Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 4451-4455 (the 1st through 5th of February, 2021)
Gnabberwocky:
I dunno. She specifically said "if you use them constructively," and conspiracy theories and discrimination obviously are just the opposite of constructive. Of course, the people who believe in them will tell you they're being constructive by following these nonexistent patterns, but nothing they do is constructive, by any compassionate standard.
Also, a huge difference between Willow and the Capitol mob is that Willow recognizes that these things aren't real. Trump supporters hung on every one of his words because they thought he was telling the truth. Willow knows that her feeling of connection with the universe likely doesn't exist, and she realizes that following through on them is extremely unlikely to cause any serious harm.
Third point: the book Sapiens (good read, would recommend) mentions, several times, that the only reason humanity was able to reach the place we are today was because of belief in fiction. We first established actual societies because of belief in religion, hierarchy, law, etc. Even now, one of the most connective (and dangerous) things in the world is money, which doesn't actually exist outside of our imaginations. The way I see it, the phrase for people who take patterns that aren't really there is "society."
Final thing: I want to make it very clear that none of this is an attempt to excuse people who discriminate on the basis of religion, members of the Capitol mob, wannabe dictators, or anyone else of the sort. As I said before, none of that is constructive and none of that is harmless.
Gyrre:
--- Quote from: Farideh on 03 Feb 2021, 13:27 ---
--- Quote from: Gus_Smedstad on 03 Feb 2021, 11:54 ---97.8% of the calls I get on my landline are scams. [robot voice] THE IRS HAS FILED SUIT AGAINST YOU [/robot voice]. Because, as you know, the IRS always wants payment in Amazon gift cards.
I can't quite bring myself to get rid of my landline, though. Just old habits at this point, I guess.
--- End quote ---
For a while I got a lot of calls on my cellphone to inform me that 'my Windows computer has been hacked'. Interesting, considering I have a Macbook at home, and my work laptop is well protected. I used to hand off my phone to my coworker at that point, who likes baiting those people, to see how long he could keep them on the line :D
--- End quote ---
"Your car's warranty is about to expire."
"This is cardholder services..."
"Your [I think it was Comcast?] account's bill is overdue."
"Your Bank of America account has had unusual activity" [the number wasn't affiliated with BoA, I checked]
Back around 2014 I actually got a live human trying to do the cardholder services one. Dude was completely blindsided when I started asking questions like "which card company are you calling on behalf of" and "can you tell me what company the credit card account is with?" He had the gall to actually ask for my credit card number so he 'could look up my account information'! I hung up and blocked the number.
Gyrre:
--- Quote from: Gnabberwocky on 03 Feb 2021, 20:29 ---I dunno. She specifically said "if you use them constructively," and conspiracy theories and discrimination obviously are just the opposite of constructive. Of course, the people who believe in them will tell you they're being constructive by following these nonexistent patterns, but nothing they do is constructive, by any compassionate standard.
[Snip]
--- End quote ---
That depends on two key things;
1) Are we talking about true conspiracies (i.e. the crime)
*Operation Seaspray, the Pentagon trying to weaponize ticks, several unethical medical experiments carried out by our government, Jerry Epstein's murder, etc.
2) Are we talking about conspiracy theorists trying to warn people, or conspiracy nuts getting lead around by the nose?
Oenone:
Yeah, tbh this interaction made me dislike Clinton a little more. It’s rude to tell people that a tool they use to get through the world is not real. Tarot, at least, fits into some of my Wiccans friends’ spiritual practice, and astrology has some beautiful symbolism to it. I don’t see why he’d be so dismissive of it to someone he just met.
BenRG:
This strip fits into my post yesterday of Willow being the believer of the trio. What's interesting is that she chooses to believe (or at least act as if she does) irrespective of evidence because that belief enriches her life. It's worth remembering that humans always have a spiritual aspect to us and it's been proven that we need to address that in order to maintain our mental and emotional health.
On the other hand, Willow is actually strangely cynical in panel 5. She knows that a lot of hucksters have made a racket out of spirituality and actually doesn't seem to have a problem with that, which is kind of weird and makes me wonder what her moral compass is like.
In answer to Clinton's question in panel 5, I (who actually have known professional diviners and witches - yes, they used the term 'witch' and not 'wiccan', it was the 1970s and 1980s) can hear a snappy patter abut the crossing of his power and index data lines indicate that he's going to find his destiny in a new standardised cabling protocol soon...
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