Like, this forum today is the first time I heard that show exists or reference.
- _ph_ 6y ago
  I have never heard of it either - I am from Germany and probably the wrong age group. Ask me for any Muppet Show references :)
spike021 6y ago
While I get your point, there are a myriad of things I don’t understand that get posted and commented on here. Usually if I don’t know something, then it’s a good chance to look it up and learn something new. I think it’d be counter-productive if everyone who didn’t understand a reference or technical concept on here wrote a comment asking for a shortcut explanation rather than maybe five minutes Googling and maybe watching a quick YouTube video (in this case).
bnjms 6y ago
“There is no war in ba sing se” is the equivalent of the older phrase “we were never at war with Eurasia”. Which is now more obscure but likely better understood on HN. OP is saying you’d need to be incredibly delusional to deny police are brutal and there’s a problem.
- dtech 6y ago
  With all due respect, 1984 has a much higher cultural impact and awareness than ATLA. The show isn't that well known outside of current 20-30 year olds.
  - dragontamer 6y ago
    Frankly... among my generation of roughly 30 year olds, I'd expect Avatar the Last Airbender to have higher cultural impact than 1984 (which was written in 1949). Most of us were forced to read 1984 and didn't really enjoy it. ATLA however, is something that we organically grew up with through high-school / college and actually paid attention to. My group of friends would be aware of 1984 concepts... such as "Big Brother is Watching" (phrases / concepts which have escaped the book and become a thing of their own). But I don't think we'd recognize the phrase "At War with Eurasia". Honestly, the only reason why I remember "At War with Eurasia" is because I was a quiz-bowl player and was forced to memorize key phrases from many books I barely read. Even if I did read 1984 in my high school classes, it never actually stuck with me.
    - Tainnor 6y ago
      Fun fact: as a kid in 8th grade or so, we were supposed to read and summarise a book for English class Most picked easy books, I picked 1984, probably out of a desire to be edgy. Little did I know that my level of English at the time was not enough for that book. The result is that, since I never went back and re-read the book, I kind of only half-read it because half of it I didn't really understand. :D I think I got the general idea of it though.
      - 6y ago
bryanrasmussen 6y ago
Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of the greatest series ever made which also has the benefit that it can be understood by kids, so it's worth investing 3 seasons in anyway. I guess I'm in favor of obscure references, I think even if I hadn't understood I would think that must mean something really delusional.
- shpongled 6y ago
  I will second this. Even at 27, it's one if my favorite shows, I've watched it all the way through multiple times. It has everything you could want, with the side benefit of being incredibly wholesome and having a wonderful message.

Kiro 6y ago

Why unexpected? The Last Airbender is as mainstream as NCIS today.

adjkant 6y ago
In fairness, that happened for many quickly over the past month or two as it hit Netflix. A good deal of people still don't know much/anything about ATLA.
aendruk 6y ago
Not sure that helps much; I’ve never heard of NCIS. Some people just don’t spend their time watching TV.
- Kiro 6y ago
  That's fine but considering NCIS is the most watched TV show of 2019 I'm sure it holds as a reference for "mainstream". Edit: I know downvote edits are frowned up but... I need to ask: why are people downvoting this? Do you not think NCIS is good example of a mainstream show?
  - bilegeek 6y ago
    Is that for one show, or the entire franchise? There's three shows; the original (16 years old and still going, wow!), Los Angeles and New Orleans.
    - Kiro 6y ago
      https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/most-popular-tv-shows-highest-rated-2019-2020-season-masked-singer-last-dance-1234612885/ https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/most-popular-tv-shows-highe... Looks like the original show only (at #2, after NFL). New Orleans is at #22 and Los Angeles at #28.
  - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
    Due to the glut of content available today, viewership is fractured. It doesn't take much to be the "most watched TV show" any more, just like it doesn't actually take many sales to top the music charts. Something can hold a record for viewership while still being something that most of the population (or most of a subculture like us here) remain oblivious to. Also, HN is a global community, and even though many television shows are watched internationally, their impact on pop culture overall can be drastically different. So, you can't assume a major show in your country will be readily recognized by your fellow nerds in another country.

keith___talent 6y ago

So the absolute truth is on Twitter? How significant is the portion of uninformed Americans? If an American watches TV news and reads Twitter are they half informed? WTF is your point: blame others, hate others, downvoting to remove a disparaging opinion. Do you feel powerful? You might be the cop.

spike021 6y ago
>refuses to spend extra time looking at other sources, like Twitter. Twitter as another resource was an example. But yes, you can look on Twitter and find many different perspectives about a topic. I would think someone who knows how to spend some time understanding multiple perspectives of an issue knows how to look in many different places for them. As far as the rest of your comment, I think you're going way off-base here. Sorry.

EasyTiger_ 6y ago

Twitter as some source of truth, really?

cameronbrown 6y ago

> refuses to spend extra time looking at other sources, like Twitter. I don't blame them, Twitter is it's own special hell and widely regarded as a bubble.

AsyncAwait 6y ago
Agreed, but it's not like cable TV isn't a bubble of its own.

secondcoming 6y ago

Twitter!? That cesspool is full of bots and trolls.

jsmonkey 6y ago

Twitter is probably the worst medium for developing a balanced, well-educated view of anything. Americans don't need more fast-paced social media, they need quality education and journalism that covers all sides of these issues. But of course that's not going to happen. For modern people with attention span of a goldfish it's too much of an effort to read long texts - thus they'll just keep watching the news, or reading short, one-sided tweets full of hate.

lazyjones 6y ago

What is the value in going on Twitter and actively looking for information that confirms your bias? This is what most people, of all political inclinations, are doing.

smaddox 6y ago
It seems like you're suggesting mainstream news sources are somehow different? Personally I prefer the explicit bias of individuals on Twitter, than the implicit bias of mainstream news sources.
- lazyjones 6y ago
  Mainstream media's bias is no more implicit than that of many individuals on Twitter (e.g. celebrities) and at least my time is better spent reading about a subject on selected media that span a wide political spectrum. But there is a risk: you might get the impression that mainstream media reporting is disturbingly inaccurate, on all sides.