More sacrifices to the 2nd Amendment

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

  On 1/5/2024 at 1:26 PM, Phil1111 said:

Do you mean like conservative trump fans that paid over $4.6 million for his latest batch of "digital trading cards"?

No. That's just 'REALLY fucking stupid.'

And, apparently, a really handy way to launder money.

https://wegotthiscovered.com/social-media/donald-trump-nft-trading-cards-money-laundering-scheme-tiktok/

[ryoder 1,590]

NPR: Former top NRA official admits wrongdoing in New York corruption case

Some choice bits from the article:

"The finances of the NRA are in shambles," Powell wrote, portraying the NRA as part of "the grifter culture of Conservative Inc."

In a 2020 interview with NPR, Powell said that under LaPierre's leadership, the NRA tried to radicalize gun owners in order to raise more money.

"The term 'pour gasoline on the fire' is from Wayne's lips to God's ears ... it's very easy to raise money off of fear," he said.

 

So just the standard fear-mongering-for-money-and-power business model pioneered by Rush Limbaugh.

 

[lippy 918]

  On 1/7/2024 at 6:19 PM, ryoder said:

NPR: Former top NRA official admits wrongdoing in New York corruption case

Some choice bits from the article:

"The finances of the NRA are in shambles," Powell wrote, portraying the NRA as part of "the grifter culture of Conservative Inc."

In a 2020 interview with NPR, Powell said that under LaPierre's leadership, the NRA tried to radicalize gun owners in order to raise more money.

"The term 'pour gasoline on the fire' is from Wayne's lips to God's ears ... it's very easy to raise money off of fear," he said.

 

So just the standard fear-mongering-for-money-and-power business model pioneered by Rush Limbaugh.

 

The only thing surprising there is the self-awareness.

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

  On 1/7/2024 at 6:25 PM, lippy said:

The only thing surprising there is the self-awareness.

To be fair,  most of them know exactly what they are doing. 

The surprising thing is that they admit it.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

  On 1/7/2024 at 10:25 PM, wolfriverjoe said:

To be fair,  most of them know exactly what they are doing. 

The surprising thing is that they admit it.

The real takeaway here is that the average Republican voter is stupid.

[winsor 236]

  On 1/8/2024 at 7:33 PM, SkyDekker said:

The real takeaway here is that the average voter is stupid.

FIFY

[lippy 918]

  On 1/9/2024 at 2:06 PM, winsor said:

FIFY

Say what you will, but I'm thinking there weren't too many people voting Democrat based on the decades-long misinformation campaign of the NRA.  Like Trump, LaPierre loves the poorly educated.

 

[jakee 1,558]

  On 1/9/2024 at 2:06 PM, winsor said:

FIFY

Indeed, just imagine the self proclaimed independent thinkers who look at the naked crime, corruption and anti-democratic, anti-constitutional actions of Trump, then simply declare that Biden must be just as bad. Truly, it boggles the mind.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

  On 1/9/2024 at 2:06 PM, winsor said:

FIFY

Assuming voters follow the general distribution of the populace, that simply cannot be true.

[billvon 3,063]

  On 1/8/2024 at 7:33 PM, SkyDekker said:

The real takeaway here is that the average Republican voter is stupid.

A few things here. 

First off there's not much difference in IQ.  Most studies show a less than 10 point difference between democrats and republicans, with the average being around 4 point difference.  This difference is exacerbated when Trump supporters are involved; they average significantly lower when compared to non-Trump supporters on a vocabulary test.  In fact, performance on a simple 10 question test was very strongly predictive for who they would vote for.  (Note that this is NOT a republican vs democrat thing; Trump supporters were compared to non-Trump supporters who were both republicans and democrats.)

Second, most people who support Trump aren't doing it because they are stupid.  Their reasons vary tremendously.  One is "anything that owns the libs is good with me" - for them it is a simple adversarial relationship, and they want "their side" to win.  Another is that Trump represents an ideal for them - a successful white guy who can get multiple women, and ignore accusations of sexual assault and criminal activity.  Trump also represents a bulwark against many things conservatives fear, like equality between the sexes and races, the welcoming of immigrants and acceptance of LGBT people.  He says all the things they wish they could say.

Third there is now an entire industry composed of political action groups, social media influencers, social media companies themselves, news organizations etc dedicated to constructing a believable narrative that explains away all the contradictions around Trump.  You can easily find "proof" that Trump did not rape E. Jean Carroll, that the Chinese and Saudis did not give him millions while he was president, and that he was the reason we stopped COVID if you pursue such sources.

At most you could say that Trump voters are less likely to catch on to scams and dishonest schemes, since they have become somewhat inured to them.  But the primary difference is not intelligence.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

  On 1/9/2024 at 4:58 PM, billvon said:

One is "anything that owns the libs is good with me" - for them it is a simple adversarial relationship

which is stupid

  On 1/9/2024 at 4:58 PM, billvon said:

Another is that Trump represents an ideal for them - a successful white guy who can get multiple women, and ignore accusations of sexual assault and criminal activity. 

which is stupid

 

  On 1/9/2024 at 4:58 PM, billvon said:

He says all the things they wish they could say.

which is stupid

 

  On 1/9/2024 at 4:58 PM, billvon said:

You can easily find "proof" that Trump did not rape E. Jean Carroll, that the Chinese and Saudis did not give him millions while he was president, and that he was the reason we stopped COVID if you pursue such sources.

and you would have to be stupid to believe it.

[Stumpy 284]

  On 1/9/2024 at 4:58 PM, billvon said:

First off there's not much difference in IQ.  Most studies show a less than 10 point difference between democrats and republicans, with the average being around 4 point difference

As an average, that seems quite significant?!

[billvon 3,063]

  On 1/9/2024 at 5:06 PM, Stumpy said:

As an average, that seems quite significant?!

Not really.  I mean, on average, completing a year of school adds 3 IQ points.  So consider the difference between someone who completes a four year college degree and a five year double degree - not huge.

[billvon 3,063]

  On 1/9/2024 at 5:04 PM, SkyDekker said:

which is stupid

Well, but that's like saying "libs want to freeze in the dark rather than use coal, and that's stupid" and they'd be just as justified.

[SkyDekker 1,465]

  On 1/9/2024 at 5:15 PM, billvon said:

Well, but that's like saying "libs want to freeze in the dark rather than use coal, and that's stupid" and they'd be just as justified.

Except libs don't want to freeze in the dark nor does a decent size group of libs say they want to freeze in the dark.

So no, not like that at all.

[billvon 3,063]

  On 1/9/2024 at 5:17 PM, SkyDekker said:

Except libs don't want to freeze in the dark nor does a decent size group of libs say they want to freeze in the dark.

So no, not like that at all.

OK.  Go with "the difference is that they are stupid."  See how that works out for you.

[gowlerk 2,246]

We all know that mama always said “stupid is as stupid does”. It’s the behaviour that matters, we can work to change behaviour.

[kallend 2,105]

A good indicator of "stupid" is uncritically believing conspiracies about vaccines, masks, livestock dewormer, etc.  If we look at the geographical distribution of the outcomes of such beliefs (i.e. death rates from COVID after vaccines became available), it appears that the red states win easily.

[lippy 918]

  On 1/9/2024 at 5:14 PM, billvon said:

Not really.  I mean, on average, completing a year of school adds 3 IQ points.  So consider the difference between someone who completes a four year college degree and a five year double degree - not huge.

To play devil’s advocate, couldn’t you also consider the difference between someone who completed an associate degree vs a high school dropout?

[billvon 3,063]

  On 1/9/2024 at 6:10 PM, lippy said:

To play devil’s advocate, couldn’t you also consider the difference between someone who completed an associate degree vs a high school dropout?

Sure, that would be much greater.  On average you see a 3 point bump in IQ for every year of school you complete.  There's a fair amount of evidence that school is cause and IQ is effect - learning one thing improves your brain's ability to learn other things, and increases your ability to see abstract relationships. (The alternative would be that "well, of course he completed more school, he's smarter!" which isn't well supported.)

[JoeWeber 2,810]

  On 1/9/2024 at 6:16 PM, billvon said:

Sure, that would be much greater.  On average you see a 3 point bump in IQ for every year of school you complete.  There's a fair amount of evidence that school is cause and IQ is effect - learning one thing improves your brain's ability to learn other things, and increases your ability to see abstract relationships. (The alternative would be that "well, of course he completed more school, he's smarter!" which isn't well supported.)

That's right. The school is the chicken and the student is the egg, obviously. It's truly surprising the MIT motto isn't :"We fix stupid!"

[SkyDekker 1,465]

  On 1/9/2024 at 5:37 PM, billvon said:

OK.  Go with "the difference is that they are stupid."  See how that works out for you.

Which is what I said, difference is average Republican voter is stupid.

Works pretty well for me.

[gowlerk 2,246]

  On 1/9/2024 at 6:10 PM, lippy said:

To play devil’s advocate, couldn’t you also consider the difference between someone who completed an associate degree vs a high school dropout?

As a drop out from grade 9 I like to think there is a difference between education and intelligence.

[billvon 3,063]

  On 1/9/2024 at 10:23 PM, gowlerk said:

As a drop out from grade 9 I like to think there is a difference between education and intelligence.

Of course there is.  You can be a genius and a high school dropout; you can get a degree and not be very smart.

But ON AVERAGE the more education you get the smarter you are.  The more you use your brain in abstract ways, the better your brain gets at abstract thought.

[wmw999 2,517]

  On 1/9/2024 at 11:14 PM, billvon said:

Of course there is.  You can be a genius and a high school dropout; you can get a degree and not be very smart.

But ON AVERAGE the more education you get the smarter you are.  The more you use your brain in abstract ways, the better your brain gets at abstract thought.

Kind of like jumps, eh? As in some people make 1500 jumps, and others make the same 150 10 times each...

Wendy P.