“Sometimes the only purpose one’s life serves is as a warning to others.”
There are 2 previous posts that this serves as an expansion pack to, and while it should stand alone well enough on it’s own, it is better to go back and read/listen to them before continuing further. The first, which contains the definition of Retardism, is The 95% (http://thegoddamnbacon.com/15-Minute-Philosophy-the-95); the second, which might be the most ironic piece ever written given the example to be made of shortly, is Zombie (http://thegoddamnbacon.com/15-Minute-Philosophy-zombie). Assuming you have finished the above (and thanks by the way: I know they are both lengthy but well worth it), let us continue:
Ever have that one or three friends that, before the collective meltdown of the 2016 election let alone the more recent one and the Retardemic currently going on at the time of this writing, you could wind up in an argument you both had a fundamental disagreement with, but outside of that you knew they were good people? Hell, before all the available info in the world could be found on the device you’re reading this on (folks named Carl and Mictubis who downloaded this to their kindle or printed it out: shut up) meaning any argument with tangible reason and evidence could be objectively proven or disproven, you could have whatever debate at hand and still possibly go grab a beer later that day because, again, your relationship to each other let alone what they base their reality on doesn’t revolve around subjects that likely are outside your control anyway.
“In fairness: fact checking during an argument is usually done from a distance online, not in person, which makes it more problematic to go grab a beer afterwards for starters.”
For better or worse however, most interactions these days ARE online, and not only does that provide a physical safety barrier from retaliation of disrespectful behaviour, but in part because of that gives most people the bravado to show their true colours and beliefs, as well as their disdain for opposing ones. Ask me how I know: I’m pretty much out of touch with just about every “friend” I had back when I lived in LA, and this past year burned away entire groups of them, some of which I was very well known in to the point people I never met before recognised me. (More on that here, was a good time being part of the Third Man Militia while it lasted: http://thegoddamnbacon.com/15-Minute-Philosophy-virtue). Honestly, no regrets: much as I miss those connections and conversations, better to find out whose really on your side before shots are being fired than after, and I have gone on to find people that actually would have my back. Lesson being to learn the difference between the two, and to figure out who you can reason with and possibly convince that perhaps they might be in the wrong as opposed to simply doubling down and calling you out on actions they themselves are guilty of. Which brings us back to our example: Two Penny Prince, or just Prince for at least some brevity for once.
“Let’s just say this isn’t our first entanglement, unlike what most wives tell tell the husbands they settled for when they find out who that secret number is, ask Will Smith how he knows!”
Prince is a guy that found the show a few years back, and we’ve had our disagreements but for the longest we had a lot more that we agreed on, and overall he seemed like a solid guy you could go out and get a beer with, someone that didn’t take himself too seriously. Hell, he’s someone that, when his own let’s just say personal issues became too much and he reached out for help, I did what I could to get his message out to those that follow the program. But of note especially in recent days is not just his increasing fervor of politics (take a wild fucking guess which stunning and brave flavour!), but the sheer shameless arrogance of self proclaimed superiority behind them, to the point that it is clear there hasn’t been anyone around him physically to put him in his place for a long time now.
“I’m just saiyan.”
Case in point: the most recent altercation he started on purpose, the reason of which will be revealed as we analyse just what the fuck happened here.
“I can’t POSSIBLY see where this is going!”
Right there from the cover pic we can see whatever he was doing online beforehand was bait he knew someone was gonna take him up on, which someone clearly did. Today’s topic? Can’t exactly tell because Prince (for reasons we’ll get to) didn’t include the original post, but given the caption reads “Context: one of us doesn’t believe in vaccines.”, we can take a wild guess what hot button topic he wanted to make conflict over. We continue:
Asked, and received he did pushback from whatever he was doing: someone stepped up and answered him with historical context on the failings of medical authority way back when, especially with a particular group of persecuted people at the time. And given the comment led with “we get it, you just don’t care about” and ended with “well behaved house pet”, I can imagine this wasn’t the first online altercation these two have had. Response?
“Full Retard Mode: ACTIVATE!”
First order is, of course, to open up with projections out the gate with “without a sense of irony” (don’t worry: it continues), than not only to (in his mind) a false comparison, but an immediate jump to the Tuskegee Airman and the Retard Remover. It should be noted, in case you’re unaware, that the Tuskegee group the other guy was referring to was not in fact a famous pursuit group that operated in the European Theatre for the Army Air Corps during WW2, so why that was the offhand response by Prince is anyone’s guess, other than maybe he deep down thinks most black groups of people are the same hey did it just get dark in here?
“Sorry if you were mining bitcoin while you were reading this.”
He continues with the personal attacks (which means the argument would’ve been lost had one been started in the first place), making actual false comparisons between white and black issues even though the other guy made no mention of race (huh, for such a non-racist that seems to come up a lot), then finishes with a ton of negative labels and accusations, stating after that he was “done with this post”, which I guess was his way of “walking off the court” after a “victory”.
Now let’s look at the caption: first order of business was to correct his mistake of mislabelling which group was referenced (too little too late in my opinion), then in one of if not the most ironic of examples of idiocracy I have ever seen, proceeds to paint this viral zombie apocalypse scenario which ends with some black scientist says “Tsk Tsk Honkie” before shooting some non-believer white republican IN FRONT OF HIS DAUGHTER, adding partisan discrimination on top of racial prejudice, which apparently is something no one could’ve POSSIBLY have seen coming.
“Apparently you have to be ”really stoned” to think up this academy award winning script. Still wondering why I said read Zombie before this?”
He continues with the example of deaths from smallpox as reasoning for why you should get the Retard Remover, which he does state has killed over 900 people so far and compares that rate to being” safer than driving”. For starters, not even taking into account how long it took to create the vaccine for smallpox or literally ANY ailment compared to this one for the Retardemic aside, the fact that it by his own admission outright killed almost a thousand people within a few months of being given out should be enough to give ANY sane person pause. Conveniently left out are all of the pregnancies that were terminated within HOURS after getting the jab, and if early reports alongside this are any indication, let’s just say infertility might be a hot button topic in 2022; I call it the Retard Remover for a reason.
“In fairness he was “wicked baked” at the time: some things slip the mind when that happens.”
But wait: THERE’S MOAR (are you shocked even though he said he was”done”? I for one am FLOORED!). Someone else rightly points out the difference between the airmen and the syphilis group that was experimented on, albeit with his own personal attacks on Prince, though given the clear misstep was somewhat warranted. Prince (of course) not only retroactively covers his tracks, but then tried to reverse the shame on the guy that pointed it out and explained it, basically saying he “should’ve figured it out”, as if it was his responsibility to figure out his intent.
“Again, how did you think making a fuck up that bad would go over? I’m just asking for a friend here.”
It should be noted that this was post that brought all this to my attention, and the caption should show why this became an entire thing: aside from his “favourite argument tactic”, he also states why he didn’t include whatever sparked all this off, sorta:
Perhaps the idea is that it’s to “protect” the other guy from retaliation from others reading all of this, make no mistake: this also not only leaves out how he started all this (never found it by the way), but unless the other person finds this, makes it impossible for them to defend themselves, meaning Prince can say whatever he wants with more or less impunity, which in my opinion is just short of cowardice. And he even fails at that, as not only Splinter who’s a mutual friend pointed out, but I myself reached out to the original guy for the context Prince didn’t provide.
“Spoiler alert….”
He then continues with a entire victory parade of self indulgence and ridicule, which I’ll just let speak for itself:
“Oh you made a “bad choice” alright homeboy.”
There’s plenty to pick apart in this: projections galore for starters. The one I found the most delicious however is the use of the Dunning – Kruger Effect, which basically is the dumber you are on a subject the smarter you think you are. Given how this entire argument (at least what he posted) went and to anyone that actually knows how to make an argument let alone knows what one is in the first place, the clown world cavalcade of irony he thinks he’s aware of is sweet enough to throw a room full of lifelong carnivores into a diabetic coma in minutes.
“Speaking of SafetyPhD.com as someone that may know a bit on the subject matter…”
Now one could say maybe this guy at another time could be reasoned with. Unless you’re someone like me that not only has been at this for the better part of 2 decades (literally on a debate team at one point for what that’s worth), but has had multiple skirmishes with him over the past couple of years, often leading into side fights with his “friends”, who surprise surprise utilitise the same sophist tactics he doesn’t realise he uses:
“I’ll let you judge for yourself. Though as you can see, his buddies ain’t much better.”
“Meanwhile, when it’s time to put up or shit up….”
One of these in particular stands out, as not only as an example of Prince clearly not learning from his mistakes, but as one of the same baiting tactics. That’s right: he’s done this before:
“I hope you were sitting down for this.”
One can only guess as to what the point of these “gotcha” posts is other than for a quick dopamine hit he clearly isn’t getting elsewhere: my guess is this is his display of intellectual and political prowess and knowledge. But as you can see, intellectual honesty ain’t in his deck of cards, as being corrected, argued with, even mocked and ridiculed did about as much to change him as a paintball marker could do to knock down a brick wall. And given that not only is he unwilling to learn a damn thing even though he states as much, but is actively trolling for sport, what do you do with a “friend” like this?
“Underrated scene.”
Triage. As defined by Merriam-Webster:
“2: the assigning of priority order to projects on the basis of where funds and other resources can be best used, are most needed, or are most likely to achieve success. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/triage)”
In other words, focus your efforts on areas, and in this case people and your relationships with them, where they would make a difference and away from where they won’t. It should be obvious by now that Prince isn’t gonna learn a damn thing until he has to start paying for it, to the point he’s blatant about it, so why even bother? In his case, even for someone like me that likes getting into arguments for fun, this shit has gotten so repetitive that’s it’s boring, and if it continues I’ll probably just mute the guy so I don’t even see what BS he’s posting about; even if I’m on social media I have better things to do than see the same shit over and over again. But I know those of you reading this have otherwise decent people like this and don’t want to necessarily cut them out of your lives for whatever reason. But ask yourself a question:
How much is your time worth?
Understand time is the only commodity you never get back, therefore truly is the only commodity we all have. Question is how much time are you spending having arguments like this with these “friends” vs actually enjoying your time with them, which is one reason why I would imagine you became friends in the first place. The other being how much could you could depend on this friend in a time of need, in particular if it come downs between you and their politics: which one would they choose over the other. Until recent times, going back to Prince I figured, given real life examples like L.A.W. that I can hang out with, maybe we could grab a beer. But now I’m not quite as sure, and I’m not really motivated to find out for myself, especially since I only know him online; I’d rather meet with Splinter in person who doesn’t pull shit like this.
As far as friends in real life you think is worth saving: my recommendation would be to have a Come To Jesus conversation with them; better to hash this out up front rather than let it go on over time. That alone will save you time let alone headache, and if you end up losing them over this, we’re they really your friend in the first place? I know for myself I have better things to do. Money to make. Projects to work on. House/car fires to put out. Workouts to perform. Podcasts/livestreams to listen to. Investments to manage. Actual family and friends to spend time with. Impulse purchases from etsy.com/shop/lazarusrazors & wearethefailsafe.com to make.
“Women sliding into my DMs that look like this.”
Hell, even taking the time writing all this, mentally stimulating and entertaining as it is, was time that could’ve been allocated elsewhere, and even if I thought this would help Prince or anyone else like him literally ANYTHING ELSE would have a better ROI. Isn’t that worth chasing instead?
“Obviously women are suppose to chase you not the other way around, but I digress….”