Yes, I wasn’t suggesting Trump was necessarily involved. It’s more the deluded thought process, that the fact that something is a con implies that he’s not, because we all know he’s such an upstanding honorable chap fighting for truth, justice and the American Way.
I saw a video on TikTok advertising this scam, with a really fake-sounding imitation of Trump supposedly talking to Fox News, except the anchors were just looping the same motions. It was really pathetic.
But these are people that literally think Obama raped babies, JFK Jr will rise from the dead, and Trump won the last election. They’re gullible saps who will believe any lie that supports their bigotry, fear, and hatred. The idea that there is a secret money that they can turn in for a fortune backed by the Trump Messiah’s vast riches is pretty plausible compared to a lot of the batshit Q conspiracies these sad degenerates believe in.
I know that they’re suffering, and probably many of them have friends and family who are tearing their hair out over them, but I’m struggling to work up any sympathy for the victims of this particular scam.
But why? Why do they believe all of this? It can’t be as simple as “Faux Noos said so!” I know this has been discussed and argued over and over. I’m just astonished every time I hear about this stuff.
Don’t tell a guy that he’s got a little dick. Especially if he’s a cop.
Motivated reasoning. Their emotional desires to be rich/not to be shown to be wrong/cause pain to “the other” overwhelm any critical thinking skills they may (or more likely may not) have.
I’d also guess they’ve been raised in situations where reason/critical thinking are of little import compared to doing what you’re told by authority figures.
Former cop, apparently.
Cunningham resigned from his deputy job after failing a drug test in 2018. The defendant’s LinkedIn said that Cunningham went on to start a “local small business specializing in providing property management and security services.”
I think this is a significant part of the problem. Critical thinking, beyond that required to identify and avoid danger to oneself, doesn’t seem to be instinctive: it has to be taught, or at least demonstrated.
If I had stuck with the elementary education I got from nuns in the 1950s, I have a feeling that I might be as credulous as some of these unfortunates. Fortunately, four years in a Jesuit high school changed all that (though it took a few years beyond that for the lessons to have an effect).
It’s possible to reduce ignorance. It’s not possible to “cure” ignorance – there’s way more information in the universe than fits in any human head. We’re all ignorant of a whole lot of stuff.
What’s possible is to become better aware of in what areas one’s ignorant, and, when one has to make decisions (or wants to opine) in those areas, to study up on them first. And it would certainly be possible to teach this in school; as well as how to study up on areas one’s ignorant in (how to judge sources, etc.) Unfortunately, it’s often not done; and, even more unfortunately, there are some who are benefitting from others’ ignorance who do their best to make sure it’s not done.
Arguably true. However, it’s even more true that one shouldn’t murder people for doing so. Especially if one’s a cop.
Huffing fumes from aerosol deodorant is supposedly a social media phenomenon, occasionally with fatal results.
At least one retailer in Australia is locking up aerosol deodorant (do a lot of people still use it in that form?) in display cases to discourage juvenile “chromers” who presumably would have to show proof of age or be accompanied by an adult to purchase it.
I can remember in my youth, being thwarted in an effort to buy rubber cement or its equivalent to construct an airplane model, due to prevalence of juvenile delinquent huffers buying up the stuff. Of course, there’ve been adult users too.
Best as I can tell “chroming” is just the new/regional word for huffing. I’m not sure there’s anything special about it, is there?
Back in the day, I remember hearing the metallic spray paints would get you higher and I’m WAGing that’s where the name chroming came from.
When I learned that (probably in DARE), I kinda blew it off, but it seems like anytime you see a picture of someone that’s been huffing spray paint, it’s nearly always gold or silver.
In Fury Road, that was the term they used for huffing paint to get high.
I don’t know if the film got the term from the prevalent slang, or vice versa. I doubt it’s a coincidence though. The film came out 8 years ago.
Ron White: “You can’t fix stupid.”
I’ve worked in many schools, and I’ve yet to see one where this wasn’t a priority. Unfortunately, the teaching often doesn’t set in.
…So that’s what they were doing? I could tell it had some kind of ritual significance, but I never really understood what was happening.
It was supposed to be the same as what Vikings did, where they would drink mead to put themselves into a state of fearlessness before battle. They even spoke about going to Valhalla in the movie, just like Viking raiders.
Holy Chrome!
Although AIUI the War Boys themselves just think of it as a “war paint” ritual gesture to look more impressive and frightening.
This headline from Military.com seems to qualify for this thread.
Nearly 1 in 3 Veterans Agree with Racist Great Replacement Theory, Rand Study Finds
That’s pretty appalling.
But how do you reconcile that with:
a much smaller number of veterans, compared to the general population, say they believe in white supremacy, the QAnon conspiracy theory and left-wing extremism
If true, that part is surprisingly good news, given that the average age of veterans is 58.
Regarding the headline - I’m always skeptical about sensational claimed polling results like this. Unless you know exactly what question was asked and in what context and what the allowed responses were, it’s difficult to evaluate the headline claim about the Great Replacement Theory.
Also, 28% is “nearly 1 in 3” only to the extent that 3 is nearly 4.