3 ms·

> It's confirmed as common because I see it 20x a day on reddit and even in person when these issues come up in conversation. This sounds like a you problem...

by xracy 3y ago

> It's confirmed as common because I see it 20x a day on reddit and even in person when these issues come up in conversation. This sounds like a you problem... If everyone is "mischaracterizing" your statements, then you're not saying what you think you're saying. But given you're complaining about frequency from other people, the problem isn't "everyone else is bad at reading", it's "you're bad at communicating" The good news is that this is a human problem. Maybe take a look back at what you actually wrote, and try and think about how you could change it to better convey what you're trying to say.

swed420 3y ago
> This sounds like a you problem... If everyone is "mischaracterizing" your statements, then you're not saying what you think you're saying. It's not everyone though, just the majority, and though what you said could be true depending on circumstances, it isn't guaranteed to be. A sufficiently brainwashed or otherwise narrow minded person is going to skew their comprehension of statements that don't compute from their perspective. I do agree that it might be worthwhile for me to continue adjusting the presentation to help mitigate this, and I can assure you this process is an ongoing one. Sometimes it's easier said than done in a sea of mixed actors, including bad faith ones. Also even with a perfect wording, sometimes people find it's easier on their cognitive dissonance to just shoot the messenger anyway.
- xracy 3y ago
  > It's not everyone though, just the majority If the majority of people are misunderstanding what I'm saying, I'm a bad communicator. If your complaint is actually just that people misunderstand you, this is the only thing you can actually change in this equation. Your initial comment is not set up like a complaint of capitalism. No one communicating about the woes of capitalism also brings up "both sides." Most who makes an appeal to "both parties are bad" is making an appeal that it doesn't actually matter who they voted for in the last election. Oftentimes this means justifying an unpopular vote. It's not a useful thing to say "everyone is bad." Especially since, if the Overton Window shifted away from the GOP, I think it would greatly change the acceptability of ideas that would take away the power of capitalism. But the GOP has firmly rooted the Overton Window around the idea that "Capitalism == Good". If you doubt this, I would ask you to consider what the Overton Window of just the Democratic party is. It's not great, but there's 1000000x more acceptable policy than for whatever you get if you include the GOP.
  - swed420 3y ago
    lol if you don't think corpo Dems aren't in bed with capitalism then I have a bridge to sell you. Read Manufacturing Consent if you want an answer to your Overton window question and its longterm implications of inevitably ratcheting us rightward while being tricked into believing otherwise. > If your complaint is actually just that people misunderstand you, this is the only thing you can actually change in this equation. The lack of positive reception has more to do with how minds have been conditioned to reject these criticisms. Relevant: “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” https://medium.com/@nicholasadiaz7/introducing-mark-fisher-part-1-capitalist-realism-62e5a3861d53 https://medium.com/@nicholasadiaz7/introducing-mark-fisher-p...
    - xracy 3y ago
      > lol if you don't think corpo Dems aren't in bed with capitalism then I have a bridge to sell you. ^I'm curious which part of my comment makes you think I said this? It's not something I believe, and it's certainly not something I said. My only comment is that our ability to reign in capitalistic tendencies would be better if the Overton Window consisted of just the politics of the Democrats. This is mostly because the democratic party is a big tent party with a small number of representatives (AOC, Sanders, Omar, etc.) who I suspect would be willing to consider alternatives to capitalism. Find me that in the Republican party, and then we can talk about how "both sides" are the problem. Does this mean I think Pelosi/Biden have good political agendas? Not at all. But I'd really like to have the opportunity to replace them with someone better, and under the current political climate all of my options of "who to replace them with" are strictly worse.

by xracy 3y ago

swed420 3y ago

> This sounds like a you problem... If everyone is "mischaracterizing" your statements, then you're not saying what you think you're saying. It's not everyone though, just the majority, and though what you said could be true depending on circumstances, it isn't guaranteed to be. A sufficiently brainwashed or otherwise narrow minded person is going to skew their comprehension of statements that don't compute from their perspective. I do agree that it might be worthwhile for me to continue adjusting the presentation to help mitigate this, and I can assure you this process is an ongoing one. Sometimes it's easier said than done in a sea of mixed actors, including bad faith ones. Also even with a perfect wording, sometimes people find it's easier on their cognitive dissonance to just shoot the messenger anyway.

xracy 3y ago
> It's not everyone though, just the majority If the majority of people are misunderstanding what I'm saying, I'm a bad communicator. If your complaint is actually just that people misunderstand you, this is the only thing you can actually change in this equation. Your initial comment is not set up like a complaint of capitalism. No one communicating about the woes of capitalism also brings up "both sides." Most who makes an appeal to "both parties are bad" is making an appeal that it doesn't actually matter who they voted for in the last election. Oftentimes this means justifying an unpopular vote. It's not a useful thing to say "everyone is bad." Especially since, if the Overton Window shifted away from the GOP, I think it would greatly change the acceptability of ideas that would take away the power of capitalism. But the GOP has firmly rooted the Overton Window around the idea that "Capitalism == Good". If you doubt this, I would ask you to consider what the Overton Window of just the Democratic party is. It's not great, but there's 1000000x more acceptable policy than for whatever you get if you include the GOP.
- swed420 3y ago
  lol if you don't think corpo Dems aren't in bed with capitalism then I have a bridge to sell you. Read Manufacturing Consent if you want an answer to your Overton window question and its longterm implications of inevitably ratcheting us rightward while being tricked into believing otherwise. > If your complaint is actually just that people misunderstand you, this is the only thing you can actually change in this equation. The lack of positive reception has more to do with how minds have been conditioned to reject these criticisms. Relevant: “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” https://medium.com/@nicholasadiaz7/introducing-mark-fisher-part-1-capitalist-realism-62e5a3861d53 https://medium.com/@nicholasadiaz7/introducing-mark-fisher-p...
  - xracy 3y ago
    > lol if you don't think corpo Dems aren't in bed with capitalism then I have a bridge to sell you. ^I'm curious which part of my comment makes you think I said this? It's not something I believe, and it's certainly not something I said. My only comment is that our ability to reign in capitalistic tendencies would be better if the Overton Window consisted of just the politics of the Democrats. This is mostly because the democratic party is a big tent party with a small number of representatives (AOC, Sanders, Omar, etc.) who I suspect would be willing to consider alternatives to capitalism. Find me that in the Republican party, and then we can talk about how "both sides" are the problem. Does this mean I think Pelosi/Biden have good political agendas? Not at all. But I'd really like to have the opportunity to replace them with someone better, and under the current political climate all of my options of "who to replace them with" are strictly worse.