Exactly. To these people, being ‘bad’ isn’t something you do, it’s something you are. (You may thank certain types of Christianity for this nonsense.)

So the thinking goes something like: ‘I’m a Good Person. And as a Good Person, I do Good Things and have Good Family, because I am Good.’ They feel (and it is always feel, not think) that Bad People are what cause the true downfall of society—mostly because they’re told that by their Good Authority Figures (you can tell the Authority Figures are Good because they lead/belong to a Church, and Churches are Good—as long as it’s the right church, of course).

This all means, of course, that since they’re Good, they can’t do Bad Things; they just make occasional mistakes.

(This is also where you get ‘The people I voted for are Good, because only a Bad Person would vote for Bad People, and I’m not Bad, I’m Good. So Trump isn’t Bad, he’s just misunderstood!’ nonsense.)

And, I hate to break it to you, but this behavior is very human. This is a version of Tribalism; my In Group is Good and everyone in the Out Group is Bad.

Edit: I think Sir Terry Pratchett said it best:

It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone’s fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I’m one of Us. I must be. I’ve certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.

Either! Both would be better than throwing up from the pain, passing out, and then being sneered at for both.

I wonder if we’ll ever be able to teach AI reading comprehension, given quite a few humans are rather bad at it.

FR though the one in the upper right corner is a real thing. When I inherited my grandfather’s truck I swear suddenly everyone in the family needed something moved. I get asked at least once a month to help move something or lend it out lol.

Speaking as a woman, who works in a dock industrial district, while I could take the bus to work, I often work the late shift, and I really don’t want to be waiting at a bus stop at night in that area.

There’s the added fun that the bus stops running close to my work after a certain hour, so to catch the late bus I’d have to walk almost the full length of the industrial area. Alone.

Don’t worry; at the rate things are going, they’ll have plenty of chances to experience that too

So I’m going to share something agent_nycto said once, because it works very well on people like this:

I don’t think you should be quiet, it makes them feel like everyone is agreeing with them and makes everyone miserable. Time to introduce you to my favorite game to play with conservatives, Politics Judo!

So you hear them rant about a thing. Some dumbass talking point. Let’s use gun control. It’s pretty easy to know in advance what the talking points are since they never shut up and parrot the same problem and solution over and over. “Shouldn’t take guns, it’s a mental problem not a gun problem”.

Things are basically boiled down to a problem and a solution. A lot of people try to convince people that the problem isn’t what people think it is, and that’s hard to do. Even if they are just misinformed, it feels like trying to dismiss their fears.

So what you do is you agree with the problem, then use lefty talking points as the solution.

“Oh yeah, gun violence is pretty bad! And I love the Constitution, we shouldn’t mess with that!” (Use small words and also throw in some patriotism, makes them feel like you’re on their side. You want to sound like a right wing media con artist) “so instead of taking guns away, we should instead start having more, free, mental health care in this country. Since it’s a mental health problem and these people are crazy, that is the solution that makes the most sense!” (Don’t try to get them to agree to your solution, just state it as the obvious one)

It becomes weaponized cognitive dissonance. Their brains fry because you said the things you should to agree with them, flagged yourself as an ally, but then said the thing they were told is the bad and shouldn’t want.

If they try to argue with your solution, rinse and repeat to a different talking point. “Oh yeah it might cost more, and we shouldn’t have to pay more for it, so we should get the rich people who are screwing average hard working Americans over by not paying taxes to do that. We should shut down tax loopholes and increase funding to the IRS so they can go after them instead of the little guy”

Always sound like you’re agreeing with them, but giving solutions that they disagree with that seem to be off topic but are related.

Either they will get flustered and stop, or they will slip up and say something racist or sexist or something, and then you can have HR bust them. Document it and also see if you’re in a single party consent state.

That wasn’t for the Nazi, it was for other people reading what the Nazi wrote. I don’t want people to get taken in by the poorly structured arguments and the constant moving of goalposts.

There are those who scoff at the school boy, calling him frivolous and shallow. Yet it was the school boy who said, ‘Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.’

-Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson

That’s an ad hominem and not a valid argument. I know the internet breeds bad habits in people, but you really should try to do better.

‘What the staff says’ has nothing to do with citing and linking to primary sources, which is what is important and the focus of this discussion.

Two reasons. The first is that Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

And they make sure they are in the first group by shoving other people into the second.

The second reason is that they have the sort of mind that believes in Absolute Order. Everything has a Place, a very rigid set of rules that define what it is, how it can act, and what it can do. If something/someone is Out Of Place, then the very fabric of society will weaken and eventually crumble.

LGBTQ people don’t fit in the boxes labeled ‘proper woman’ and ‘proper man’, so they must be destroyed lest they cause society itself to collapse.

Meanwhile, actual headline I saw in a paper from my city: Trump’s Tarriffs Spell Big Trouble for China!

In case anyone was wondering why there are no riots, it’s because most people are reading drivel like that.

Obviously you’ve never heard of the concept of ‘citing credible sources’.

The Pure Evil Villain (and why they’re cool)

Keep in mind too that they’re not always accurate. I know of one in my city that regularly takes photos of people going through on the green because it’s a bit of a wonky intersection. And that means a person gets to spend their day in court instead of at work fighting a ticket they did not deserve.

Actually they are remarkably consistent in their principles. It’s just that they know their principles are disgusting, so they claim other principles as a cover.

It’s really quite simple:

Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.

Their goals are twofold: to make this a reality, and make sure they are in the first group.

Mel Brooks once pointed out that dictators hate to be laughed at. And he would know, given he fought the Nazis in WWII.

So laugh. Mock them. Humiliate them. Their overinflated egos can’t handle even the slightest scratch, so short of shooting them this is going to be the best way to hurt them.

It’s funny to me because when an incel bothers me I sure would like to sic a shark on them.

Age matters too. Older eggs are easier to peel.

Not only did they contribute, they had Trump do an ad for them while he was on the campaign trail.