# What were you THINKING? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2023, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532 "2023-10-13T19:36:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 212
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4520 "2025-04-03T11:51:12Z")
[![](https://i.giphy.com/a4kUaskDOZ5iU.webp) ](https://i.giphy.com/a4kUaskDOZ5iU.webp) (Because it’s the only Mad Max movie I’ve seen, and I just watched it for the first time last week) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4521 "2025-04-03T11:56:29Z")
[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Q27YiPRiewg/maxresdefault.jpg "Homer Simpson - I Get Jokes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q27YiPRiewg) ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4522 "2025-04-03T12:22:19Z")
Holy fucking shit, Der Trihs’ _we are all gonna die_ routine is getting fucking tiresome. This is all I think of every time I read a poat by him: [![](https://i.imgflip.com/9plf3i.jpg) ](https://i.imgflip.com/9plf3i.jpg) It’s actually sad, and for his own sake, I hope this is just an internet persona, and he actually has a fulfilling life and is nothing like this in person. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4523 "2025-04-03T12:38:18Z")
The thing about Der Trihs is that he’s one of those poor souls who’s naturally [knurd](https://wiki.lspace.org/Knurd), or the opposite or drunk, where the sufferer sees the world as it actually is, stripped of all illusions… which is something nobody should ever see. I recommend drinking heavily. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4524 "2025-04-03T13:02:18Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The thing about Der Trihs is that he’s one of those poor souls who’s naturally [knurd](https://wiki.lspace.org/Knurd), or the opposite or drunk, where the sufferer sees the world as it actually is, stripped of all illusions… which is something nobody should ever see. I recommend drinking heavily I think that’s exactly what Der Trihs _thinks_ he is. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4525 "2025-04-03T13:11:46Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Holy fucking shit, Der Trihs’ _we are all gonna die_ routine is getting fucking tiresome. This is all I think of every time I read a poat by him: The problem is that the country - and assorted other parts of the Western world - are moving ever closer to his version of reality. I’m hoping nuclear war remains unlikely but there are certainly ongoing efforts by the right to move women into the “property” category. This doesn’t mean that he was always right, or that his rationale for his position was ever right. It’s just that the world is really fucking awful right now. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4526 "2025-04-03T13:19:47Z")
Yeah. I haven’t posted in the Hands Off protest thread because I don’t want to threadshit or get into another argument. But, they are utterly pointless. As **crowmanyclouds** and others have pointed out. Republican officials have repeatedly shown that they will kiss Trump’s ring, and his ass, to avoid losing office. MAGA voters might maybe wake up when the leopard eats their own personal face. They will definitely not wake up before. A few posters in that thread say that the protests will reach people who were undecided or did not vote in the last election. Nope. If after Trump’s first term and all the hatred, prejudice and magical, impossible promises he made during his campaign a voter was still undecided or chose not to vote, they are unreachable. ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4527 "2025-04-03T13:26:53Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I think that’s exactly what Der Trihs _thinks_ he is. yes. He envisions himself as some sort of banal death oracle in the midst of oblivious sybarites ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4528 "2025-04-03T13:29:51Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > The problem is that the country - and assorted other parts of the Western world - are moving ever closer to his version of reality. Not really. And even if it _were_ true, it would be a “broken clock” situation. You can go read threads from like, 20 years ago; Der Trihs has been talking like this for a _long_ time. > [@Gyrate](#): > > but there are certainly ongoing efforts by the right to move women into the “property” category. Ok, buddy. > [@Gyrate](#): > > It’s just that the world is really fucking awful right now. Not really. The world isn’t _improving as quickly as it used to be_. In some ways, it might be flat lining, or declining slightly. COVID was certainly a big setback. But this comes at the tail end of like, 100 years of explosive improvement. The world 100, 50, even 30 years ago was way shittier in many ways. We aren’t improving at breakneck speed, like we were until pretty recently. But we’re also very much not in freefall. And we’re a very, very, very, very, VERY far way from being “really fucking awful”. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4529 "2025-04-03T13:36:26Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > It’s actually sad, and for his own sake, I hope this is just an internet persona, and he actually has a fulfilling life and is nothing like this in person. I wouldn’t bet on it (based on leaks about his personal life that have snuck into his posts here and there-before I put him back on ignore for good last year that is). ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4530 "2025-04-03T14:52:08Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Ok, buddy. Keep telling yourself they aren’t trying and occasionally succeeding, “buddy”. What do you think all those abortion-related laws are all about? The proposed changes to voting that will place extra requirements on every married woman who changed her name? The erasure of women’s accomplishments - and removal from high-level jobs - in the ongoing DEI purge? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4531 "2025-04-03T14:57:14Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Keep telling yourself they aren’t trying and occasionally succeeding, “buddy”. That they’re trying and succeeding to set back women’s rights in various ways? Yeah, I agree, that’s happening. That they’re trying and succeeding to turn women into property? You’re high on your own pseudointellectual farts if you believe that. > [@Gyrate](#): > > What do you think all those abortion-related laws are all about? Idiots who believe that life begins at conception. If you operate from that premise, then yeah, abortion is evil and should be illegal. > [@Gyrate](#): > > The proposed changes to voting that will place extra requirements on every married woman who changed her name? I assume you’re talking about voter ID laws? I think they’re just being moronic and not considering the implications of their half baked policy, otherwise they’d target “single childless cat ladies”, not married women who went through the trouble of legally changing their name, which is a subcategory that would skew conservative compared to women in general. > [@Gyrate](#): > > The erasure of women’s accomplishments - and removal from high-level jobs - in the ongoing DEI purge? The fact that the right hates DEI is about making women property? OK buddy ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4532 "2025-04-03T15:05:51Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > MAGA voters might maybe wake up when the leopard eats their own personal face. They will definitely not wake up before. Quite a lot of them are having their personal faces eaten, or are very likely to within the next few months. > [@Babale](#): > > And we’re a very, very, very, very, VERY far way from being “really fucking awful”. Glad you’re not one of the ones being currently screwed. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4533 "2025-04-03T15:08:09Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > I think they’re just being moronic and not considering the implications of their half baked policy They know the implications. WRT Voter ID, the stated purpose of securing the vote is a fig leaf. The side effects are what they’re actually trying to get. Fewer women voting, fewer minorities voting, fewer people on the fringes of society voting. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4534 "2025-04-03T15:08:51Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Quite a lot of them are having their personal faces eaten, or are very likely to within the next few months. As I said, having their personal faces eaten _might_ wake them up. They will not wake up before it happens. Protests will have no effect on them. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4535 "2025-04-03T15:16:54Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > As I said, having their personal faces eaten _might_ wake them up. They will not wake up before it happens. Protests will have no effect on them. They’ll wake up when the economy plunges into recession thanks to Trump’s tariff madness. Maybe the hardcore Maga will keep repeating that it’s growing pains, but the people who voted for Trump because of inflation are not gonna be happy. > [@Babale](#): > > I assume you’re talking about voter ID laws? I think they’re just being moronic and not considering the implications of their half baked policy, otherwise they’d target “single childless cat ladies”, not married women who went through the trouble of legally changing their name, which is a subcategory that would skew conservative compared to women in general. What’s that about? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4536 "2025-04-03T15:23:10Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > That they’re trying and succeeding to turn women into property? You’re high on your own pseudointellectual farts if you believe that. Ok, buddy. You know it’s a process that starts with “setting back women’s rights in various ways”, right? It’s not a sudden jump from freedom one day to servitude the next. It’s a long, long process of erosion in a thousand tiny steps. And the erosion is happening. And they are very clear just how far they would like it to go. I don’t think they’ll succeed completely. But they’ve already moved the needle much further than they should have, and much more than you seem willing to acknowledge. So if you’re smelling any farts, perhaps it’s due to where your head is crammed. > [@Babale](#): > > Idiots who believe that life begins at conception. If you operate from that premise, then yeah, abortion is evil and should be illegal. They don’t give a shit about abortion, as their actual policies show. Their position is, and always has been, about controlling and punishing women. Which is why they oppose pretty much every measure that would reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and deliberately craft abortion laws that inhibit or prevent doctors from treating women with life-threatening conditions related to pregnancy. It’s why [shit like this](https://thegeorgiasun.com/news/woman-arrested-after-miscarriage-in-georgia-under-abortion-law/) happens. > [@Babale](#): > > I assume you’re talking about voter ID laws? I think they’re just being moronic and not considering the implications of their half baked policy, otherwise they’d target “single childless cat ladies”, not married women who went through the trouble of legally changing their name, which is a subcategory that would skew conservative compared to women in general. Yes, I’m sure that’s why they’re pushing for “[household voting](https://19thnews.org/2020/08/on-eve-of-suffrage-centennial-milestone-rnc-to-feature-speaker-supporting-policies-barring-women-from-voting/)”. Nothing to do with [disenfranchising women](https://emilyslist.org/news/emilys-list-statement-on-gop-attempt-to-disenfranchise-women/) (or trans people). And it’s probably just [a passing phase](https://now.org/resource/voter-suppression-targets-women-youth-and-communities-of-color-issue-advisory-part-one/). > [@Babale](#): > > The fact that the right hates DEI is about making women property? OK buddy So far we’ve established that you’re dumb enough to believe the GOP rhetoric about their abortion laws, voting restrictions, and now DEI. Ok buddy. Have you always been this ignorant and gullible? What do you think this DEI purge is about? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4537 "2025-04-03T15:36:50Z")
> [@DemonTree](#): > > They’ll wake up when the economy plunges into recession thanks to Trump’s tariff madness. Maybe the hardcore Maga will keep repeating that it’s growing pains, but the people who voted for Trump because of inflation are not gonna be happy. A recession will not wake them up. Trump will blame Liberals or immigrants or some other group. They will believe him. Anybody who voted for Trump based on the economy has not done their research on him (How many of his businesses went bankrupt?) the economy, the actual causes of inflation, the powers granted to the President in the Constitution, and generally lacks critical thinking skills. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4538 "2025-04-03T15:37:00Z")
If you notice the first signs of rot in your house, that’s a legitimate concern. It’s not a good thing to ignore it because the house has stood strong for decades and you believe it can’t ever collapse. It’s also not a good thing to scream that your house is collapsing and immediately talk about what it’s going to be like when you’re homeless and fighting a junkie over a half-eaten rat carcass. You address the rot issue, see what it takes to fix it, evaluate the house and see if there are other problems to address, and make an informed decision. Extremists of any kind are not healthy to themselves or society. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2025, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532/4539 "2025-04-03T15:53:14Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > And they are very clear just how far they would like it to go. I agree. But apparently you think that what they’re _very clearly_ messaging is that women are property, and I just don’t see it. They’re messaging some things that I strongly disagree with about women and their place in society, and I agree that this message is clear; and I’m very much not a fan of the message. But it’s also not “wOmEn ArE pRoPeRtY”. And when you keep insisting that it is, and normal people use their eyes and ears and decide you’re crazy, that’s how we end up with idiots who believe that both sides are the same and stay home on election day. > [@Gyrate](#): > > I don’t think they’ll succeed completely. But they’ve already moved the needle much further than they should have, and much more than you seem willing to acknowledge. Oh, now you’re a mind reader, and can tell what I’m “willing to acknowledge”? I agree that the right has moved the needle far more than they should have been able to. I disagree with you about where the final resting place they want the needle to go to is. > [@Gyrate](#): > > They don’t give a shit about abortion, as their actual policies show. Their position is, and always has been, about controlling and punishing women. Which is why they oppose pretty much every measure that would reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and deliberately craft abortion laws that inhibit or prevent doctors from treating women with life-threatening conditions related to pregnancy Or - and hear me out here - they actually think that premarital sex is immoral. I disagree with them; but their refusal to invest in sex ed while they also oppose abortion is not some mysterious paradox. It’s perfectly reasonable, _if_ you accept their starting premises about the (im)morality of sex and when life begins. > [@Gyrate](#): > > Yes, I’m sure that’s why they’re pushing for “[household voting](https://19thnews.org/2020/08/on-eve-of-suffrage-centennial-milestone-rnc-to-feature-speaker-supporting-policies-barring-women-from-voting/)”. Nothing to do with [disenfranchising women](https://emilyslist.org/news/emilys-list-statement-on-gop-attempt-to-disenfranchise-women/) (or trans people). And it’s probably just [a passing phase](https://now.org/resource/voter-suppression-targets-women-youth-and-communities-of-color-issue-advisory-part-one/). Are these mainstream positions on the Republican side? You know we can find people who believe absolutely insane shit on the left, too, right? Household voting is not a mainstream right wing position. It’s not a MAGA position (by this point, MAGA is the right’s mainstream). > [@Gyrate](#): > > What do you think this DEI purge is about? To be clear, by DEI Purge, are you referring to Trump’s admin’s virtue signaling about removing certain words from their repertoire? Or is there something more substantial than virtue signaling to point to? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=211) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-you-thinking/991532.md?page=213)