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Is there any way to reason with those that can't be reasoned with?
Has anyone ever met anyone running an HOA?
Fatalism
Reading about your take on fatalism all I can think about is how Jeff Goldblum's character in Independence Day took a fatalist attitude and decided to stop recycling until he had hope again. While it's just a superficial look at the psychology of fatalism, it's worth remembering that there is hope even if not everyone shares in the same vision. It is still worthwhile to strive and fight for what is good even if the odds seem against your cause - BRAVE J HAWK
Specifically when the odds might not be against you as much as you think.
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The duopoly only works because the identity of a Republican or a Democrat needs to encompass your whole worldview. The pandemic didn’t need to be political. Several Democratic governors made the dumbass statements as Trump in regards to Covid-19, but once the President dug in the lines had to be drawn in partisan media and the shouting satellite feeds got their talking points.
The research seems to support when we remove party identity from the policy polarization decreases considerably. - MIKE
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Your idea that "because of the actions of others, our sacrifices and beliefs mean less" is an interesting one, and I wonder if it might be contributing to what I see as a dangerous overreaction and dehumanizing of groups. Suddenly it's not just that this person believes differently than me, or is operating with different information than me, but their very existence is threatening what I value.
From there it's a pretty small step to "I must silence and destroy anyone that disagrees with even the smallest part of what I believe."
You see evidence for this all over the place, where someone is an ally until they have one original thought, and suddenly they too must be canceled.
People who live with that mindset can't handle others simply tolerating their lifestyle. It must be total affirmation and acceptance, or total destruction.
Is there a way to reason with someone who thinks that way? - ANDY
Yes, respect their opinion. Hear them out. Find out why they are so scared.
COVID
I'm one of these guys that gives MRNA the side-eye. One of my problems with it are the methods they use for re-assuring guys like me. I get that they need to simplify and to put things in layman's terms, but typically they say things like "No silly, It doesn't splice your DNA" well okay...I mean you're the one who brought up splicing DNA...but I guess not splicing DNA is...good. "It just sends a message to your cells." oh okay cool, messages seem harmless...I guess.
Being in the IT field I know how to reassure people with over-simplistic, calming BS. "It doesn't even penetrate the cell membrane, it just sends an instruction to your bodies cells to manufacture benign spike proteins" sounds a lot like "It didn't change the source code, it just injected an eensy-weensy little SQL query to add just a few extra records into the database." - KEN
When I was doing corporate team building every once in a while I’d run into a client who was really high strung. After a few years I realized that they calmed down the more I talked, no matter what I said, as long as I said it confidently and could quickly answer any question they had.
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I have a friend who's nervous about the mRNA vaccines so he's going to hold out for the J&J shot.
He has valid concerns. mRNA tech is brand new. Nobody knows what the long term effects will be when you vacinate a few billion people with a brand new type of vaccine no matter how well the clinical trials went.
But that's true of all medications. For instance, it seems to me over half the people I know are taking anti-depressants and/or anti-anxiety drugs, including me. Who knows what kind of unexpected side effects may occur over the next years or decades? - GARY
Journalism
I saw the headline, "New York will lose seat because 89 people didn't full out the Census." What an arrogant way to put it. Why not something more accurate, like "Andrew Cuomo kills 89 too many grandmas for New York to keep all its House seats?" Or, "Decades of punishing income earners forces out 89 too many evil, rich people?" Or, the way most places reported it, "New York was 89 people shy of retaining House seat." Of course, if you assume the error rate of (roughly) 0.000004 is constant, the Census would be short by more than 1,300 people, and New York still would have (likely) lost a seat. - JD
This is the kind of fatalism that drives me nuts. The “if we only cared…” narrative is designed to keep us upset at each other for some undefined reason.
HOAs
Who are these hoa people? I always hear them demonized. I never hear their defense of high fees and pointless regulations. Do HOA voting/governing members exist? - SEAN W
The defense is home values, which is all that home owners care about in between when they are bitching about the HOA. Basically, HOAs are the mods of the real estate world. Everyone hates the mods.
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