Spend hours, maybe dozens, maybe hundreds of hours establishing your data on a particular platform, have them insert a sentence in the "TOS" some random month, and "If you don't like it, don't use it!"
Most companies make it all but impractical for anyone without massive amounts of free time to "switch if you don't like it". This is completely on-purpose, and it has the effect of locking people into whatever the changes are. Not just Plex, but thing Microsoft & Apple. They make changes to platforms people have many thousands of dollars invested in, only to tell them "If you don't like it, switch."
Then, predictably, you have the group of users which champion the company's line... hey everyone, don't like it, switch... bait & switch is completely legitimate in 2017 for some. I mean, it's not like you could have made an educated decision before using the product, which is far more in line with what the "Free Market" has in mind. Not, making the "free choice" encumbers the decider with countless hours of countless dollars to reject changes they don't agree with.
Which is just the way the companies like it.
Then, after spending years barking at people to “Switch if you don’t like it!”, you wake up one morning and realize that there’s no one left to switch to; that every single company in the industry now has the exact same policies.
It’s at this point that the argument evolves to: “If you don’t like it, don’t use it!”
After all, nobody really NEEDS a computer. Or a cellphone. Or the internet. Or refrigeration or shoes for that matter. Or, probably one of truest of all claims videos to watch for entertainment.
If you want something, agree to the terms, no matter how nefarious they may be, regardless of when they are instituted. This ameliorates all notions of competition and free market dynamics, but those concepts are for queers anyway.
Give in, or stare out the window all day and do nothing.
The Unites States of America in 2017. Pining for the good old days is an oft-repeated thing, and proven to by a myth in many cases, but whether it’s reality or just my perception, things sure do feel different these days.
More and more entities make it clear that they could not care less what their users want. If someone feels strongly enough about wanting to disable data collection, they should be allowed to restrict it, of course. It's understandable that people should feel suspicious about these things. After all, isn't it what we all advise them to be?
"Be concerned about your personal privacy!", we yell at people every day, while expecting them to flawlessly determine which violations are acceptable and not acceptable.
It's a pretty tall order, and when in doubt, turning off data collection across the board is the sensible thing to do. After all, keeping up with ever-changing TOS and user "Agreements" is, at this point, patently impossible... and you never know when their data collection policies are going to change. We've all seen 1,000 times promises made, only to be broken later when the company is purchased, partnered, etc.
The left ascribes the same white privilege to janitors that they do to corporate CEOs. This, I believe, is the true evil behind their dogma. Affluent whites seek to scapegoat poor whites for their sins ad-nauseum.
Look at climate change. Progressives take more flights each year, fly more miles, use significantly more energy overall than do “conservatives", and who do they point the finger at for causing climate change?
Everyone else but nobody more than “conservative” whites.
The Confederate Flag and the Democratic Party were synonymous in the 1800’s, but Democrats claim that anyone flying the confederate flag is a racist, but hey, vote Democrat! That was then, this is now, you see but the flag is still a symbol of hate whereas the Democratic Party is pure as the driven snow! It is the party that birthed the KKK after all, not to mention, the party which tried to oppress blacks until the 1960s (and some say still do, look at what’s happened to the black standard of living since Democrats started “advocating” for them).
Both Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama were publicly against gay marriage for the vast majority of their lives. Hilary was anti-gay marriage into her 60s. Yes, “progressives” twice voted for Obama when he was against gay marriage.
Literally, one year after voting in a man who was against gay marriage, they began boycotting working-class people for expressing the very same opinion as the people they elected to run the country!
Never having to even even ATTEMPT to make your actions match your words Now THAT’S what I call affluent white privilege, and it’s something that most people in this country will never know.
It’s still way better to be black and rich, or ANYTHING and rich, than poor and white in this country, and that’s because classism is America’s new bile bigotry.
White privilege my aching asshole, it’s affluent white privilege and nothing else. Always has been, always will be, but the party of evil narcissists will never stop trying to oppress SOMEONE. Discrimination is what the entire party was founded on.
Pay no attention to those rich white millionaire Democrats in Congress be afraid of the trailer-dwelling auto mechanic, though!
I'm not sure how they sleep at night, but it probably has something to do with never having their opinions challenged in their echo chambers. When a bunch of evil assholes all agree to call themselves righteous, it doesn't take long until they actually start believing it, and start dehumanizing all who are not them.
Aw, heck, they confiscated everyone's table salt and bread too. No, wait. No they didn't.
Even today, it's not terribly easy to find 24K gold in American jewelry stores, as "14 Carat Gold" has supplanted it in the minds of Americans, because for the longest time, that's all you could legally buy.
Gold has been premium currency since biblical times, just like the Federal Reserve Note. Wait, make that UNLIKE the US Dollar. Fiat currencies come and fiat currencies go, but gold is the only one that's survived for thousands of years, and maintains significant value even today. It's why untold numbers of people risked their lives to obtain it in our own country during the Gold Rush.
The anger if the poor black children who grow up in the ghetto. They are uneducated, and sometimes turn to crime and violence, but I never call them stupid or criminal. That would be racist and intolerant. Instead, I seek to understand.
Poor white people with wrong views disgust me, though. Those kids who grow up in trailers with racist, alcoholic fathers. They should know better. They should somehow, someway, know what I know, and they should speak like well-educated affluent suburban white kids. There is no excuse for poor white unpopular views. Regardless of income or background, people should go to good colleges, and learn what their professors have to say. Like I did. If they don't, I just think they're racist slime, and it's all their fault for not giving themselves the same opportunities that I had. Those poor who grew up in entirely different environments from me just make me so mad, and I have NO tolerance for any of them.
That's what makes me tolerant. And diverse. That's right, I said hello to a black guy in the hall the other day, so I'm both tolerant and diverse.
When you have the right opinions. When I march against hate, it's common knowlege that I'm marching against your hate. Not my hate. My hate is divine. Why? Because I'm me. You're not me, though. So your hate is bad. My hate is tolerance and diversity. I know this because everyone I know says so. We all say and think the same things. If that's not diversity, then I don't know what is.
No, really, the world would be a better place if you all were like me. Most, strike that, all of the world's problems are caused by people who are not like me. People who aren't me, or aren't very, very similar to me, are bad. I know this because ever since I was two, my parents told me that I was special. Believe them? Of course I believed them, why would they lie? I mean, I'm pretty sure somebody would have told me by now if I wasn't special. Besides the conservatives who weren't born in affluent suburbs like me. They don't count anyway. Heck, they're barely even human. I hold all the right positions, and I'm not afraid to express them when it's risk-free, either when I have numbers or online. I like being special. You should be special to. You should be like me. All of my friends are like me. Everyone should be like me. Everyone should be exactly like me. Diverse and tolerant.
Say the gentrifiers, who have gentrified every black life out of inner-Seattle. "Climate Change is the issue or our generation!", then tell us in the next breath.
What does the evidence say?
Well, it says that self-identified progessives take more flights, and fly more miles each year than their non-progressive counterparts. Sea-Tac just saw it's busiest year ever. Why, the precious dewdrops are flying back home for the holidays as I type this and, oh boy, Daddy got them the latest iThing straight from the best Chinese sweatshops the world has ever seen! Woo-hoo!
Oh yes, but um, ah-hem, Climate Change is bad, shame on you, shame on you! Shame on all of your poors who had to go into the military instead of getting a free ride to the college of your choice from mommy and daddy. If only you'd come from a slightly wealthier background, you too could pollute with impugnity, while still holding yourselves about the people who pollute less than you do. Now THAT's white privilege, and let me tell you, it ain't you local janitor's white privilege.
No, this is 1000x times better. It's affluent white privilege, and it's SPECTACULAR.
So don't forget, Climate Change, gay marriage, transgender rights, oh and, gender isn't binary even though there are only two chromosomal configurations, XX and XY.
Wait, you believe the science that says there are only two chromosomal genders?
Barbarians!
But what's this, you DON'T believe the science that says the earth is warming?!
BARBARIANS!
We don't have to be consistent. We have affluent white privilege, we live in The Bubble, and it's awesome. Just awesome.
The generation which gleefully tells anyone who will listen that they are "too selfish to have children", desperately, DESPERATELY cares about the climate my great-grandchild will be exposed to.
Makes perfect sense.
I mean, every day I walk to work, and I see the good progressive people of Seattle step over homeless folks, offering nary a look. But these same people care very, very, very passionately about the weather homeless people will have to endure in 50 years.
Either that, or they desperately want to be part of the group which has all of the disposable income, and makes all the movies, and which staffs all the keen professorships, and carries Macbooks around... we're herd animals and we'll believe damn-near anything to belong.
Nah, they care about my grandchildren. That's what I believe. No, really, I do. It makes the most sense.
People who believe the scientific studies which find differences among races are bad people. People who believe the studies that show that women have lessor geospatial abilities than man are bad people. People who don't believe the studies that show the earth is warming are CRAZY MORONS WHO DSERVE TO SUFFER! I mean, who wouldn't believe the science? It's SCIENCE! You can't refute SCIENCE! I mean, unless you don't like what it says.
How can smart people be such hypocrites?
Narcissism.
That, and amen corners. People can self-select news now, which makes them more convinced than ever that they are not only right, but also divinely self-riteous.
And of course, everyone else is evil. Pure evil. And stupid. And ignorant. And whatever else amen corners tell each other to keep the amen corner going. Amen corners feel good. Science even says so.
Understand so little about human nature. It truly is. You, the educated class, the best and brightest of this planet, most likely, are every bit as delusional as the "ignorant rednecks" you are ostensibly superior to. You've spent so much time in amen corners that you have lost the ability to see the extraordinary hypocrisy in your positions. All you do is point the finger elsewhere, because no one you actually know every holds you to account.
Look, if climate change is the issue of our time, then stop driving. Stop flying. See, it's not just about what everyone else should do. Did you know that self-identifying "progressives" take more flights, and fly more miles each year the those who consider themselves to be conservative.
Yet, everytime the climate change issue comes up, there are "progressives", wagging their fingers at the lessor polluting group, swearing the whole thing is caused by their non-belief.
Why do they need to believe, though? If everyone who believed on global warming stopped driving and flying, it would go a long way toward slowing down said warming. You don't want to hear that, though, do you? You all have a endless stream of snark for those who dare blame you for the problem.
See, I don't own a car, and "progressives" seem disappointed when they hear that. They certain never thank me for living their values when they can't. They could not care less how little I pollute, they still criticize me for not talking the talk. I could drive a Hummer and commute by Space Shuttle, but as long as I was saying all the right things, I'd be a-okay with the climate change proponents.
People's actions simply don't match their supposed fear, and actions are more honest than words.
The sole purpose of the climate change debate is to give affluent progressives means with which to differentiate themselves from the tragically-unhip white working class. The last decade has seen an endless stream of "progressive" moral panic. "Oh no, it's called a civil union and not marriage", "Oh no, gender is not binary, even though XX and XY are the only documented chromosomal configurations found in humans (two, by definition, is binary)","oh no, transgender people have to choose a bathroom instead of having a third option", and of course, "oh no, the kid from the trailer park who had to go into the miltary after high school doesn't believe what my UW professor says about Climate Change! My god, isn't he lame? Man, the poor folks are so lame! Unlike me! I'm good. I learned all the right things to say to get attaboys from the ruling class!"
Tomorrow, it will be something else.
It's full-blown brainwashing, only this time, it's the "educated" class who are the victims.
If you care about climate change, forget about the people that don't care about it. Statistically speaking, you and your believer peers pollute WAY more than they do. Clean up your own acts, then maybe, maybe, worry about the stubborn working-class. Judging from the cars on the road and the airplanes flying into "progressive" Seattle, you're going to have your work cut out for you.
Assuming it's actually about the climate, which we all know, and let's face it, we ALL know... climate is the last thing most of you care about. Regardless of whatever snark you come up with to justify your own behavior, every piece of existing evident supports what I just said. You guys pollute more than anyone.
Yeah, and it has nothing to do with Apple being paid $100 to "identify" developers, nor getting a 30% cut of all product sold. Nothing! It has NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH IT! Don't you understand, Apple loves you! Apples loves me! They died for your sins and only want wants best for us. Why must you resist? Why must people always resist that which is best for them? Corporate America knows. It knows what it best for you. You just don't deserve their love. Heathens.
Can you believe these people? They don't think that everyone should have to pay $100 to Apple to have their programs run on the platform. As if anyone would want to run software written by a bunch of poors!
Hey Grandpa, I bet you don't even tithe to the church, do ya? Well, we pay 30% to our God for each and every product we sell, and we like it that way! After all, we're the generation with more of daddy's money than ever, and were taught young and taught often that corporate slavery was the true path to happiness. We didn't just buy it, we turned it into a lifestyle!
Get with the program, gramps, Appleness is next to Godliness, and if you don't wanna fall in line, get to stepping with the other relics who think they own their computers. As for us, well, I gotta tell ya, taking it up the dumper from the corporate cock ain't as bad as it sounds.
Apple loves you. Apple loves me. Apple died for your sins. And this is how you thank them!
Retire already and let us get on the corporate fascism without all your naysaying micoaggressions!
I live in Seattle, Washington. We were told that this fall/winter would be drier than average due to El Nino. They couldn't say how much, exactly, but all of the trends and statistical analysis definitely pointed to a drier 6 months. This was the official long-term forecast of the very best, expert meteorologists we have, both local and national. It ended up being the wettest on record.
If you don't believe that these same people can accurately forecast the general trends 50 years from now, however, you're an "idiot". A "moron" even. A redneck, probably poor, but definitely, oh DEFINTELY unfashionable.
I got called similar things last week during a discussion about gender issues. Before class began, a group of UW Students informed me that gender was a 100% social construct, and had no basis in science whatsoever. I do not exaggerate, this was, verbatim, their claim. When I mentioned chromosomes being the primary thing that determines gender, they called me, well you know... they ridiculed me.
Then, one of them said something like "I bet you don't believe in climate change either!"
Taking you figure as read, and the fact that economists predict the cost of adapting to be approximately 5-10 times the cost of mitigating the risk so we don't face significant change, under you alternative plan (of doing nothing) 10 billion people will die.
Wha... ?
So, if homeslice buys carbon offsets (or whatever it is that you're advocating that he do), those 10 billion people will be immortal?
How is that going to happen?
I really hate to be the bearer of this news, but those 10 Billion people are going to die regardless of what he does. Damn-near all of them within the next 80 years. 100% of them eventually.
Couldn't he just as easily say that if people do what you're suggesting, 50 Billion people die? Because it's factually 100% true. They eventually will.
If you're goal is preventing people from dying, well, let's just say that you're going to need to look a lot further than climate.
The more affluent one is, the more likely they are to be concerned about global warming. The more affluent one is, the more energy one is likely to use.
If you believe in climate change, yet still drive anywhere other than work, or fly for any reason other than to support yourself, I don't really see how you can in good conscience look at anyone else. You haven't done all that YOU can do yet. Until you have, I don't care what you're cop-outs are, people are not going to listen to you. And that's the problem. Climate change is everyone else's fault. Always.
It's not the environmentalists criss-crossing the world in private jets to attend climate change conferences. Oh no. No no. Perish the thought. Academia's farts don't stink, nor do their vehicles emit pollution. Instead, they emit magic pixie dust. It's those gosh-darn working-class and unfashionable other-party industries.
Would you believe the Democrats take more annual airplane flights than Republicans, as well as fly more miles? Shhhhhhhhh. I won't tell if you don't. Those gosh-darn working-class southerners and their oil farmers whose products the liberal elite use more than anyone!
I do not own a car, nor have a flow in over 10 years. So, you'd think the climate change proponents would love me, right? Nope. They could not care less what my carbon footprint is (the bottom 1% of all Americans). Could not care less. They are upset because I don't talk about climate change and parrot their views.
Any you wonder why it doesn't get better?
It's because its most vocal advocates are insincere. Think about it. The people who are "too selfish" to have kids (their words), care deeply about what happens to the planet once they're dead and buried.
Why?
Why would they do that?
Why would proud, openly-selfish people give a damn about the well-being of people 10 generations from now? Generations they will not even be contributing to?
Well, they wouldn't care. They only reason they'd give a damn about global warming, were if it somehow benefitted them to pretend to give a damn about it.
Oh, but not you, though. You care so much about the people who will be alive 100 years from now because that's just who you are as a human being.
Okay, what about the homeless we have living on the streets today? We have more than enough money in this country to house everyone. Why do some people care more about climate discomfort when they no longer exist, than the do about needy people right now? Why do you always need to wait for a bandwagon to care about a problem? Why do you always wait until it brings you kudos and pats on the head before getting worked up about an issue? There are so many worthy issues not in the public eye right now, can you name three of them?
Why, exactly, do we need consensus on climate change when the affluent-class could make a HUGE difference just by themselves? IF everyone who believes that climate change was an issue, stopped driving and flying tomorrow, that would in and of itself, if not solve it, make great strides.
But they don't. Instead, they say it's your fault, or their fault, or someone's fault, then they fly home for mom's pumpkin pie. Yummy!
What you are witnessing is yet another ruling-class, neo-puritan moral-panic. It's not about climate change, it's about them. If you want to know what people really care about, pay no attention to what they say. Instead, watch what they do.
If you do, you will come to the conclusion that those who actually care about it talk less and do more.
It's not about what you do, though. It's about what you say. Snark, snark, sarcasm, snark. Climate change proponents are rich in snark. They'll tell you with the wit of Lorne Michaels why "the others" are oh-so-lame.
If only snark, sarcasm, and insults solved the problem (climate change proponent's primary solution to the issue), it would be solved. You care about humankind so much that you run around calling
Slashdot Mirror
Spend hours, maybe dozens, maybe hundreds of hours establishing your data on a particular platform, have them insert a sentence in the "TOS" some random month, and "If you don't like it, don't use it!"
Most companies make it all but impractical for anyone without massive amounts of free time to "switch if you don't like it". This is completely on-purpose, and it has the effect of locking people into whatever the changes are. Not just Plex, but thing Microsoft & Apple. They make changes to platforms people have many thousands of dollars invested in, only to tell them "If you don't like it, switch."
Then, predictably, you have the group of users which champion the company's line ... hey everyone, don't like it, switch ... bait & switch is completely legitimate in 2017 for some. I mean, it's not like you could have made an educated decision before using the product, which is far more in line with what the "Free Market" has in mind. Not, making the "free choice" encumbers the decider with countless hours of countless dollars to reject changes they don't agree with.
Which is just the way the companies like it.
Then, after spending years barking at people to “Switch if you don’t like it!”, you wake up one morning and realize that there’s no one left to switch to; that every single company in the industry now has the exact same policies.
It’s at this point that the argument evolves to: “If you don’t like it, don’t use it!”
After all, nobody really NEEDS a computer. Or a cellphone. Or the internet. Or refrigeration or shoes for that matter. Or, probably one of truest of all claims videos to watch for entertainment.
If you want something, agree to the terms, no matter how nefarious they may be, regardless of when they are instituted. This ameliorates all notions of competition and free market dynamics, but those concepts are for queers anyway.
Give in, or stare out the window all day and do nothing.
The Unites States of America in 2017. Pining for the good old days is an oft-repeated thing, and proven to by a myth in many cases, but whether it’s reality or just my perception, things sure do feel different these days.
"Be concerned about your personal privacy!", we yell at people every day, while expecting them to flawlessly determine which violations are acceptable and not acceptable.
It's a pretty tall order, and when in doubt, turning off data collection across the board is the sensible thing to do. After all, keeping up with ever-changing TOS and user "Agreements" is, at this point, patently impossible ... and you never know when their data collection policies are going to change. We've all seen 1,000 times promises made, only to be broken later when the company is purchased, partnered, etc.
Look at climate change. Progressives take more flights each year, fly more miles, use significantly more energy overall than do “conservatives", and who do they point the finger at for causing climate change?
Everyone else but nobody more than “conservative” whites.
The Confederate Flag and the Democratic Party were synonymous in the 1800’s, but Democrats claim that anyone flying the confederate flag is a racist, but hey, vote Democrat! That was then, this is now, you see but the flag is still a symbol of hate whereas the Democratic Party is pure as the driven snow! It is the party that birthed the KKK after all, not to mention, the party which tried to oppress blacks until the 1960s (and some say still do, look at what’s happened to the black standard of living since Democrats started “advocating” for them). Both Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama were publicly against gay marriage for the vast majority of their lives. Hilary was anti-gay marriage into her 60s. Yes, “progressives” twice voted for Obama when he was against gay marriage.
Literally, one year after voting in a man who was against gay marriage, they began boycotting working-class people for expressing the very same opinion as the people they elected to run the country!
Never having to even even ATTEMPT to make your actions match your words Now THAT’S what I call affluent white privilege, and it’s something that most people in this country will never know.
It’s still way better to be black and rich, or ANYTHING and rich, than poor and white in this country, and that’s because classism is America’s new bile bigotry.
White privilege my aching asshole, it’s affluent white privilege and nothing else. Always has been, always will be, but the party of evil narcissists will never stop trying to oppress SOMEONE. Discrimination is what the entire party was founded on.
Pay no attention to those rich white millionaire Democrats in Congress be afraid of the trailer-dwelling auto mechanic, though!
I'm not sure how they sleep at night, but it probably has something to do with never having their opinions challenged in their echo chambers. When a bunch of evil assholes all agree to call themselves righteous, it doesn't take long until they actually start believing it, and start dehumanizing all who are not them.
It happened with record speed this time around.
Despite what the gold bugs would have you believe, precious metals are nothing special.
I see. Well, that must be why the U.S. government confiscated everyone's gold and threw those who retained any in cages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_6102
Aw, heck, they confiscated everyone's table salt and bread too. No, wait. No they didn't.
Even today, it's not terribly easy to find 24K gold in American jewelry stores, as "14 Carat Gold" has supplanted it in the minds of Americans, because for the longest time, that's all you could legally buy.
Gold has been premium currency since biblical times, just like the Federal Reserve Note. Wait, make that UNLIKE the US Dollar. Fiat currencies come and fiat currencies go, but gold is the only one that's survived for thousands of years, and maintains significant value even today. It's why untold numbers of people risked their lives to obtain it in our own country during the Gold Rush.
But you're right.
There's nothing special about it.
Poor white people with wrong views disgust me, though. Those kids who grow up in trailers with racist, alcoholic fathers. They should know better. They should somehow, someway, know what I know, and they should speak like well-educated affluent suburban white kids. There is no excuse for poor white unpopular views. Regardless of income or background, people should go to good colleges, and learn what their professors have to say. Like I did. If they don't, I just think they're racist slime, and it's all their fault for not giving themselves the same opportunities that I had. Those poor who grew up in entirely different environments from me just make me so mad, and I have NO tolerance for any of them.
That's what makes me tolerant. And diverse. That's right, I said hello to a black guy in the hall the other day, so I'm both tolerant and diverse.
Unlike you.
You don't even believe in Climate Change.
Ewwwww.
When you have the right opinions. When I march against hate, it's common knowlege that I'm marching against your hate. Not my hate. My hate is divine. Why? Because I'm me. You're not me, though. So your hate is bad. My hate is tolerance and diversity. I know this because everyone I know says so. We all say and think the same things. If that's not diversity, then I don't know what is.
No, really, the world would be a better place if you all were like me. Most, strike that, all of the world's problems are caused by people who are not like me. People who aren't me, or aren't very, very similar to me, are bad. I know this because ever since I was two, my parents told me that I was special. Believe them? Of course I believed them, why would they lie? I mean, I'm pretty sure somebody would have told me by now if I wasn't special. Besides the conservatives who weren't born in affluent suburbs like me. They don't count anyway. Heck, they're barely even human. I hold all the right positions, and I'm not afraid to express them when it's risk-free, either when I have numbers or online. I like being special. You should be special to. You should be like me. All of my friends are like me. Everyone should be like me. Everyone should be exactly like me. Diverse and tolerant.
But I blame everybody else for Climate Change.
What does the evidence say?
Well, it says that self-identified progessives take more flights, and fly more miles each year than their non-progressive counterparts. Sea-Tac just saw it's busiest year ever. Why, the precious dewdrops are flying back home for the holidays as I type this and, oh boy, Daddy got them the latest iThing straight from the best Chinese sweatshops the world has ever seen! Woo-hoo!
Oh yes, but um, ah-hem, Climate Change is bad, shame on you, shame on you! Shame on all of your poors who had to go into the military instead of getting a free ride to the college of your choice from mommy and daddy. If only you'd come from a slightly wealthier background, you too could pollute with impugnity, while still holding yourselves about the people who pollute less than you do. Now THAT's white privilege, and let me tell you, it ain't you local janitor's white privilege.
No, this is 1000x times better. It's affluent white privilege, and it's SPECTACULAR.
So don't forget, Climate Change, gay marriage, transgender rights, oh and, gender isn't binary even though there are only two chromosomal configurations, XX and XY.
Wait, you believe the science that says there are only two chromosomal genders?
Barbarians!
But what's this, you DON'T believe the science that says the earth is warming?!
BARBARIANS!
We don't have to be consistent. We have affluent white privilege, we live in The Bubble, and it's awesome. Just awesome.
Makes perfect sense.
I mean, every day I walk to work, and I see the good progressive people of Seattle step over homeless folks, offering nary a look. But these same people care very, very, very passionately about the weather homeless people will have to endure in 50 years.
Either that, or they desperately want to be part of the group which has all of the disposable income, and makes all the movies, and which staffs all the keen professorships, and carries Macbooks around ... we're herd animals and we'll believe damn-near anything to belong.
Nah, they care about my grandchildren. That's what I believe. No, really, I do. It makes the most sense.
How can smart people be such hypocrites?
Narcissism.
That, and amen corners. People can self-select news now, which makes them more convinced than ever that they are not only right, but also divinely self-riteous.
And of course, everyone else is evil. Pure evil. And stupid. And ignorant. And whatever else amen corners tell each other to keep the amen corner going. Amen corners feel good. Science even says so.
Look, if climate change is the issue of our time, then stop driving. Stop flying. See, it's not just about what everyone else should do. Did you know that self-identifying "progressives" take more flights, and fly more miles each year the those who consider themselves to be conservative.
Yet, everytime the climate change issue comes up, there are "progressives", wagging their fingers at the lessor polluting group, swearing the whole thing is caused by their non-belief.
Why do they need to believe, though? If everyone who believed on global warming stopped driving and flying, it would go a long way toward slowing down said warming. You don't want to hear that, though, do you? You all have a endless stream of snark for those who dare blame you for the problem.
See, I don't own a car, and "progressives" seem disappointed when they hear that. They certain never thank me for living their values when they can't. They could not care less how little I pollute, they still criticize me for not talking the talk. I could drive a Hummer and commute by Space Shuttle, but as long as I was saying all the right things, I'd be a-okay with the climate change proponents.
People's actions simply don't match their supposed fear, and actions are more honest than words.
The sole purpose of the climate change debate is to give affluent progressives means with which to differentiate themselves from the tragically-unhip white working class. The last decade has seen an endless stream of "progressive" moral panic. "Oh no, it's called a civil union and not marriage", "Oh no, gender is not binary, even though XX and XY are the only documented chromosomal configurations found in humans (two, by definition, is binary)","oh no, transgender people have to choose a bathroom instead of having a third option", and of course, "oh no, the kid from the trailer park who had to go into the miltary after high school doesn't believe what my UW professor says about Climate Change! My god, isn't he lame? Man, the poor folks are so lame! Unlike me! I'm good. I learned all the right things to say to get attaboys from the ruling class!"
Tomorrow, it will be something else.
It's full-blown brainwashing, only this time, it's the "educated" class who are the victims.
If you care about climate change, forget about the people that don't care about it. Statistically speaking, you and your believer peers pollute WAY more than they do. Clean up your own acts, then maybe, maybe, worry about the stubborn working-class. Judging from the cars on the road and the airplanes flying into "progressive" Seattle, you're going to have your work cut out for you.
Assuming it's actually about the climate, which we all know, and let's face it, we ALL know ... climate is the last thing most of you care about. Regardless of whatever snark you come up with to justify your own behavior, every piece of existing evident supports what I just said. You guys pollute more than anyone.
Yeah, and it has nothing to do with Apple being paid $100 to "identify" developers, nor getting a 30% cut of all product sold. Nothing! It has NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH IT! Don't you understand, Apple loves you! Apples loves me! They died for your sins and only want wants best for us. Why must you resist? Why must people always resist that which is best for them? Corporate America knows. It knows what it best for you. You just don't deserve their love. Heathens.
Can you believe these people? They don't think that everyone should have to pay $100 to Apple to have their programs run on the platform. As if anyone would want to run software written by a bunch of poors!
Hey Grandpa, I bet you don't even tithe to the church, do ya? Well, we pay 30% to our God for each and every product we sell, and we like it that way! After all, we're the generation with more of daddy's money than ever, and were taught young and taught often that corporate slavery was the true path to happiness. We didn't just buy it, we turned it into a lifestyle!
Get with the program, gramps, Appleness is next to Godliness, and if you don't wanna fall in line, get to stepping with the other relics who think they own their computers. As for us, well, I gotta tell ya, taking it up the dumper from the corporate cock ain't as bad as it sounds.
Apple loves you. Apple loves me. Apple died for your sins. And this is how you thank them!
Retire already and let us get on the corporate fascism without all your naysaying micoaggressions!
If you don't believe that these same people can accurately forecast the general trends 50 years from now, however, you're an "idiot". A "moron" even. A redneck, probably poor, but definitely, oh DEFINTELY unfashionable.
I got called similar things last week during a discussion about gender issues. Before class began, a group of UW Students informed me that gender was a 100% social construct, and had no basis in science whatsoever. I do not exaggerate, this was, verbatim, their claim. When I mentioned chromosomes being the primary thing that determines gender, they called me, well you know ... they ridiculed me.
Then, one of them said something like "I bet you don't believe in climate change either!"
I'll let that stand on it's own.
Wha ... ?
So, if homeslice buys carbon offsets (or whatever it is that you're advocating that he do), those 10 billion people will be immortal?
How is that going to happen?
I really hate to be the bearer of this news, but those 10 Billion people are going to die regardless of what he does. Damn-near all of them within the next 80 years. 100% of them eventually.
Couldn't he just as easily say that if people do what you're suggesting, 50 Billion people die? Because it's factually 100% true. They eventually will.
If you're goal is preventing people from dying, well, let's just say that you're going to need to look a lot further than climate.
If you believe in climate change, yet still drive anywhere other than work, or fly for any reason other than to support yourself, I don't really see how you can in good conscience look at anyone else. You haven't done all that YOU can do yet. Until you have, I don't care what you're cop-outs are, people are not going to listen to you. And that's the problem. Climate change is everyone else's fault. Always.
It's not the environmentalists criss-crossing the world in private jets to attend climate change conferences. Oh no. No no. Perish the thought. Academia's farts don't stink, nor do their vehicles emit pollution. Instead, they emit magic pixie dust. It's those gosh-darn working-class and unfashionable other-party industries.
Would you believe the Democrats take more annual airplane flights than Republicans, as well as fly more miles? Shhhhhhhhh. I won't tell if you don't. Those gosh-darn working-class southerners and their oil farmers whose products the liberal elite use more than anyone!
I do not own a car, nor have a flow in over 10 years. So, you'd think the climate change proponents would love me, right? Nope. They could not care less what my carbon footprint is (the bottom 1% of all Americans). Could not care less. They are upset because I don't talk about climate change and parrot their views.
Any you wonder why it doesn't get better?
It's because its most vocal advocates are insincere. Think about it. The people who are "too selfish" to have kids (their words), care deeply about what happens to the planet once they're dead and buried.
Why?
Why would they do that?
Why would proud, openly-selfish people give a damn about the well-being of people 10 generations from now? Generations they will not even be contributing to?
Well, they wouldn't care. They only reason they'd give a damn about global warming, were if it somehow benefitted them to pretend to give a damn about it.
Oh, but not you, though. You care so much about the people who will be alive 100 years from now because that's just who you are as a human being.
Okay, what about the homeless we have living on the streets today? We have more than enough money in this country to house everyone. Why do some people care more about climate discomfort when they no longer exist, than the do about needy people right now? Why do you always need to wait for a bandwagon to care about a problem? Why do you always wait until it brings you kudos and pats on the head before getting worked up about an issue? There are so many worthy issues not in the public eye right now, can you name three of them?
Why, exactly, do we need consensus on climate change when the affluent-class could make a HUGE difference just by themselves? IF everyone who believes that climate change was an issue, stopped driving and flying tomorrow, that would in and of itself, if not solve it, make great strides.
But they don't. Instead, they say it's your fault, or their fault, or someone's fault, then they fly home for mom's pumpkin pie. Yummy!
What you are witnessing is yet another ruling-class, neo-puritan moral-panic. It's not about climate change, it's about them. If you want to know what people really care about, pay no attention to what they say. Instead, watch what they do.
If you do, you will come to the conclusion that those who actually care about it talk less and do more.
It's not about what you do, though. It's about what you say. Snark, snark, sarcasm, snark. Climate change proponents are rich in snark. They'll tell you with the wit of Lorne Michaels why "the others" are oh-so-lame.
If only snark, sarcasm, and insults solved the problem (climate change proponent's primary solution to the issue), it would be solved. You care about humankind so much that you run around calling