I hate to be seen this nakedly aggro, but reddit is broken ruins.
Obligatory cred: first used reddit in...2006? Used it to chat with friends around the world on subjects of mutual interest. It was fun, of course. I've mainly lurked since then.
Now? If one sifts through the records there is great info in there, but most subs I want to enjoy are overrun with, how to say, self-congratulatory amateurs. It's neither useful nor entertaining.
Is this a good thing? Of all social media, Reddit seems to me like it has the most potential to actually do something positive for society. They’ve seriously been dropping the ball with execution in the past several years but I don’t know that we’d be better off with them disappearing without a better alternative.
I need to reread her, as well, as I cannot make my memory of her writing work entirely with this power-as-consensus claim.
Your "two levers," I think are interesting in that coercion is, in my experience of popular political argumentation, allowed to sneak in via a societal focus on physical violence ("force" in your terms?).
Example: some leftists claim property violence is not violence because, paraphrasing, is does not harm the human body. Leaving aside the validity of this claim, the coerciveness of the act remains but is somehow able to pass the smell test in certain circles. I think this depends on one's perception of conflict, but that is a long discussion.
Meanwhile, as you imply above, deception is clearly coercion, but much more effective in the longrun than physical violence. Deception generates belief congruent with the deceivers' attempt to acquire (more) power, which, once established, requires less maintenance than fear.
Finally, there is nothing in the description of power as cited above that is necessarily free from coercion. If power simply means both individual and collective agency, then capturing agency via coercion is still an acquisition of power.
I do not know anything about Calfire, but I have worked with a few other fire crews at state and federal levels in California and neighboring states, and while they have and love nice fire equipment--would you want bad eqp in an out of control wildfire?--most of it is 100% usable in prevention tactics. As another commenter mentions, fire crews are almost universally very interested in preventative methodology and more broadly in forest ecology--it's in the job description, and certainly necessary for a career path.
Whether or not a given crew is assigned to fuels or other fire prevention tasks in a given jurisdiction depends entirely on the budget priorities of that jurisdiction. In turn, that jurisdiction has to work with whatever annual budget trickles down from administrative and executive levels.
Regarding California, I know too little to speak with confidence on government spending. People I know who live there are work in land management have always said that forest (fire) management has been neglected for many years.
I believe the reference is to the JW eschatology, which foresees JWs as undergoing a sort of total persecution as a sign of Judgement Times, or Armageddon, or whatever they call it. And, because their form of ministry involves frequently talking to and attempting to convert strangers, they encounter many and various forms of rejection, including critiques, that are understood as harbingers of coming persecution. In this sense daily life comes to reaffirm a broader millenarian vision of the future.
phew.
So, I think the analogy is meant to say that our current era's secular glorification of victimhood achieves a similar goal by encoding quotidienne experiences of failure or rejection with a larger meaning, in this case being part of an oppressed group.
I concur, however. Like others, on this thread, I (slowly) eliminated nearly all news from my life over the last two years. Doing this has had a profound effect on my perspectives, but has also ruined a lot of "conversation" for me. Previously, I played along in various forms of political shittalkery, but now, I find it disturbing to hear/see.
Increasingly, I am concerned by the tone, content, and purpose of many (American) people's strongly-held positions. On occasion I have found that voicing a contrary opinion results in estrangement, but more worryingly, merely not voicing a validation is enough to achieve some alienation.
We have moved from free speech to compelled speech. If you fail to perform the necessary virtue signaling then your loyalty to the tribe is questioned.
I agree that the issue is "why," but I also know the answer: they cannot ascertain a path forward. I do agree with your general advice, however. Health and involvement in groups are foundational.
As an example, a friend from this age group, but crucially, without a child, powered through a coding camp at 14-16 hours a day for several months and has had, to her, well-paid and fulfilling work since then. But, most would have difficulty carving out that kind of time, while also questioning a successful outcome (edit: in short, opportunity cost comes to be seen as very dear. This certainly does not excuse wasted time, but if you actually do not know where to invest time....).
The truly motivated are indeed a minority, but again, I perceive that as often a product of not seeing a path in the forest: sensing promise in no direction, they wander. Taking the metaphor further, and drawing on my meager SAR training, lost people wander until they needn't or cannot--the tools they need are a map and compass rather than will.
Totally. And my apologies if I implied a lack of "will" was the issue - God knows I struggle enough with that.
I think that "the path forward" is a mix of things. Often we have opportunities we have not tested, and, part of the path forward is discovering how to change our habits, environments, or thought patterns.
One of which is reaching out for help.
And sometimes you are absolutely correct; there may be no path. But, people's life circumstances differ so much, and any kind of change like this requires effort, commitment over time, and continuing on past roadblocks, that I doubt "an answer" is the right approach for individual people.
Usually it's the walking of the path that's trickier than ascertaining the path itself. Usually there's at least a glimmer of what might be a path ... except for the darkness within ourselves.
Now, governments, institutions, yes - I do believe our institutions should provide more opportunities for people.
I should apologize for reducing your response to that.
Agreed regarding "darkness within ourselves." I see (and perform, myself) plenty of self-defeat in the form of discarding possible paths because of hypothetically insurmountable external obstacles.
That said, I think there usually is a path, but many are unsure how to identify it.
Any way, clearly I need to consider and clarify my question!
All correct. Referring to WSB as (having ever been) "nice people" also seems an odd way to view the sub. The entire fun of WSB has always been the
4chan humor coupled with the gravity of real money.
I doubt that pro traders are buying simple calls and puts like WSB. But selling them those options when groupthink takes over might be profitable, indeed.
> I doubt that pro traders are buying simple calls and puts like WSB. But selling them those options when groupthink takes over might be profitable, indeed.
Most pro traders aren't really selling options either unless they're a market makers, in which case they're hedging with stock so as to remain delta neutral.
Pro traders use options to reduce risk via hedging. It's meant to be an insurance policy to protect holdings in the underlying. Buy $10M of ABC stock and insure it with $100,000 of ABC put contracts. Of course, it was quickly turned into a high risk/high leverage speculative vehicle by gamblers.
Not to nitpick, and I dont know those boots in particular, but the wildfire hiking boots owned by myself and friends have glued soles and local cobbler has resoled at least a couple pairs.
Your overall point, however, is important. I find reviews of outdoors gear (even professional reviews) especially tilted toward light-use buyers, which is frustrating.
The former cost in the ball park of 200 USD to resole, the latter about 30 USD.
Unfortunately, I don’t think sneakers, running or approach shoes can be resoled.
I quite like this because we all need reliable reviews/ratings.
But, how do we deal with product model or component changes?
A couple examples:
"Earthquake" impact wrench from Harbor Freight. Purchased ten years ago, used a lot--for an amateur (maybe a couple thousand high torque automotive bolts, sunk some cement anchors). This product is currently sold by HF, but is much changed.
The site's example of Lodge cast iron. I cook on cast iron 90% of the time and my older lodge pan is much better than a newish one. The newer one has a more coarse surface, is strangely lighter.
Maybe rating by brand would be better. Harbor Freight is known for high variance. If they added a “no really, not destined for a landfill” brand line that was 99% unbreakable, then that would bubble up to the top.
The problem with trusting brands is that manufacturers (like whirlpool and frigidaire) intentionally rotate which of their sub brands is garbage every few years to prevent people from avoiding planned obsolescence.
Better then, to go off of manufacturers / holding companies / design houses, but that varies by industry. (In computing, counting all the name brand computer companies as design houses would make sense. But then, what about ikea appliances? They’re mostly rebranded whirlpools...)
The other problem is that internal politics can tear down a reliable brand in less time than it takes their old stuff to fail. Various shoe brands in the late 90’s come to mind. They went from reliably lasting years to lasting 6 months (there was a trend where the hiking or leather tongue bottoms were replaced by tennis shoe style material).
I agree that by-brand ratings are too complicated--even if my lizard brain operates that way.
Maybe now I'm yelling at clouds, but it feels like I have to do deep research on everything, now. Everything I read, everything I need to buy, everything. It's tiresome and terrible and is why a site like this could be...really, so helpful.
Yeah. This happens everywhere. Five years back I bought an expensive and sturdily-built couch. Liked it so much I bought a second (after a series of moves during which the first one was given/long-term-loaned to a friend). Same brand, price, etc. The new one was complete shit. The back of it was close to cardboard; I put my knee through it while nudging it around! And this is something in the several thousand $ range! Don't buy Gus Modern furniture.
From past personal experience: get an old vehicle and make like new; learn linux on machine not best-suited to it; and, with out getting overly specific, gain skills by getting involved with people outside your milieu--volunteer, or get a side job that teaches you a useful skill via mentors with perspectives you do not normally encounter.
In my experience, learning a complicated system translates well to another.
Finally, and perhaps this will sound a bit life-coachy--sorry: learn to suffer, dynamically. Learn that your limits are often imagined, and that you can "put away" unpleasant feelings in order to perform adaptively within, or even enjoy, struggle. This a skill of mine that not many people have. It's probably not crucial, as people without it seem to function fine, but it does afford me unique opportunities.
Endurance is absolutely a great life skill. We can do so much more than we think we can when we learn how to manage our thoughts. It is what enables people to become navy seals, cardiologists, pioneers in one's field, or all of the above if you are Jonny Kim. Jonny spoke at great length on Jocko Willink's podcast if you are interested in his story of personal triumph: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yujP3-AxXsI
Obligatory cred: first used reddit in...2006? Used it to chat with friends around the world on subjects of mutual interest. It was fun, of course. I've mainly lurked since then.
Now? If one sifts through the records there is great info in there, but most subs I want to enjoy are overrun with, how to say, self-congratulatory amateurs. It's neither useful nor entertaining.
Even joke subs feel tired and decadent.
Meanwhile, mob rule downvoting pervades.
It is broken.
Good riddance.