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Originally posted by Brenda:
Yeah, I know better. I didn't fall for the other thing he posted in tag a good while ago. But today I forgot all of that.

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Like the old saying goes Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

Welp, I do have egg on my face. Back to ignoring him.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Yeah, I know better. I didn't fall for the other thing he posted in tag a good while ago. But today I forgot all of that.

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Yeah... I know you didn't. I saw that bait but I think he only posted it one or two times and didn't spam the hell out of the tags with it like he did this time.

That all happened after or during while I was putting this thread together, so I'm really glad that I made this thread just so we had this dialog. I know you don't like being involved in any of this and I do my best to respect that and keep you out of it. But I'm glad you came in here because I really think it's important that you see what's really going on here.

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Tried to read the article but had a hard time. So, I gave up on it.

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That's exactly as the articles are designed to be, Brenda.

Intentionally obfuscate everything. Put in so much contradictory stuff that it makes your head spin and either walk away no more knowledgeable than you were before you tried or make you give up entirely. 20 paragraphs of nothing is what most of these articles end up being, and any real truth they put in them usually take up about 2 or 3 of the last 5 paragraphs in most of them, where most people who even bother trying to read the articles have already given up.

This trains behavior to stop bothering even to read the articles and just read the headlines and repeat them and repost them. It's why there are studies out there showing that 75% of the articles that are shared on social media sites like Facebook are never opened before they're passed on to other friends and family members. Everyone is just sharing headlines with each other. The 20 paragraphs of nothing is just a delivery vehicle for the Headline they want people believing is the truth.

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Like the old saying goes Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me.

Welp, I do have egg on my face. Back to ignoring him.

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No worries. I'm not judging at all. I get it. I wasn't born immune to all of this. It took some learning. It took some actual book reading, like the amazing book "Amusing Ourselves To Death" to open up my third eye to all the manipulation tactics that have been used against all of us long before any of us living today were even born.

But as you saw, he went immediately to attacking you, just like we knew he would.

He's as racist as they come, as most of the middle and upper class, white, college "educated" folk are. They talk the talk all the time, yet they live in exclusionary neighborhoods with the motto "Not in My Back Yard". They scream for de-funding the police, and then walk away to put on their new "Pin of the Week" and forget completely about those minority neighborhoods that fell into complete chaos when the cops disappeared and the Legacy Media goes complete blackout on all of the good black people in the more dangerous neighborhoods that are begging to be heard and are begging for the police to come back.

They'll tell you all day, every day that they care, but when any of you step one hair out of line from what they believe, they immediately turn on you and shame you and use your race against you. "How dare you not agree with me that these other people aren't Super Mega Nazi Hitler because they disagreed with me??? You're a minority and everything I say is what you should believe!!!!! You must be a no good dirty race traitor!!!!!"


It's shit like this why nobody takes them seriously anymore. Everyone is opening their eyes to this now. They see who the real authoritarians are and always were. Who the bullies were. The ones calling everyone else sexist or racist or nazi are the ones who actually behave that way. Neither Ted nor Second have ever had a real conversation with you before. And that might not even be out of racisim in particular. It is because they are both incapable of having a real conversation with anybody about anything.

Their brains have been cored right out of their heads with all that media brainwashing they put themselves through everyday for well over a decade now. They have no opinion worth sharing. They have no ability to debate anything. You either agree with them and every headline they read that day, or you are the enemy.

Don't feel any pressure to speak about this issue further with me anymore and feel completely free to drop it if you'd like. But I think this was important.

I appreciate ya, Brenda.



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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Yeah, that time I think was only once or twice and I managed to ignore that.

You do a good job about keeping me out of it. This is on me. I walked into it. That is not your fault.

I do try to read the article but ignore the headlines.

I know and I figured he would. But I just had to walk into it.
I've heard the "Not in my backyard" thing a good portion of my life and it stinks.

Been there and done that with the "shut up and be a good little Indian". It leaves you wondering and it makes you angry.

It was important and I think we can both let it lay.

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Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman argues that television has transformed public discourse, reducing serious subjects like politics, news, and history to mere entertainment through visual imagery, ultimately making citizens passive consumers of trivialized information. Published in 1985, the book critiques how the medium of television, with its emphasis on entertainment, dictates the form and substance of public communication, leading to a decline in rational, complex debate.

Central Thesis:

The book's core argument is that the shift from a print-based culture to a television-based culture has fundamentally altered how we think and engage with information, prioritizing amusement over substance.

Key Idea:

Postman contends that television's format, which favors short, visually stimulating segments, makes it impossible for complex ideas to be discussed meaningfully, turning everything into a form of show business.

Impact:

It's considered a seminal work in media criticism, warning that a society obsessed with entertainment risks losing its capacity for critical thought and civic engagement.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Beware, the Dark Empath...

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Yeah, that time I think was only once or twice and I managed to ignore that.

You do a good job about keeping me out of it. This is on me. I walked into it. That is not your fault.

I do try to read the article but ignore the headlines.

I know and I figured he would. But I just had to walk into it.
I've heard the "Not in my backyard" thing a good portion of my life and it stinks.

Been there and done that with the "shut up and be a good little Indian". It leaves you wondering and it makes you angry.

It was important and I think we can both let it lay.

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Sounds good to me, Brenda.

I'm really glad you took the time to check that article out though and see what I mean. There's just so much of that type of manipulation in the media today that it's hard to trust anything any of them say. Adding AI to everything now is even going to muddy those waters further.

But that's their tactic. Pure emotional manipulation, on full blast every day from every direction all at once. It's easy to get swept up into it and become a cultist like they did with Ted and Second.


If your library has it, I seriously, HIGHLY recommend "Amusing Ourselves to Death", by Neil Postman.

Here's a breif synopsis from Google AI:

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Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman argues that television has transformed public discourse, reducing serious subjects like politics, news, and history to mere entertainment through visual imagery, ultimately making citizens passive consumers of trivialized information. Published in 1985, the book critiques how the medium of television, with its emphasis on entertainment, dictates the form and substance of public communication, leading to a decline in rational, complex debate.

Central Thesis:

The book's core argument is that the shift from a print-based culture to a television-based culture has fundamentally altered how we think and engage with information, prioritizing amusement over substance.

Key Idea:

Postman contends that television's format, which favors short, visually stimulating segments, makes it impossible for complex ideas to be discussed meaningfully, turning everything into a form of show business.

Impact:

It's considered a seminal work in media criticism, warning that a society obsessed with entertainment risks losing its capacity for critical thought and civic engagement.

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Now... I read the 1985 original version that my local-paper journalist Uncle had in the collection he left behind in my Grandma's basement when I was living there. The version that you will probably find is going to be one of I believe 2 or even 3 updates he's made to it over the years to include modern technology that wasn't available back in 1985.

I read it back when I was probably around 23 years old, and it was because of Postman's book that I went on to read Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World, since it was obvious he thought very highly of both of those books. To this day, 1984 is the single scariest thing I've ever read in my life. And 20 years later with the tech available today it is just that much more scary.

Orwell's Animal Farm is probably the 2nd most terrifying read of my life.

In the case of Animal Farm, it goes deep into the lore behind the creation of little real-life monsters like Ted and Second and just how easily they are created and weaponized like they have been.


If you're reading this too, Sigs, I highly recommend you read Amusing Ourselves to Death as well.





And you could be right about Ted, I dunno. Every once in a while he posts something uncharacteristically coherent and well thought out without all the regular punctuation, grammar, spelling and general misuses of the English language, but unlike in the case of Second, I've never been able to catch Ted in the act of ever actually plagiarizing other people's work. It's pretty easy for me to do, as is evidenced by just how many times I've caught Second red-handed doing this, and yet I came up empty any time I've tried to catch Ted in the act.

Maybe he just has some moments of otherwise silent lucidity? Maybe he's hopped up on SSRI's most of the time and every once in a while he takes a break or just forgets to take his pills and he wakes up a bit?

I don't think he's a collaborative effort. And unlike Second, I don't believe that deep down he is an evil person. Just highly, highly brainwashed and manipulated into thinking that his way of "thinking" is correct. Extremely misguided and misplaced is all. I think that deep down his "heart" is probably 10 times the size of his brain.

There was a time when it kind of made me sad to speak to Ted the way that I do here because of this. But I've had something of an awakening myself recently, and my empathy is no longer a wide net, and now only reserved for the few in my circle who have earned it. And with the amount of abuse that I've taken here from the both of them over the years, I think I'm going to get quite a bit of enjoyment out of seeing what becomes of them over the course of 2026, and NGL... I'm going to get more than a what is probably a healthy dose of enjoyment of twisting that knife whenever the opportunity arises.

Beware, the Dark Empath...

A Tick, a Tock, A Tick a to the, Tick a to the Tick, Tick, Tock and you don't stop...



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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

Quote:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Yeah, that time I think was only once or twice and I managed to ignore that.

You do a good job about keeping me out of it. This is on me. I walked into it. That is not your fault.

I do try to read the article but ignore the headlines.

I know and I figured he would. But I just had to walk into it.
I've heard the "Not in my backyard" thing a good portion of my life and it stinks.

Been there and done that with the "shut up and be a good little Indian". It leaves you wondering and it makes you angry.

It was important and I think we can both let it lay.

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Sounds good to me, Brenda.

I'm really glad you took the time to check that article out though and see what I mean. There's just so much of that type of manipulation in the media today that it's hard to trust anything any of them say. Adding AI to everything now is even going to muddy those waters further.

But that's their tactic. Pure emotional manipulation, on full blast every day from every direction all at once. It's easy to get swept up into it and become a cultist like they did with Ted and Second.


If your library has it, I seriously, HIGHLY recommend "Amusing Ourselves to Death", by Neil Postman.

Here's a breif synopsis from Google AI:

Quote:

---

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman argues that television has transformed public discourse, reducing serious subjects like politics, news, and history to mere entertainment through visual imagery, ultimately making citizens passive consumers of trivialized information. Published in 1985, the book critiques how the medium of television, with its emphasis on entertainment, dictates the form and substance of public communication, leading to a decline in rational, complex debate.

Central Thesis:

The book's core argument is that the shift from a print-based culture to a television-based culture has fundamentally altered how we think and engage with information, prioritizing amusement over substance.

Key Idea:

Postman contends that television's format, which favors short, visually stimulating segments, makes it impossible for complex ideas to be discussed meaningfully, turning everything into a form of show business.

Impact:

It's considered a seminal work in media criticism, warning that a society obsessed with entertainment risks losing its capacity for critical thought and civic engagement.

---

Now... I read the 1985 original version that my local-paper journalist Uncle had in the collection he left behind in my Grandma's basement when I was living there. The version that you will probably find is going to be one of I believe 2 or even 3 updates he's made to it over the years to include modern technology that wasn't available back in 1985.

I read it back when I was probably around 23 years old, and it was because of Postman's book that I went on to read Orwell's 1984 and Huxley's Brave New World, since it was obvious he thought very highly of both of those books. To this day, 1984 is the single scariest thing I've ever read in my life. And 20 years later with the tech available today it is just that much more scary.

Orwell's Animal Farm is probably the 2nd most terrifying read of my life.

In the case of Animal Farm, it goes deep into the lore behind the creation of little real-life monsters like Ted and Second and just how easily they are created and weaponized like they have been.


If you're reading this too, Sigs, I highly recommend you read Amusing Ourselves to Death as well.





And you could be right about Ted, I dunno. Every once in a while he posts something uncharacteristically coherent and well thought out without all the regular punctuation, grammar, spelling and general misuses of the English language, but unlike in the case of Second, I've never been able to catch Ted in the act of ever actually plagiarizing other people's work. It's pretty easy for me to do, as is evidenced by just how many times I've caught Second red-handed doing this, and yet I came up empty any time I've tried to catch Ted in the act.

Maybe he just has some moments of otherwise silent lucidity? Maybe he's hopped up on SSRI's most of the time and every once in a while he takes a break or just forgets to take his pills and he wakes up a bit?

I don't think he's a collaborative effort. And unlike Second, I don't believe that deep down he is an evil person. Just highly, highly brainwashed and manipulated into thinking that his way of "thinking" is correct. Extremely misguided and misplaced is all. I think that deep down his "heart" is probably 10 times the size of his brain.

There was a time when it kind of made me sad to speak to Ted the way that I do here because of this. But I've had something of an awakening myself recently, and my empathy is no longer a wide net, and now only reserved for the few in my circle who have earned it. And with the amount of abuse that I've taken here from the both of them over the years, I think I'm going to get quite a bit of enjoyment out of seeing what becomes of them over the course of 2026, and NGL... I'm going to get more than a what is probably a healthy dose of enjoyment of twisting that knife whenever the opportunity arises.

Beware, the Dark Empath...

A Tick, a Tock, A Tick a to the, Tick a to the Tick, Tick, Tock and you don't stop...



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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
That's why I won't go near things like Chatgp or whatever the heck it is called. Bad enough Google uses it and you can't turn it off.

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And that "Amusing Ourselves to Death", I am sure is into its 3 or 4th printing. A lot of books go through that. I'll look the title up on my library's web page for their catalogue.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Not sure if I believe or not that your government has secret files on aliens or not. I'll explain : I always thought if they did a reporter or someone from the pentagon would find a way to leak the actual information. Documents or pictures and such to the public. There would be denial from the government and the pentagon. But finally they would have to confess and show all their evidence to Congress and the public.

Of course the Canadian government would be dragged into it as your closest ally. It would become what did we know. What was shared between our countries and the like.

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