The General Discussion Thread

Originally posted by Surtur
I would say even the left has compassion and empathy to work on too. Ideally someone with empathy wouldn't cherry pick who they empathize with.

So, for instance, when the #MeToo thing was first taking off...there was the one woman reporter who said what #MeToo was doing was important enough that she didn't care if any innocent men lost their jobs because of it.

That's some shockingly one sided empathy, don't you think? Kevin Smith had a massive heart attack, Chris Pratt sent him thoughts and prayers. Yeah, I despise all religion and even I think anyone attacking Pratt over that was fed nothing but paint chips as a child.

It's not just in America. You ever watch that Jeremy Kyle show? They had a guy on talking about how his ex gf had literally locked him in the bathroom, wouldn't let him out. He had to jump out of the window to escape, ended up injuring himself(not super bad, but still). The audience(mostly of women) laughed. Imagine a woman describing that situation and then a mostly male audience laughing over it?

I dunno, just seems like the side known for empathy is awfully selective about it. They have empathy for women and minorities, that's about it.

You know that meme with the guy sweating, trying to decide which button to press? That applies here: one button reads "Save refugees" and the other reads "Protect women".

Of course both can be achieved, but nobody in power seems smart enough to actually get there.

That was kinda rambly so apologies but I think I got my point across to some degree

Originally posted by walshy
You might see you're not going there any smore! drylaugh

They have these nasty ass flavors in addition to smores. Reeses peanut butter cup pancakes, ew.

I've made pancakes with some blueberries in them, that is about it. I always fall for the smores trick 🙁. Bought some smores poptarts once...it did not end well.

i haven't had french toast in like forever

Originally posted by Bashar Teg
i think you slip into a noticable pattern of oversimplication of complex issues in order to form a quaint and equal contrast, crediting and admonishing both sides equally in the same statement. it's pointless rhetoric and it's why I growl and bark when people do it.

simplification can be a good thing, but oversimplification is always is a bad thing.

I wanna call into work and say I can't make it but the snow is clearing

Originally posted by Scribble
"I dunno, just seems like the side known for empathy is awfully selective about it" – honestly, this sentence kind of hits the nail on the head for me in terms of how I've come to see the left, after a lifetime of assuming I was a 'lefty'. There are too many double standards involved, and way too much cognitive dissonance. A lot of leftists try their best to be compassionate but just don't think it through very well and it results in other bad things happening, which they often don't even acknowledge afterwards. Example: the new year's eve in Germany after all the refugees were let in. They tried to be as compassionate as they could be to others (and I respect that, and I do think we should try to welcome asylum seekers and refugees as much as is feasible, economically and socially), but many of those who they were being compassionate to ended up committing a bunch of horrific crimes against women.

You know that meme with the guy sweating, trying to decide which button to press? That applies here: one button reads "Save refugees" and the other reads "Protect women".

Of course both can be achieved, but nobody in power seems smart enough to actually get there.

Yep and hell...at that big New Years celebration in Berlin they needed SAFE ZONES for women.

I don't think some people realize Americans tend to fear our country ending up like Germany or Sweden.

well not always "bad", but even when it does no harm, it's still useless.

Originally posted by Bashar Teg
simplification can be a good thing, but oversimplification is always is a bad thing.

Already explained why it isn't useless and is actually a really useful tool to start understanding a situation (as every situation is different and need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis)

scribble i appreciate your advocacy for the devil, but you can't with this one. oversimplification, by definition, is a misstep. it leads to flawed yet accidentally correct conclusions at best, but mostly it leads to incorrect conclusions.

you're describing simplification, not oversimplification.

E.g., "Empire Bad, Rebels Good" is a pretty useful oversimplification that explains the world in Star Wars (Lucas, 1977). Understanding that broad concept then leads you to being able to weigh up the actions of each side and how they represent two sides of morality. You may even end up coming to the decision that the Empire isn't 'Bad', or that they're both as bad as each other, but having that original dichotomy gives you a basic framework to build from. Nothing useless about it, m8.

Originally posted by Bashar Teg
scribble i appreciate your advocacy for the devil, but you can't with this one. oversimplification, by definition, is a misstep. it leads to flawed yet accidentally correct conclusions at best, but mostly it leads to incorrect conclusions.

you're describing simplification, not oversimplification.

I see what you're saying about it generally and yes, for a lot of people, oversimplification is awful because they don't (or can't) build from it. Personally, I can, and it works for me, so just being told I'm wrong doesn't change my perspective at all.

I mean if you can't explain a situation in just a few words then there's a chance that you're getting too lost in the details. I generally argue for complex thought, and I still am here, I'm just saying that you shouldn't shun simple thought, either. There's a lot to be learned from cutting things back to their most simple form (even if it turns out that those aren't their forms and are, in fact, just the ones that they've been given by society. Hell, that's probably one of the best arguments against shunning simplification; I want to make sure that what I'm looking at is how it really appears and isn't just the way its been pushed to appear by societal biases and judgements).

oversimplify: Simplify (something) so much that a distorted impression of it is given.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/oversimplify

and no I'm not claiming that this somehow proves your arguments wrong in any way beyond your misuse of "oversimplify"

tl;dr

Originally posted by Piggle Humsy
tl;dr

Originally posted by Scribble
I mean if you can't explain a situation in just a few words then there's a chance that you're getting too lost in the details. I generally argue for complex thought, and I still am here, I'm just saying that you shouldn't shun simple thought, either. There's a lot to be learned from cutting things back to their most simple form (even if it turns out that those aren't their forms and are, in fact, just the ones that they've been given by society. Hell, that's probably one of the best arguments against shunning simplification; I want to make sure that what I'm looking at is how it really appears and isn't just the way its been pushed to appear by societal biases and judgements).

I wonder if I'm the only one noticing...it seems easier, in general, for those who lean more towards the right to call out both sides than it is for people who lean left.

Originally posted by Piggle Humsy
tl;dr

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