.

I enjoy deep, thoughtful conversations about topics that most people run from (We know. DUH Rod LOL). The interwebs have allowed me to have those conversations with many more people than I could ever sit down with. And for that, I am grateful. I truly believe that we cannot know the facets of an issue unless have great dialogue about it with people having different opinions. These places online where people feel free to speak openly about their thoughts, even if their thoughts are pure trash and evil, they are the places I have learned so much from about how the human psyche develops, evolves, devolves, and yes, warps.

People are frightened, alone, anxious, hurt, unloved, broken, poor, hopeless, used, abused, angry, and depressed. But these very same people are often hopeful, resilient, creative, kind, loving, thoughtful, happy, caring, grateful, and at peace. We all wrestle with our mind and emotions to become who we are. And we've forgotten to remember that we are not alone. Talking about us, flaws and all, with people we trust or strangers we can hide from, is the purest form of living. Creating space within our lives for people to share who and why they are, this is where living occurs. It's not within the confines of our tiny singular world of self. That's a broken society that teaches us to do that.

And yes, I know that means we can get hurt. And? Who isn't already damaged goods? The path to improving our space mentally and emotionally isn't running from what has hurt us. It is in finding people who will walk with us no matter how damaged we all are, working with them to make life better, and facing our fears, weaknesses, and flaws no matter what they are - truthfully.

And this my friends, is exactly why we can't have nice things. Truth.......it crushes us instead of transforming us. Because the mirror or our reality is tough to view. We'd rather blame someone or something for our truth, because accepting our ownership of it means being critical of ourselves. And that is just easier to run from, sadly.

CountryDude89 (11877186) wrote:

Xx Peach xX (143363031) wrote:

TL Ira (187264144) wrote:

Flavatown (126579776) wrote:

Xx Peach xX (143363031) wrote:Isn’t 4chan a forum full of white supremacists, racists, sexists, and individuals that like to post pictures of random people making fun of them?



I never used it, but the screenshots I’ve seen of posts from there aren’t really… good.

It's a place where humanity devolves to its lowest common denominators. It's unfiltered, unmonitored, and nothing is ever off limits. It is the quintessential "hide behind your keyboard" and pop off about anything site. And yes, your list of internet criminals all exist there, along with countless others. It's not for the faint of heart or stomach - at all.

My colleague once said, "Reddit is the front page of the internet, and 4Chan is the septic tank". I can't really speak about Reddit, but the 4Chan part is mostly correct. There are some topics like papercraft and origami which are incredibly nice and useful (or they used to be?), but for boards like /pol/, /b/ and similar, ignorance is bliss if you value your grey matter.

I use Reddit sometimes, I only lurk and never post, I don’t event have an account, and there are um… ignorant people there but I wouldn’t say they’re neo nazi losers like the “edgy and cool” 4channers. I think most redditors are the opposite in beliefs? I think most are liberal atheists, or at least seem like it.

+ a lot of Redditors are weird. Weird fetish subreddits… I learned a lot I wish I could erase from my mind.

There has been ALOT of neo nazi stuff posted on reddit, along with other alt right garbage. most of the hate subreddits have been banned, but its still a cesspool of ignorance and stupidity


Im a left leaning Atheist myself, and i find many of the posts on that site, to be.... rather cringy.

I'm a left leaning, liberal atheist, too. No self-respecting liberal would venture into that cesspool called Reddit.

4chan, which gave birth to 8chan, designed by Fred Brennan, who, in turn sold it to Jim Watkins, and his son, Ron. After that is when all the QAnon supporters started popping up and infiltrating everywhere. I'm fairly certain that Ron Watkins is Q. All fingers point back to him.

Liberals/left leaning people are not usually racists, so there's that to consider. We like everyone equally...or, in my case, I dislike people equally. I don't hate people, I just have zero tolerance for them and their ridiculous antics.

SvG Jericha (6077295) wrote:

CountryDude89 (11877186) wrote:

Xx Peach xX (143363031) wrote:

TL Ira (187264144) wrote:

Flavatown (126579776) wrote:

Xx Peach xX (143363031) wrote:Isn’t 4chan a forum full of white supremacists, racists, sexists, and individuals that like to post pictures of random people making fun of them?



I never used it, but the screenshots I’ve seen of posts from there aren’t really… good.

It's a place where humanity devolves to its lowest common denominators. It's unfiltered, unmonitored, and nothing is ever off limits. It is the quintessential "hide behind your keyboard" and pop off about anything site. And yes, your list of internet criminals all exist there, along with countless others. It's not for the faint of heart or stomach - at all.

My colleague once said, "Reddit is the front page of the internet, and 4Chan is the septic tank". I can't really speak about Reddit, but the 4Chan part is mostly correct. There are some topics like papercraft and origami which are incredibly nice and useful (or they used to be?), but for boards like /pol/, /b/ and similar, ignorance is bliss if you value your grey matter.

I use Reddit sometimes, I only lurk and never post, I don’t event have an account, and there are um… ignorant people there but I wouldn’t say they’re neo nazi losers like the “edgy and cool” 4channers. I think most redditors are the opposite in beliefs? I think most are liberal atheists, or at least seem like it.

+ a lot of Redditors are weird. Weird fetish subreddits… I learned a lot I wish I could erase from my mind.

There has been ALOT of neo nazi stuff posted on reddit, along with other alt right garbage. most of the hate subreddits have been banned, but its still a cesspool of ignorance and stupidity


Im a left leaning Atheist myself, and i find many of the posts on that site, to be.... rather cringy.

I'm a left leaning, liberal atheist, too. No self-respecting liberal would venture into that cesspool called Reddit.

4chan, which gave birth to 8chan, designed by Fred Brennan, who, in turn sold it to Jim Watkins, and his son, Ron. After that is when all the QAnon supporters started popping up and infiltrating everywhere. I'm fairly certain that Ron Watkins is Q. All fingers point back to him.

Liberals/left leaning people are not usually racists, so there's that to consider. We like everyone equally...or, in my case, I dislike people equally. I don't hate people, I just have zero tolerance for them and their ridiculous antics.

Yeah, years ago when i first started using reddit, i thought it would be a good place to share Ideas, but i was quite wrong. Between the echo-chamber, ostracization for having the wrong opinions, and dozens of other reasons, i could no longer bring myself to partake in reddit.

And the last part of your post sounds like me. I have very little to no tolerence for stupid sh*t.

Lord Dinky (126579776) wrote:It's a place where humanity devolves to its lowest common denominators. It's unfiltered, unmonitored, and nothing is ever off limits. It is the quintessential "hide behind your keyboard" and pop off about anything site. And yes, your list of internet criminals all exist there, along with countless others. It's not for the faint of heart or stomach - at all.

THIS. ^^^

But not everyone there is any of those things. It was an interesting environment for me to study how people act when they feel there are no consequences. I had a few nihilistic and anarchistic theories to explore, but ended up me being involved with one of the greatest hacktivist groups which really did some good in the world. So funny how something good can come from something so inherently horrid.
Some are not really racist and homophobic and sexists, many were just edgelords who admired a lack of respect for the things the collective pretends to hold dear. Some of them were just competing to see how edgy they could be, but when I got to know most of them they were actually the complete opposite of what they pretended to be. It was interesting.

Lord Dinky (126579776) wrote:I enjoy deep, thoughtful conversations about topics that most people run from (We know. DUH Rod LOL). The interwebs have allowed me to have those conversations with many more people than I could ever sit down with. And for that, I am grateful. I truly believe that we cannot know the facets of an issue unless have great dialogue about it with people having different opinions. These places online where people feel free to speak openly about their thoughts, even if their thoughts are pure trash and evil, they are the places I have learned so much from about how the human psyche develops, evolves, devolves, and yes, warps.

People are frightened, alone, anxious, hurt, unloved, broken, poor, hopeless, used, abused, angry, and depressed. But these very same people are often hopeful, resilient, creative, kind, loving, thoughtful, happy, caring, grateful, and at peace. We all wrestle with our mind and emotions to become who we are. And we've forgotten to remember that we are not alone. Talking about us, flaws and all, with people we trust or strangers we can hide from, is the purest form of living. Creating space within our lives for people to share who and why they are, this is where living occurs. It's not within the confines of our tiny singular world of self. That's a broken society that teaches us to do that.

And yes, I know that means we can get hurt. And? Who isn't already damaged goods? The path to improving our space mentally and emotionally isn't running from what has hurt us. It is in finding people who will walk with us no matter how damaged we all are, working with them to make life better, and facing our fears, weaknesses, and flaws no matter what they are - truthfully.

And this my friends, is exactly why we can't have nice things. Truth.......it crushes us instead of transforming us. Because the mirror or our reality is tough to view. We'd rather blame someone or something for our truth, because accepting our ownership of it means being critical of ourselves. And that is just easier to run from, sadly.

Yer pretty kewl. I hope we can have some of those convos.

I have shied away from alot of my older interbutt contacts to get a legitimate security job, but I do miss those discussions with those little nuthairs. Funny the unexpected places where you can find little jewels of wisdom or enlightenment, eh?

Darkk (103659978) wrote:

Lord Dinky (126579776) wrote:I enjoy deep, thoughtful conversations about topics that most people run from (We know. DUH Rod LOL). The interwebs have allowed me to have those conversations with many more people than I could ever sit down with. And for that, I am grateful. I truly believe that we cannot know the facets of an issue unless have great dialogue about it with people having different opinions. These places online where people feel free to speak openly about their thoughts, even if their thoughts are pure trash and evil, they are the places I have learned so much from about how the human psyche develops, evolves, devolves, and yes, warps.

People are frightened, alone, anxious, hurt, unloved, broken, poor, hopeless, used, abused, angry, and depressed. But these very same people are often hopeful, resilient, creative, kind, loving, thoughtful, happy, caring, grateful, and at peace. We all wrestle with our mind and emotions to become who we are. And we've forgotten to remember that we are not alone. Talking about us, flaws and all, with people we trust or strangers we can hide from, is the purest form of living. Creating space within our lives for people to share who and why they are, this is where living occurs. It's not within the confines of our tiny singular world of self. That's a broken society that teaches us to do that.

And yes, I know that means we can get hurt. And? Who isn't already damaged goods? The path to improving our space mentally and emotionally isn't running from what has hurt us. It is in finding people who will walk with us no matter how damaged we all are, working with them to make life better, and facing our fears, weaknesses, and flaws no matter what they are - truthfully.

And this my friends, is exactly why we can't have nice things. Truth.......it crushes us instead of transforming us. Because the mirror or our reality is tough to view. We'd rather blame someone or something for our truth, because accepting our ownership of it means being critical of ourselves. And that is just easier to run from, sadly.

Yer pretty kewl. I hope we can have some of those convos.

I have shied away from alot of my older interbutt contacts to get a legitimate security job, but I do miss those discussions with those little nuthairs. Funny the unexpected places where you can find little jewels of wisdom or enlightenment, eh?

TY maam. And yes, the me that is now is an evolution of all those bits of wisdom and enlightenment moments. We are foolish to think we know it all or enough. We never do. The arc of a life is an opportunity to become more. Always. But way too many stay stagnant in the now, because it feels safe and comforting. They might as well crawl into the coffin.

Anyhoo, I'm glad you've wandered into the forums to share a little with us.

Preach...

a large part of my humor is dark and edgy, and i find it to be quite enjoyable. I think humanity can laugh, cry, and have many other reactions to the sheer craziness of our reality. its the natural thing to do.


The thing i cannot stand, is stupidity, ignorance, hatred, ect, either because a person refuses to be better, because they think their above everyone, or whatever causes them to be cockwaffles. human cruelty has no place in society, the world is cruel enough as it is.


The issue i have, is that many people can't, or refuse to tell the difference. There is a huge gap between telling an off hand joke to make fun of a situation, and actually believing it to be the truth.

Totally unrelated but I sometimes wish someone from Texas would speak to me in a Texan accent (or that cowboy accent forgive my ignorance) and say " Yeehaw ", If that would ever happen to me I could die a peaceful woman.

Lord Throbber (126579776) wrote:Living in Texas is entertaining. Over 1/3rd of the people here now, weren't born here - including me. Talking with people here about any issue, can be a roller coaster of fact, fiction, and fantasy. I'll find someone who is highly logical, and they'll believe some things that they "heard about on social media" that are fabricated lies. Or I'll find someone who is not very grounded in reality, and they'll have center points in their thinking that are rock solid, but they'll have built up falsehoods around that tent pole.

People used to be open to discussing ideas. They might even change their minds when confronted with new information. But it seems now that people develop their views, and then just grab whatever bits of data they come across that validate how they already feel. They don't even care about truth. They just want whatever they think or feel about something to be right, no matter how untrue the facts they based their thoughts and emotions on are.

I don't think it's healthy for people to be stuck in their mindsets. If we simply call properly sourced evidence or information a "lie" when it refutes what we think or feel, we have chosen to live within a fabrication of our own making. I do understand that media and governments manipulate information for their benefit and to our detriment. They are no longer trustworthy. But choosing to discount everything because of that reason seems a dangerous path for any individual. Because then it literally becomes whatever we think or feel is our own version of truth, no matter how untrue it is.

I'm not really looking for answers here. I'm mostly venting because it has become exceedingly difficult to communicate truth to a great number of people. They don't want truth. They only want their version of it. And that house of cards is a shallow foundation on which to exist. No wonder anxiety and depression are rampant in society. Too many people have no real core to their existence except for their fabricated reality. They live in a sea of doubt with no foundation to anchor them.

*sigh*

Interesting and thought provoking. I will share your post with my coworkers tonight. We mostly try to keep our interactions from becoming an argument regarding who is correct vs wishful thinking. So many believe MSM.

Gracie (127997951) wrote:

Lord Throbber (126579776) wrote:Living in Texas is entertaining. Over 1/3rd of the people here now, weren't born here - including me. Talking with people here about any issue, can be a roller coaster of fact, fiction, and fantasy. I'll find someone who is highly logical, and they'll believe some things that they "heard about on social media" that are fabricated lies. Or I'll find someone who is not very grounded in reality, and they'll have center points in their thinking that are rock solid, but they'll have built up falsehoods around that tent pole.

People used to be open to discussing ideas. They might even change their minds when confronted with new information. But it seems now that people develop their views, and then just grab whatever bits of data they come across that validate how they already feel. They don't even care about truth. They just want whatever they think or feel about something to be right, no matter how untrue the facts they based their thoughts and emotions on are.

I don't think it's healthy for people to be stuck in their mindsets. If we simply call properly sourced evidence or information a "lie" when it refutes what we think or feel, we have chosen to live within a fabrication of our own making. I do understand that media and governments manipulate information for their benefit and to our detriment. They are no longer trustworthy. But choosing to discount everything because of that reason seems a dangerous path for any individual. Because then it literally becomes whatever we think or feel is our own version of truth, no matter how untrue it is.

I'm not really looking for answers here. I'm mostly venting because it has become exceedingly difficult to communicate truth to a great number of people. They don't want truth. They only want their version of it. And that house of cards is a shallow foundation on which to exist. No wonder anxiety and depression are rampant in society. Too many people have no real core to their existence except for their fabricated reality. They live in a sea of doubt with no foundation to anchor them.

*sigh*

Interesting and thought provoking. I will share your post with my coworkers tonight. We mostly try to keep our interactions from becoming an argument regarding who is correct vs wishful thinking. So many believe MSM.

Anyone who doesn't investigate claims a bit further is a fool and they deserve what they get. Don't believe anything and question everything.
But, my best piece of advice is to follow the money. Find out who stands to profit.
I think if people would just do that, they would see that a particular political figure has fooled them for many, many years. Actually, all the political figures just suck as human beings, but some do more so than others.

.

SvG Sapphira (6077295) wrote:Anyone who doesn't investigate claims a bit further is a fool and they deserve what they get. Don't believe anything and question everything.
But, my best piece of advice is to follow the money. Find out who stands to profit.
I think if people would just do that, they would see that a particular political figure has fooled them for many, many years. Actually, all the political figures just suck as human beings, but some do more so than others.

Are you an auditor? LOL You sound like me. And as far as politicians go........my FB profile pic -



I don't like any of them - the ones that lie rudely or the ones that lie skillfully. Stealing tax money and delivering the incompetence that they do earns them all my disdain. Federal politics is a cesspool of crime using the 2 party system to pit Americans against each other. The people suffer because the parties can blame each other and WE allow it. THEY are the problem, but people are so blinded by their party of choice that they can't see they are being used. We need to remove them all and replace every one of them.

Xx Peach xX (143363031) wrote:

CountryDude89 (11877186) wrote:a large part of my humor is dark and edgy, and i find it to be quite enjoyable. I think humanity can laugh, cry, and have many other reactions to the sheer craziness of our reality. its the natural thing to do.


The thing i cannot stand, is stupidity, ignorance, hatred, ect, either because a person refuses to be better, because they think their above everyone, or whatever causes them to be cockwaffles. human cruelty has no place in society, the world is cruel enough as it is.


The issue i have, is that many people can't, or refuse to tell the difference. There is a huge gap between telling an off hand joke to make fun of a situation, and actually believing it to be the truth.

I don’t mind dark humor, but some people just… are annoying when claiming their racism/sexism is dark humor. Some think dark humor is making racist/sexist jokes- and that people are “snowflakes” if they don’t like them. Made me realize that dark humor is very subjective, since I don’t see their racism/sexism as dark “jokes”.

For example, racially-profiling someone and saying a harmful stereotypical “joke” about them isn’t funny in the least. Saying women belong in the kitchen, isn’t funny either, and pointless to say too- am I supposed to laugh? Don’t men claim to be funnier?

Yes, the bigoted, racist, misogynist, ect stuff is what i was refering to, especially in my last paragraph. I do find it to be a problem that people disguise their hate as a joke, and think they are onto some universal truth, when really, they are just sad, pathetic bigots.

Lord Throbber (126579776) wrote:

SvG Sapphira (6077295) wrote:Anyone who doesn't investigate claims a bit further is a fool and they deserve what they get. Don't believe anything and question everything.
But, my best piece of advice is to follow the money. Find out who stands to profit.
I think if people would just do that, they would see that a particular political figure has fooled them for many, many years. Actually, all the political figures just suck as human beings, but some do more so than others.

Are you an auditor? LOL You sound like me. And as far as politicians go........my FB profile pic -



I don't like any of them - the ones that lie rudely or the ones that lie skillfully. Stealing tax money and delivering the incompetence that they do earns them all my disdain. Federal politics is a cesspool of crime using the 2 party system to pit Americans against each other. The people suffer because the parties can blame each other and WE allow it. THEY are the problem, but people are so blinded by their party of choice that they can't see they are being used. We need to remove them all and replace every one of them.

No. I'm not an auditor. I am a 52 year old woman (well, I'll be 52 in about 5 hours) who owns a wholesale cannabis grow in western Washington state. Before that, I did hard labor jobs that are, predominantly, male professions. That's why women think I'm rude (because I'm blunt and to the point) and men just don't know how to take me because I can rebuild an engine and run a chainsaw. I've walked in both sets of shoes during my lifetime. But, another thing I've done is that I've been a freelance writer for many years. I write about a plethora of subjects, like cooking, the full-time RV lifestyle and I've written about politics and government.

However, being involved in politics is something that I consider to be my civic duty. I always see people talking about how this is the USA and we have all these rights, but I've yet to see one of those people talk about the inherent responsibilities that go along with those rights. One of the most important responsibilities that Americans have is to become educated.

I will agree that we have allowed this 2 party system to fester and infect our government. I will also agree that 99% of them need to be replaced. There are a few that need to remain there because they are truly representing their constituents.
What we need to do is get rid of the lobbyists. This country went to hell in a hand basket when lobbyists and special interest groups were allowed to simply purchase our politicians.

The average senator has to pull in $14,000 per day just to stay in office. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you’re a big bank. You want to buy influence with a senator on the banking committee so he’ll vote your way on an upcoming bill. The easiest way would be to just give $100,000 directly to the senator’s reelection campaign. But alas, that would be illegal — federal law prohibits companies from making direct donations to candidates. So instead, you hire a lobbying firm.

Here’s where things get corrupt. That lobbying firm can legally organize a swanky fundraiser that brings in $100,000 for the senator’s reelection campaign. At the fundraiser, your lobbyist just happens to have a friendly chat about your feelings on banking policy with the senator’s staff.

At the end of the day, the senator is still up $100,000, he still knows exactly where the money came from, and he knows which way to vote if he wants the money to keep flowing. But this time, nobody’s broken any laws!

So, we can get rid of all the politicians that we want to get rid of and it's not going to do any good. You won't see a change until we get rid of the lobbyists.

If you want to know who's bought your politician, go to opensecrets dot org.

I do not get into the whole Anonymous thing or the Q thing...if either was worthwhile and/or legit, they wouldn't hide behind anonymity. In my opinion, they are about as credible as the reptilian overlord theory.

Xx Peach xX (143363031) wrote:I don’t mind dark humor, but some people just… are annoying when claiming their racism/sexism is dark humor. Some think dark humor is making racist/sexist jokes- and that people are “snowflakes” if they don’t like them. Made me realize that dark humor is very subjective, since I don’t see their racism/sexism as dark “jokes”.

For example, racially-profiling someone and saying a harmful stereotypical “joke” about them isn’t funny in the least. Saying women belong in the kitchen, isn’t funny either, and pointless to say too- am I supposed to laugh? Don’t men claim to be funnier?

Well unfortunately the only purely sensitive and politically correct humor won't be as funny to some of us, but there is a line, even with people that would likely offend on purpose.
That's what most don't realize, edgelords don't always BELIEVE that shyt, it's often about provoking a reaction, and most people can be very predictable and they usually do exactly as expected. Some people, I personally think, feel so powerless in their lives that they must do this sort of thing to vent resentment at their powerless in their own lives, many of the most vitrol-dripping edgelords I met online were quite respectable and productive but frustrated people in their 'real' lives.
But most prefer to jump to judgement and reaction, show that they usually don't really exhibit the pretended altruism and end up being very hateful and reactionary, which it is the troll's purpose to expose in them.
To be perfectly honest, I am capable of trolling people this way, tho I don't do it just to take a leak like alot of trolls, I usually do it for educational reasons. Like, that closet racist that pretends to hide behind superficial euphemisms and give vague but not sincere statements of pretended compromise when all you have to do is dig a bit and the true colors show thru.
Every troll knows... angry words are truer words than people want to admit, sometimes you have to piss someone off to get them to admit their TRUE feelings. In this way, sometimes trolling can be productive, tho it's not going to make you popular. But few people like having their darker shades exposed to them, and they usually want to shoot the messenger.

Anonymous was full of trolls, but alot of them meant well and wanted a better world. Not everyone is the sum of the least member's lowest moment, but the Q-Anon thing was quite different.
I have it on some authority that I would never reveal, that the entire Q-Anon thing as well as Parler was set up by a group of ex 4channers who were seeking to phish tf out of a certain group who seemed to revel in being tech-illiterate. Most every link that was shared was a phishing scam, and Parler was even easier to data-mine info from these people. Many of the sites that post a great deal of rascist and sexist 'research' are phishing sites, not credible info but they know that people will click and clickbait is just become very politically directed.
Q-Anon has no real comparison to say, WikiLeaks and the people behind it have NO desire to inform or share info, but they do have SOME truth they can wrap their lies around, that's honestly how the media does it as well and their motives are just as arbitrary. But they didn't target that group for any reasons other than data mining, it wasn't because they held them in contempt (or should I say, they don't hold them in any more contempt than they hold everyone most likely, they are not a happy benevolent group.)
But thats just my very educated and likely cynical opinion.

For some reason... it doesn't show me the latest reply, says Peach commented but I am the last comment showing... weird.

If someone posts and deletes it, they show as the last post.