What I am “conflating” is the stupidity of a moron with the tendency to make patently stupid decisions based solely on what an oracle tells you. Anyone can do it, but boy, it sure is more damaging when it’s the leader of a country with nukes reading “outlook not so good, beware of the color red, look to the east”. So yeah, I’m much more terrified of a stupid person with power and a fucking horoscope than I am of a smart person with a trolley problem in front of them. At least one of them is going to use a heuristic more complex than “this thing I read sometimes tells me today’s a bad day, better blow up the world”.
Here, full circle, special for you, all subtext removed. To whit:
Having a subculture of stereotypes, vague prophecies, and self-proclaimed oracles is bad. The degrees of bad vary, but such a subculture is net negative at all levels. This is not a “bad apples” deal, as your original comment implied. It is a systemic problem, and using meaningless bullshit to stereotype people makes you a worse person, at any level.
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What I am “conflating” is the stupidity of a moron with the tendency to make patently stupid decisions based solely on what an oracle tells you. Anyone can do it, but boy, it sure is more damaging when it’s the leader of a country with nukes reading “outlook not so good, beware of the color red, look to the east”. So yeah, I’m much more terrified of a stupid person with power and a fucking horoscope than I am of a smart person with a trolley problem in front of them. At least one of them is going to use a heuristic more complex than “this thing I read sometimes tells me today’s a bad day, better blow up the world”.
deleted by creator
Here, full circle, special for you, all subtext removed. To whit:
Having a subculture of stereotypes, vague prophecies, and self-proclaimed oracles is bad. The degrees of bad vary, but such a subculture is net negative at all levels. This is not a “bad apples” deal, as your original comment implied. It is a systemic problem, and using meaningless bullshit to stereotype people makes you a worse person, at any level.
deleted by creator