4 ms·

I tend to believe that the "stupidest" beliefs that apparently large percentages of US Citizens have are more a form of rebellious performance art. Like, if yo

I tend to believe that the "stupidest" beliefs that apparently large percentages of US Citizens have are more a form of rebellious performance art. Like, if you ask the population if they believe if Trump is currently, secretly, President, some percentage will say they believe it. But I think the actual percentage is far lower; it's just polluted with an ever-growing number of people that are lying about their beliefs just to be obstinate. Then it becomes like a game of chicken to see how far you can take it, how long can you insist on the belief before you crack. And ultimately at some point the difference doesn't really matter. (In high school, I started saying "Spiffy!" ironically, and kept saying it, and then there came a point where it didn't matter I meant it ironically, I was just the guy that said "Spiffy!")

wyre 5y ago
Hanlon's Razor - Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity
- worik 5y ago
  Performance art is not stupidity. Culture jamming is not stupidity
  - IAmEveryone 5y ago
    Stupid performance art is, tautologically, stupidity. So I guess it depends? Flat earth isn't especially harmful, except in undermining trust in science, institutions, and your fellow citizen with absolutely no discernible purpose. The term for "culture jamming" when it is only disruptive is "trolling".
    - worik 5y ago
      How can there be "stupid performance art"? Performance at that I do not like, yes, tat exists.....
katzgrau 5y ago
This is closer to my opinion of flat earthers. It pisses people off and that's hilarious so keep saying you believe it. You probably don't believe it but who cares anyway. I sometimes argue the opposite of what I believe if I'm dealing with someone who's getting way too worked up over it. I kind of like the mental exercise of defending an opinion I don't agree with and the entertainment that goes with it.
- Nursie 5y ago
  I think there are likely at least two flavours of flat earther, the ones you describe and the true believers.
BLKNSLVR 5y ago
> a form of rebellious performance art Theory: Describing it as performance art could be personally offensive enough to said people that they may stop the activity that has become described as performance art. Along the lines of "wow, how did you manage to keep a straight face the whole time?" > (In high school, I started saying "Spiffy!" ironically, and kept saying it, and then there came a point where it didn't matter I meant it ironically, I was just the guy that said "Spiffy!") I started saying 'ta ta' instead of 'seeya' or 'bye' in an ironic effort to be posh, and then one day I realised that 'ta ta' had become my default goodbye. Having had this experience of irony becoming reality does make that 'game of chicken' seem like a plausible reality for the greater populace.
Nursie 5y ago
> there came a point where it didn't matter I meant it ironically, I was just the guy that said "Spiffy!" About 10 years ago I was in a clothes shop in London looking at jeans. There were a couple of younger guys, early 20s maybe, looking as well. One of them held up some bright pink jeans and asked his friend "do you think I could get away with wearing these ironically?" What flashed through my head was "You'll still be the guy wearing pink jeans. If you like pink jeans, buy the pink jeans, wear them and be happy...". Irony is not visible to observers!
odessacubbage 5y ago
i may be misremembering didn't the flat earth movement pretty much spawn from obama invoking a comment about 'the flat earth society' in regards to climate change policy? i always took it as a political middle finger that also happened to attract a few sad true believers who get tracked down for any documentary on the subject.
- cookie_monsta 5y ago
  No, these people have been around forever. The big change was that the internet helped them find each other.
DonHopkins 5y ago
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/13719-we-are-what-we-pretend-to-be-so-we-must https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/13719-we-are-what-we-preten... "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." -Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Popehat%27s%20Law%20of%20Goats https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Popehat%27s%... Popehat's Law of Goats: He who fucks goats, either as part of a performance or to troll those he deems has overly delicate sensibilities is simply, a goatfucker. He claimed he was just pretending to be racist to trigger the social justice warriors, but even if he is telling the truth, Popehat's Law of Goats still applies.
- aeternum 5y ago
  Unfortunately this is a similar mentality to that which can cause kids of one race to not hang out with kids of another race.
  - DonHopkins 5y ago
    I have absolutely no idea what you're getting at, or what you could possibly mean by that vague statement. What mentality is that, and why would kids act that way? Can you explicitly explain what you mean, and provide some citations, please?
  - tunesmith 5y ago
    I don't follow, at all. Can you explain?

wyre 5y ago

Hanlon's Razor - Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity

worik 5y ago
Performance art is not stupidity. Culture jamming is not stupidity
- IAmEveryone 5y ago
  Stupid performance art is, tautologically, stupidity. So I guess it depends? Flat earth isn't especially harmful, except in undermining trust in science, institutions, and your fellow citizen with absolutely no discernible purpose. The term for "culture jamming" when it is only disruptive is "trolling".
  - worik 5y ago
    How can there be "stupid performance art"? Performance at that I do not like, yes, tat exists.....

katzgrau 5y ago

This is closer to my opinion of flat earthers. It pisses people off and that's hilarious so keep saying you believe it. You probably don't believe it but who cares anyway. I sometimes argue the opposite of what I believe if I'm dealing with someone who's getting way too worked up over it. I kind of like the mental exercise of defending an opinion I don't agree with and the entertainment that goes with it.

Nursie 5y ago
I think there are likely at least two flavours of flat earther, the ones you describe and the true believers.

BLKNSLVR 5y ago

> a form of rebellious performance art Theory: Describing it as performance art could be personally offensive enough to said people that they may stop the activity that has become described as performance art. Along the lines of "wow, how did you manage to keep a straight face the whole time?" > (In high school, I started saying "Spiffy!" ironically, and kept saying it, and then there came a point where it didn't matter I meant it ironically, I was just the guy that said "Spiffy!") I started saying 'ta ta' instead of 'seeya' or 'bye' in an ironic effort to be posh, and then one day I realised that 'ta ta' had become my default goodbye. Having had this experience of irony becoming reality does make that 'game of chicken' seem like a plausible reality for the greater populace.

Nursie 5y ago

> there came a point where it didn't matter I meant it ironically, I was just the guy that said "Spiffy!" About 10 years ago I was in a clothes shop in London looking at jeans. There were a couple of younger guys, early 20s maybe, looking as well. One of them held up some bright pink jeans and asked his friend "do you think I could get away with wearing these ironically?" What flashed through my head was "You'll still be the guy wearing pink jeans. If you like pink jeans, buy the pink jeans, wear them and be happy...". Irony is not visible to observers!

odessacubbage 5y ago

i may be misremembering didn't the flat earth movement pretty much spawn from obama invoking a comment about 'the flat earth society' in regards to climate change policy? i always took it as a political middle finger that also happened to attract a few sad true believers who get tracked down for any documentary on the subject.

cookie_monsta 5y ago
No, these people have been around forever. The big change was that the internet helped them find each other.

DonHopkins 5y ago

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/13719-we-are-what-we-pretend-to-be-so-we-must https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/13719-we-are-what-we-preten... "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." -Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Popehat%27s%20Law%20of%20Goats https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Popehat%27s%... Popehat's Law of Goats: He who fucks goats, either as part of a performance or to troll those he deems has overly delicate sensibilities is simply, a goatfucker. He claimed he was just pretending to be racist to trigger the social justice warriors, but even if he is telling the truth, Popehat's Law of Goats still applies.

aeternum 5y ago
Unfortunately this is a similar mentality to that which can cause kids of one race to not hang out with kids of another race.
- DonHopkins 5y ago
  I have absolutely no idea what you're getting at, or what you could possibly mean by that vague statement. What mentality is that, and why would kids act that way? Can you explicitly explain what you mean, and provide some citations, please?
- tunesmith 5y ago
  I don't follow, at all. Can you explain?