Trolliness
A couple of tweeters were helping Psychology Today harvest eyeballs. @chescaleigh according to @PsychToday “Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists” & water is wet.” @pourmecoffee “Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists”
The tweets linked to a post, Internet Trolls Are Narcissists, Psychopaths, and Sadists. Sponsors include the FREE U.S.-Israel Flag Pin, and “These foods Kill your Brain.”
PG has been called a troll before. The people who say that usually argue with you, and then cry troll when you fight back. It is a passive aggressive game. There are probably more extreme examples, but the sense is that people ask for it. No, this is not rape. These is internet comments from people who do not praise you enough. The emperor’s tailor considered the little boy a troll.
PT has a different perspective. “In this month’s issue of Personality and Individual Differences, a study was published that confirms what we all suspected: internet trolls are horrible people. Let’s start by getting our definitions straight. An internet troll is someone who comes into a discussion and posts comments designed to upset or disrupt the conversation. Often, it seems like there is no real purpose behind their comments except to upset everyone else involved. Trolls will lie, exaggerate, and offend to get a response. What kind of person would do this?
Canadian researchers decided to find out. They conducted two internet studies with over 1,200 people. They gave personality tests to each subject along with a survey about their internet commenting behavior. They were looking for evidence that linked trolling with the Dark Tetrad of personality: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadistic personality.”
OK, so they were looking for evidence to confirm a previously held opinion. Is that how the scientific method works these days? Define your villain to fit the characteristics you have picked out for him. When you are a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
The supporting study is from the University of Manitoba, and has the racy title Trolls just want to have fun. The link shows you an abstract, and a chance to buy the complete study for $35.95. The last line of the abstract: “Thus cyber-trolling appears to be an Internet manifestation of everyday sadism.”
By now, you may be worried that you, too, are a troll. Do you live under a bridge? Are you glamor challenged? Or maybe you are the troll king, and write trilogies in your spare time.
PT is aware of your concerns. Fun loving correspondent Jennifer Golbeck, Ph.D., comes through with Are You an Internet Troll? This peace of mind reassurance is sponsored by the 3 minute Chakra test, and YOU MAY BE INFECTED.
“… A lot of people commented about their own internet behavior, wondering if their provocative comments count as “trolling.” …. Fortunately, there is a technical answer to those questions! … In the same study from yesterday, the authors introduced a measure of someone’s trolliness (that’s my term, not theirs).(Spell check suggestions: woolliness, jolliness, solitariness) They call it the Global Assessment of Internet Trolling (GAIT). Subjects in their study were shown these four statements:
1 – I have sent people to shock websites for the lulz.
2 – I like to troll people in forums or the comments section of websites.
3 – I enjoy griefing other players in multiplayer games.
4 – The more beautiful and pure a thing is, the more satisfying it is to corrupt.”
Your agreement, or disagreement, with these statements is an indication of your trolliness. PG definitely feels better after seeing this test. He does not know what a shock website is, and does not indulge in multiplayer games. The idea of someone like Matt Walsh being “beautiful and pure” is ridiculous. PG will rest easy tonight, knowing that he probably is not an internet troll. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
I
During a recent facebook deterioration, on social issues, someone posted a 410 word statement. PG noted the promiscuous use of first person singular. A study ensued.
1 – I, or verb contractions using I, occurs 27 times in this statement.
2 – I was used in the first seven sentences. The eighth sentence did not have I, but did contain me.
3 – The tenth sentence does not have I, but does contain my.
4 – The last sentence has I five times. The first two have I three times. Six sentences use I twice.
5 – There are 410 words in this statement. There are 15 sentences. Six percent of these words are I.
6 – I is the shortest word in the English language. It is also possibly the least important.
Many people use the word I too often. The use of this word implies that the listener is interested in what the speaker thinks or does. When someone says I, the lips are usually moving. I is the central letter in both lie and believe. (As another FBF noted, I statements can be useful.)
This does not take away the controversy over what word, in the language, is the shortest. A British facility, the Daily Mail, ran a story,The shortest word in English? Depends on how you measure it
Q. We all know that the longest word in the English language is Floccinaucinihili-pilification, (Spell check suggestion:Oversimplification) meaning inconsiderable or trifling. But what is the shortest word in the English language?
A. This is a controversy that has divided the English-speaking community for more than a century. One faction, headed by Dr Robert Beauchamp from the Oxford English Dictionary, believes that the shortest word in the English language is ‘a’, while another faction, headed by Professor Melanie Kurtz from Chicago University, contends that it is ‘I’.
In his most recent book on the subject, Further Arguments In Favour Of A (OUP, £19.99), Dr Beauchamp claims that, though ‘I’ is arguably the thinnest word in the English language, ‘a’ is the shortest, in the sense that it is not as high.
Professor Kurtz, on the other hand, has argued in a number of pamphlets that, if one unravels the various loops and curls that form a single ‘a’, and stretch it into a single horizontal or perpendicular line, then the letter in question is undoubtedly longer than ‘I’.
Meanwhile, dissident scholars continue to argue the case for ‘o’ and for small ‘i’, though in broader academic circles the first is generally dismissed as not really a word and the second is felt to be questionable: they maintain that the gap between the little dot and the main body of the word/letter is a constituent part of the whole and cannot be discounted when it comes to the full measurement.
One of the comments is highly repeatable. “is it true…..the shortest sentence is ..I am. and the longest sentence…I do.?” – Tommy Atkins Blighty, 02/10/2009 18:45
In the digital age, capital letters are used less and less. If the lower case i is used as a first person singular, then it is both the shortest and the skinniest. The dot on the lower case i is known as the tittle. It is not known what the tittle thinks of the jot, or whether they believe each other.
For those not suffering platitude fatigue, here are the 21 Most Important Words in the English Language. The most important word: We ~ The two most important words: Thank You ~ The three most important words: All is forgiven ~ The four most important words: What is your opinion ~ The Five most important words: You did a good job ~ The six most important words: I want to understand you better ~ The least important word: I.”
A site called vocabula has a feature on the worst words in english. There are two phrases using I.
I mean Meaningless formula (a verbal tic, if you will) used habitually by many to begin nearly every sentence, especially those that are not intended to clarify anything preceding them. I need you to … A completely unacceptable replacement for “please.”
Since we cannot say, for certain, that I is the shortest word in the language, the uncertainty about the longest word should not be surprising. The longest word in German would be a short story by itself. According to Los Angeles Trade-Technical College “The longest word in the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanokoniosis. The only other word with the same amount of letters ispneumonoultra-microscopicsilicovolcanoconioses, its plural.” (Spell check suggestion:ultramontane-microscopicsilicovolcanoconioses)
Part two of this feature is about a popular contender for the longest word. It is known here as The S Word. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. This repost is written like H.P. Lovecraft.
There is a feature today on NPR discussing ” “What’s The Longest Word In The English Language?”. The old crowd pleaser antidisestablishmentarianism was dismissed as “Just a bundle of suffixes and prefixes piled up into a little attention-grabbing hummock.” It also has 28 letters, which won’t even get it into the playoffs.
When it comes to big words, there is nothing like science. In 1964, a book called “Chemical Abstracts” published a 1,185 letter word, referring to a protein found in the tobacco mosaic virus. It starts with glu and ends with sine. This word is 8.44 tweets long.
Words like glu…sine are not used often, which brings us to the obvious winner, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. It is the theme song for a dance routine in a movie starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke , and a few dozen animated characters.
According to the urban dictionary, Miss Andrews was not fond of Rob Petrie. “It’s reported that Ms. Andrews replied, “Fuck you! I hate you!! You’re a ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidouchebag’!!!! And get away from my door!! Why don’t you go eat “A Spoonful of Feces “!!!” (This problem might have been caused by SupercalifragilisticexpiHalitosis )
At 34 letters, the s word is the longest english word that most of us have heard of. While it probably was made up by over-imaginative songwriters, it is defined by a reputed dictionary. It translates as superkalifragilistikexpialigetisch (German), supercalifragilistichespiralidoso(Italian) and supercalifragilisticoespialidoso (Spanish). The French are too cool to use it.
A website called Straightdope has a highly entertaining feature called Is “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” a real word referring to Irish hookers? . “Our research first took us to a lawsuit that was filed after the movie came out by Life Music, Inc., against Wonderland Music, the publisher of the Mary Poppins song. It was a copyright infringement suit brought by Barney Young and Gloria Parker, who had written a song in 1949 entitled “Supercalafajaistickespeealadojus” and shown it to Disney in 1951. They asked for twelve million dollars in damages. The suit was decided in the Shermans’ favor because, among other reasons, affidavits were produced from two New Yorkers, Stanley Eichenbaum and Clara Colclaster, who claimed that “variants of the word were known to and used by them many years prior to 1949.”
The decision makes for fairly humorous reading. Apparently the judge got tired of writing out the whole word, so every time it had to be mentioned it was replaced by the phrase “the word” as if it were some loathsome artifact that had to be held at arm’s length. “
There is another story that has the s word appearing in a humor magazine at Syracuse University. An archivist named Mary O’Brien says that rumor surfaces every ten years or so, and is not true. Another old husbands tale has children in summer camps taught a song super-cadja-flawjalistic-espealedojus. This cannot be confirmed or denied.
As for the tale about Irish entrepreneurs , there is a story in Maxim magazine. It says “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, the word supposedly coined by Mary Poppins to make kids sound “precocious,” was actually invented by turn-of-the-century Scottish coal miners. It was used to request “the works” from prostitutes by men too shy to recite specific acts.” The link supplied by StraightDope does not work.
Should Have Used A Verb
A British facility, the Guardian, published a piece, Stephen King has named his most hated expressions. What are yours? The millionaire author listed a few expressions that “make his skin crawl.” The comment section was opened up. At this point in time, there are 2410 comments. Some are way too British for stateside consumption. Others are not funny. Some of the correspondents had boring psuedonyms. Many said football when they meant soccer.
PG saw this as an opportunity. After copying all the comments on page one, of twenty six, and editing out the internet jibberish, he was left with the verbiage below. Why does our slack blogger spend so much time on this? Does he need to visit Getalife.com? How will PG find time to take an internet quiz, solve racism, or troll Jesus worship blogs? Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
redfellterrier I had a manager who got into the habit of saying ‘on a go-forward basis’. It was all I could do not to stab out my eardrums after about three hours of this.
YeOldeMerryPrankster “Going forward” Ugh! That’s one of the worst alright, a favourite of middle-managers the world over.
Yourbandsucks Societal. I hate it. It seems to me that the anti-socialist indoctrination in the US is so strong that ‘social’ is banned just in case, when no one is looking, it grows horns, a pointy tail, grabs a pitch fork and becomes, AHHHHHHRRRRGGGGGGG – FULL BLOWN SOCIALISM.
AccidentalHoliday ‘It is what it is’. I could get behind, ‘It ain’t what it ain’t’ though!
Onion_Budgie Or as Frank Zappa might have put it: Do you know what you are? ~ You are what you is ~ You is what you am ~ (A cow don’t make ham…) ~ You ain’t what you’re not ~ So see what you got ~ You are what you is ~ An’ that’s all it ’tis.
Enheduanna ‘We are where we are’ a clusterfuck omnishambles that was perfectly preventable.
Snowhare ‘It is what it is’ Can’t stand this. If you are powerless in a particular situation, then say so.
Nietzschescat 1. “Can I reach out to you on that …” 2. Any form of words that includes “synergy” and leveraged”. Double fail if both.
tackypuns But ‘double fail’ is fine?
diotavelli Any use of the word ‘fail’ when the user means ‘failure’ is annoying and unacceptable.
ZacMurdoch yes, someone said ‘will you reach out to me with your diary’ the other day. I thought, OK, but only to hit you with it!
miasmadude “That being said…” Aaaarrrrgggghhhh.
Onion_Budgie “Just saying”. Especially when I see it used as a hashtag on Twitter. Yes, it is obvious that you’re ‘just saying’, otherwise you wouldn’t be er, saying it at all. Bleargh!
UndyingCincinnatus Even worse, when people use the hashtag when not on Twitter. I’ve seen it more than once in the comments section here. I would say that I’ll kill myself when I first hear a person say, out loud, “hashtag X” but years ago I said that about “LOL” and managed to stay away from the sharp objects when my brother of all people said it. It was close, though.
GlozboyI remember when people would say ‘I’m confused.com’. Jeez…
diotavelli My boss uses hashtags in emails. I haven’t killed him yet but that’s only because my cowardice is greater than his crime.
jackhugh ‘Many believe’ and ‘some people say’ are staple phrases of the far right media, especially US ‘news shows’ . it’s a transparent term to infer, slur or lie about a situation or person EVEN WORSE is the old “self styled” . . so and so in reference to a person as if it negates they’re authenticity, when in rational it’s inferred that no one is authentic unless they’ve been styled by others. utterly infuriating phrase ‘self styled’ . . . as opposed to having a stylist???
BewilderedMark staple phrases of the far right media, especially US ‘news shows’ To be fair, ‘the consensus is’ is part of a leftie liberal socialist conspiracy plot to create global warming and make America uncompetitive. Or something.
mizdarlin This could all be distilled to my pet hate, “They say…” I would cheerfully smack ‘they’ in the noggin if I could ever figure out who ‘they’ are…
Westmorlandia Let it go. “nauseous” means ‘feeling nausea’. It just does. Let it go… wooooooo…….. let it gooooooooo……..
deadcatclub I loved “chillax,” for maybe three seconds after I first read it. Then I heard it spoken, and I tossed.
willmau5 The misuse of literally makes me figuratively die with anger.
BewilderedMark Good. Literally dying could be considered an overreaction.
SybilSanderson “forward- thinking ” Often used in job descriptions under desirable attributes. Makes my skin crawl if I read that, makes me despair when I write that (obviously you use the keywords for their search pattern!). That I look for a new job in the first place is already a sign that I am “forward-thinking”..
obenole equally horrible: to think outside the box” makes want to think inside a box so I dont have to hear that phrase…
Kepler That’s just slang. It’s perfectly clear what is being said.
Ninebelowzero A meeting with my ex wife & her support worker dropped these bombshells. We need to square the circle, We need to level up on our aspirations Can we synchronise our diaries? my less than whispered comment about the ‘gentleman’ not being the fastest bunny in the warren & when you are here the village is calling your name fell on stony ground.
miasmadude “Not the fastest bunny in the warren”: oh, thank you, thank you, thank you.
crystaltips2 Should of used a verb.
Gary Hunter People who say Touch Base….
AlanTyndall Unless you are the world’s rudest classical stringed instrument instructor.
Bewildered The only time I’m proactive is when I am about to slap someone for touching my base.
elbhahto A few weeks ago on a bus in London I overheard a woman talking loudly on her phone. She must have used the phrase “at the end of the day” at least 50 times in less than five minutes. Virtually every sentence started with it, and she often used it multiple times in a single sentence.
Snowhare I think I know this lady. The 210 from Archway to Finsbury Park?
Erbium Perhaps the sun was setting on the twilight of her years
elbhahto I think it was the 43 from Old Street, heading towards Archway. Infuriating, isn’t she?
eminexion Oh, I hate my bad so much, it makes me get angry with the person, even if they haven’t really been bad. And I agree about back in the day. Where the hell did it come from? People seem to have adopted it overnight, and now you hear it all the time.
MsFriday I hate it when people disagree with you and start their point by “if you think about it ….”. Because I HAVE thought about it. The thinking I did said you are wrong. The implication that I said stuff without thinking, where as you actually thought before you spoke, is so very rude. It sounds to be like a verbal punch.
BeckyDavidson “emotional rollercoaster” It’s the mode of transport that’s taken them on their journey. Hopefully at the end of that journey they’ll get closure.
previnquieres I had a boss once who told me that I was either with him or against him. He also said that he wanted everyone who worked for him to show humbleness. I was very definitely against him and his horrible use of English, didn’t have a clue what he meant by humbleness, so I left.
BePrepared How do these people even become bosses?
Mnemon By showcasing incredible figures, posed curves (in power-point presentations), and through the resulting boardroom antics.
cuscotown ‘I’m afraid’ as in ‘I’m afraid I can’t make that meeting’ . You aren’t afraid, its not terrifying, you just can’t do it.
ZacMurdoch I have to own up to this one – but it’s polite form, that’s all, meant as a softener. It’s probably dated now, but as there are so many modern affectations I hate, I’ll carry on using it!
Bluthner There are no easy answers, no silver bullets, only tough choices. We’ve embraced the challenge. My view is simple. wipe the slate clean.
shankspony I hear what you say…. No you bloody don’t
Nietzschescat For some people listening is getting ready to talk.
Socrates69 I particularly like LIMBO – laughing me bollix off
RayMullan Literally Itching My Bollocks Off?
Hey White People
In more dog bites man news, there is a viral video about racism. . It shows a bunch of adorable black children reading a script. The kids are modeling a shirt. The shirt says, in all caps, 216 point text, “RACISM IS NOT OVER. BUT I’M OVER RACISM.” You can buy the shirt.
To begin with, all caps is yelling. People do not like to be yelled at. The correct response to this is “you don’t like hearing that, how would you like to live it?” There is not a cause and effect connection between the two. Listening to one does not reduce the effect of the other.
The script is a cliche fest. There is little to learn here. Some of this is true. Some of it is questionable. It is tough to see how this will have any positive impact. It has the feel of preaching to the choir.
The video is supposedly directed at white people. The title is “Hey White People: A Kinda Awkward Note to America by #Ferguson Kids.” How PWOC will react is uncertain. What is interesting is the reaction of some POC to this video.
@chescaleigh I’d take @FCKH8’s allyship way more seriously if they weren’t so passive aggressive when being called out. This tweet is from Franchesca Ramsey, the auteur behind Shit White Girls Say…to Black Girls.
The tweet links to a blog post, What Happens When Businesses Use Black Tragedies To Sell Products. It seems like the shirts are marketed by a company called FCKH8. (As an aside, is anyone else tired of this gratuitous neo-profanity?) Supposedly, five dollars from every shirt sold will be donated to “charities working in communities to fight racism.” The key phrase is will be. This promise is not made under oath. Accountants have lots of wiggle room here.
An online entity called Colorlines has a post, This is the T-Shirt Company Making Money Off of Ferguson. “There’s an entire economy around black death—and this ad campaign illustrates it all too well. Ironically, this economy’s profit margins depend on upholding the very racism this video claims to want to eliminate. So there you have it, folks. Everything, it seems, can distilled, packaged, bought and sold—including racism.”
The publisher of Colorlines is another outfit called Race Forward. They issued this statement. “It has been brought to our attention that outlets have been reporting our affiliation with Synergy Media and FCKH8.com. Race Forward has never received any money from Synergy Media nor do we have an agreement with the company or FCKH8.com campaign. To be clear, Race Forward would not accept any proceeds from this effort.”
There was a comment. “Hello guys this is Mike with FCKH8.com we had selected your organization from hundreds to receive portion of the proceeds from the video. I was not aware that we had to receive permission to donate money. If you do not want our money there are plenty of other organizations out there that would greatly benefit from it. We just thought that you did awesome work and we wanted to support it.”
Pictures from The Library of Congress. UPDATE: Fckh8 is bad at damage control.
Chamblee54 Agrees With Matt Walsh
Sometimes, you need to quit gathering material, and start to write. There is so much you can say, and the attention spans are so limited. It is more a matter of thinning down the product, to make it fit in between the pictures. If you miss something, there is tomorrow.
Popular blogger Matt Walsh posted a piece today, Attention gay rights lobby: your feelings aren’t constitutionally protected. Paragraphs one, two, and four have fourteen words total. Here is the third paragraph. If the yellow text is tough to read, you can highlight it.
A Catholic couple in New York has been charged and fined for violating the “rights” of a gay couple by choosing not to host a gay wedding on their farm. This story has garnered little interest and virtually no media attention, which is understandable considering that everything in the world had to take a backseat while the entire nation sat enthralled for two weeks by a local police matter in a place called Ferguson. Of course, the media only considers homicide to be a “local crime story” when it involves an abortionist serial killer slaughtering hundreds of infants right in the middle of a major American city for three decades. But an officer-involved-shooting in Missouri? Now there’s something with vaster implications than 100 abortionist-involved-beheadings, right?
To be fair, there are times when Mr. Walsh has a point. The circus in Ferguson has gone on way past it’s fifteen minutes. The shouters enjoy the sound of their voices. Many people, who might even be sympathetic to the issue of police vs. african america, are tired of hearing about it. The overkill might be counter productive. Nobody likes being yelled at.
Ditto for the matter of solving social issues through court action. The suspicion here is that the wedding lawsuit has a backstory we are not hearing. And why should the authorities get involved if you don’t get your way? This seems to be a case where lawyers are running amok.
If you want to know more about this “aborted” wedding, Mr. Google can fill you in. It is not an issue that is especially interesting. The site, a Catholic facility, is probably not going to be “fair and balanced.” The ad next to the article says “STOP the assault on Mary. Sign the petition.”
All of these sites have advertising. The editorial content is designed to deliver eyeballs to the sponsors wares. For Mr. Walsh, the ad encourages readers to Get a free U.S. – Israel Flag Pin. The slaughter of children in Gaza is overlooked. Many say that is the motive for the Ferguson uproar.
As his many readers know, Matt Walsh does not like abortion. The murder of living children in Gaza, and Missouri, is not as important as making noise about abortion. This is another issue where preaching to the choir is more important that winning new followers. If you don’t like the constant onslaught of anti abortion rhetoric, then you are a terrible person. If you are tired of hearing about Ferguson MO, then you are a racist.
The abort bleep today takes a bizarre turn. The link is to Breitbart dot com. (There is another opportunity to get a U.S. -Israel flag pin on today’s Breitbart page.) The feature shows a twitter exchange. One of the tweeters is certified nutcase Mollie Ziegler Hemingway.
@MZHemingway WaPo health policy reporter @SarahKliff has 80+ site hits on Akin/Fluke/Komen and zero on Gosnell? Would love an explanation. @sarahkliff @MZHemingway Hi Molly – I cover policy for the Washington Post, not local crime, hence why I wrote about all the policy issues you mention. Twitter is not known for deep conversation.
This is all about funloving abortionist Kermit Gosnell. One person, who apparently covers “policy,” did not write enough about Dr. Gosnell. In her 140 character comment, she referred to the Gosnell clinic as “local crime.” Sixteen months later, this twitter convo morphs into “the media” considering a gruesome medical tragedy to be “local crime.”
This tweet fails to mention the documented fact that Dr. Gosnell had nicer waiting rooms for WWOC, than for WOC. This is clear evidence of racism. The job of cleaning up the media never stops.
English Vocabulary Quiz
A recent internet quiz is How Good Is Your English Vocabulary? This was a blow to the pride. I have always thought I was pretty good with words, and yet, with a few educated guesses, I only got 80.
The test has ten questions. Six times the definition is given, with two words to choose from. Four words are given, with two possible definitions.
The four words, leading to a binary definition decision, are abusion, bombilate, jargogle, and lubritorium. I have never used any of these words, even while performing the actions of the three verbs. I also make regular use of a lubritorium. It is a place adjacent to where you pay at the pump.
The first question is the definition “Fond of company, a social individual. gregarious, perceptive” This is obvious. In fact, perceptive might be the opposite of social, unless you can keep your uncomplimentary observations to yourself.
The second question was “Able to be manipulated without breaking. malleable milieunous” When I looked up mileunous later, I could not find an english definition. It appears to be French.
Pedantic is an option for two definitions. “Wicked to an extreme, malicious. nefarious pedantic” “Characterized by a narrow, often ostentatious concern for book learning and formal rules. pedantic pediatric” And yet, pedantry is seen by some as nefarious. In the age of obamacare, pediatric billing can be both pedantic and nefarious.
The quiz does not give correct answers. One possible mistake was with syntax. This is a word which I have seen used, and sort of know the meaning. However, when asked to choose between “The study of the origins of separate languages vis interchangeable root words” and “The study of the rules whereby words … are combined to form grammatical sentences”, I drew a blank. Syntax is not spelled sin tax, and is not a government levy on alcohol and gambling.
This quiz seems to be collecting eyeballs for the sponsor. Rooms to go, Target, and AT&T, among others, are paying per view. When you take the test over and over, to try and move your score up, these sponsors ante up for the clicks. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
What Denomination Are You?
The fbf put up a link to an internet quiz, What Christian Denomination Should You Actually Be a Part Of? As the reader(s) of this blog might discern, PG is an acknowledged non christian. His favorite denomination is the twenty. They are easier to spend than fifties and hundreds.
The first question is “What is the source of your beliefs?” The choices include scripture, uncertainty, conscience, and people who talk about scripture. This question presupposes the omnipotence of the belief paradigm. In other words, not everyone feels that what you believe is a big deal.
PG has three “fundamental” beliefs regarding xtianity. G-d does not write books. Jesus has nothing to do with life after death. It is none of your business. Are these concepts an allergic reaction to years of christian noise, both joyful and joyless? Is it a weary soul talking common sense? Who came first, the chicken, or the egg? Do you really need to know?
The second question is “how is one “saved?”” This is a big deal to Jesus worshipers. The xtian obsession with life after death makes PG want to run screaming. The seldom heard option offered here is “I don’t know/no opinion.”
One concept is that what happens to the dead is none of the living’s business. Maybe, if you have faith in G-d, things will turn out ok. When you devote every sunday morning to screaming about so called salvation, you advertise a lack of faith in G-d.
Third is “what are your opinions on war?” This is one of those contradictions. You just have to understand. An abortion is bloody murder. When Israel shells a school housing refugees, it is justifiable self defense. The reconciliation of beliefs and practices is a source of brain damage. This is not a spiritually uplifting practice.
In many questions, you must choose the least bad answer. This is typical. For what type of worship suits you, being home churched is not an option. For what definition of the trinity best describes your belief, there are no good answers. PG feels that the concept of a triune G-d is a grotesque violation of the First commandment.
The first commandment says to have no other G-d before you. In Jesus worship, this one G-d expands to at least six: G-d, Jesus, Holy Ghost, The Bible, Satan, and Salvation.
There are a few more questions. There is a Catholic slant to this quiz, with emphasis on the Virgin Mary. There is the concept that authority in today’s church was passed down from the disciples. Hopefully, Judas was not included. Finally, there is a question about Gay marriage. Maybe this quiz was designed by a Catholic divorce lawyer.
The answer was probably as good as could be expected. “You should really be Non-Denominational! You’ve never understood why people get so caught up with labels, creeds, and institutions. For you, faith is what matters. You have a personal relationship with God and you’re not so worried about being a member of any specific group or sect. You enjoy Bible study, casual gatherings, and a church where everyone is welcome regardless of theological labels.”
Whatever. Why study a book that teaches people to hate you? Maybe the advertisers at this quiz are getting a spiritual return on their investment. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Israeli Public Relations Machine
Israel is having problems. Rockets are going from Gaza into Israel. In response, a well armed, sophisticated army is attacking Gaza. There are lots of casualties, mostly civilians in Gaza.
There is another front to this conflict. The United States supports Israel. The weapons that kill children in Gaza are paid for by the American economy. Unless you make campaign contributions to politicians, your opinion does not matter.
Part of the American front is a campaign by the Israeli public relations machine. The IPRM is almost as well equipped as the IDF. The opinions of the non politician supporting Americans are meaningless. This does not stop the IPRM from mounting an American offensive. The word offensive is both a noun, and an adjective.
One of the fronts in this offensive is facebook. The supporters of Israel are posting memes and videos. Many of the points they make are easily taken apart by logical arguments. A meme is not a logical affair. It is the use of graphic images to influence emotions. They are usually posted by people who don’t know what the hell they are talking about.
This is a lovely mid summer sunday morning. People have the freedom to do what they want. If you want to go to church, no one is stopping you. If you want to drink coffee and look at the internet, that is your privilege. It is a time to have peace of mind.
This peace of mind was disturbed today. There was a meme. The picture shows the world trade center on fire. The words say: “America Remember this? Israel is fighting the same terrorists.”
This is ridiculous. The children being slaughtered in Gaza were not born in 2001. The 911 actors were primarily from Saudi Arabia, a country with close ties to Israel. Saudi Arabia, and the other Arab countries, are exploiting the plight of the Palestinians for it’s own advantage. To say that the children of Gaza are the “same terrorists” is a sick joke.
There are many things you can say about the current conflict. Amnesty International has investigated the affair, and issued a report. A.I. is leery of claims about human shields, and Israeli warnings to civilians. There are reports of Israel using vile anti personnel weapons. These weapons would have little impact on tunnels and rockets, and could only serve to hurt people.
PG participates in the American economy. He buys gasoline. The profits from the sale of oil possibly go to help Gaza buy rockets. Other parts of the American economy support Israel. This is the big government that so-called conservatives complain about.
America is going to support both sides of this brutal conflict, whether PG likes it or not. What he does not have to do is to let Israel take away his peace of mind. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
The End Of Racism
One of the touted TED talks in the weekly email is Color blind or color brave? It is by Mellody Hobson, a POC in the investment business. It is the standard call to talk more about race. Talk, talk, talk, and talk some more. The word listen is not used.
At the 3:13 mark, Mrs. Hobson makes a remarkable statement. “Now I know there are people out there who will say that the election of Barack Obama meant that it was the end of racial discrimination for all eternity, right?” It is possible that someone has said that. There are also people who say the earth is flat.
PG asked Mr. Google about this. The top two results are about the TED talk. The third result is an article in Forbes magazine, Racism In America Is Over. It is written by John McWhorter, one of the “black guys at Bloggingheads.tv.” Dr. McWhorter does say racism is over, sort of. The problems that remain are a lot worse. Too much food for thought, for a population with intellectual bulimia.
There is a quote in the Forbes article that is pure gold. “When decrying racism opens no door and teaches no skill, it becomes a schoolroom tattletale affair. It is unworthy of all of us: “He’s just a racist” intoned like “nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!””
There are a lot more results. PG is getting tired of looking. If you want to see for yourself, google “the election of Barack Obama meant that it was the end of racial discrimination for all eternity.” Except for a rogue title editor at Forbes, almost nobody has said that. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Archetype
Maybe there is one for internet test taker. The fbf posted a link to a test, Which Jung Archetype Best Describes You? PG thought he would investigate the archetype concept before diving in.
Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) (pronunciation) wrote a few books. The Archetypes and The Collective Unconscious is where he introduced the concept of archetypes. One definition: “archetypes are inborn tendencies which shape the human behavior.” If you want to read more, you can use the links.
As online tests go, this one is good. Many online test questions have no good answer, and one is left to choose the least bad option. Most of the questions here have a good answer available. Question three even has the option of “other/ none of these.”
Numver four is a favorite of motivators … is the glass half empty or half full? This is more a quirk of the english language than an indicator of personality. There are three options: half empty, half full, who drank the other half? If there had been a “who cares” option, PG would have chosen it.
The answer: “The Caregiver You’re the caregiver! Jung identified this archetype in many goddesses and female role models throughout history. You’re the mother figure: the selfless caregiver and helper. Everyone comes to you for advice. You truly love others as yourself and your greatest fear is selfishness and ingratitude. You manifest compassion and generosity. A Jungian psychologist would tell you to be careful not to be taken advantage of and never let yourself play the martyr.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Chamblee54 
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