Sexy Peak, Idaho Superthread

[Varitek]

i thnk libertarian paternalism is not an aptly named concept. they are so not libertarians. paternalists, yes, advocates of choice, yes, but libertarianism =/= advocate of choice.

 

[Varitek]

hm, must learn more about asymmetric paternalism.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

The southern states are something I have thought a while about. I know there are good minded people among them, but the majority is not something I'm a fan of. I think I even said, "the liberals can come up north, and the conservatives can go down south, and each will be where they want to be" or something like that. I've stayed in North Carolina three times with relatives who have moved down there, and the attitudes of the people are just something that turns me off.

i agree, most of the people where i live are assholes, but i just hate the way people can be like "everyone in the south is a bible beating intolerant republican." riiiiiight

if you hear me talk, i sound like a typical southerner. unfortunately, i seem to have inherited the accent, which sucks. but i have a velcro kind of accent, where no matter where i live, i pick up on that accent after a while, so whenever i move away from here, it'll go away. but i definitely don't fit the stereotype as your typical hick.

 

[Varitek]

of course, now i'm gonna read an academic article on this economic concept rather than the academic articles that i should read for my upcoming midterm.

 

[phillyfan26]

america is a pretty diverse place in terms of attitudes, and while you can generalize the coastal states or north-south or whatever, there are still pockets in both places, and secession wouldn't work - it'd be like kosovo with the ethnic mix ups, except attitude and not ethnicity, no legit claim to autonomy, and a ridiculously powerful army. also the south can't seceed, because just like last time, they rely on the north economically. to fund their fucking faith based initiatives, among other things.

I was half-kidding, and I'm completely aware that the idea is unrealistic.

 

[phillyfan26]

sorry i just think of the burbs as the middle of nowhere, always.

Did you actually live in the city of Boston before, or are the suburbs there just more active?

 

[Varitek]

i agree, most of the people where i live are assholes, but i just hate the way people can be like "everyone in the south is a bible beating intolerant republican." riiiiiight

if you hear me talk, i sound like a typical southerner. unfortunately, i seem to have inherited the accent, which sucks. but i have a velcro kind of accent, where no matter where i live, i pick up on that accent after a while, so whenever i move away from here, it'll go away. but i definitely don't fit the stereotype as your typical hick.

haha i'm totally velcro accented. i've never heard that term before but that's me. i tend to speak in the template unaccented american accent, except when i'm around the boston accent, because i grew up with it. but if i'm around people with other accents, even non-native-english accents, i tend to adapt that, or even grammatical styles like not using conjunctions or annunciating correctly if that's what people are doing.

and of course you're not a hick just cause you ahve a southern accent.

 

[Varitek]

Did you actually live in the city of Boston before, or are the suburbs there just more active?

born and raised. never lived in the burbs except for college. study abroad and summers have been spent in cities too, except the summer in africa, well and camp as a kid. but the point of camp was to get away from the city.

 

[Varitek]

I wonder why the soft paternalism/libertarian paternalism articles don't talk about organ donation as a default in europe vs nondonation as the default in the US. I guess the theory is talking about what is good for the individual. Such an American slant on it, because the same psychology can apply to the common good, e.g. organ donation.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

haha i'm totally velcro accented. i've never heard that term before but that's me. i tend to speak in the template unaccented american accent, except when i'm around the boston accent, because i grew up with it. but if i'm around people with other accents, even non-native-english accents, i tend to adapt that, or even grammatical styles like not using conjunctions or annunciating correctly if that's what people are doing.

and of course you're not a hick just cause you ahve a southern accent.

yeah, i just came up with it (i'm sure i'm not the first to use it though) but i think it totally fits. if i talk to someone for a while, i'll end up talking like them and afterwards, i'm like "god i hope they don't think i was mocking them" or something. i just do it subconsciously. maybe it's because my brain thinks their voice is cooler than mine.

oh yeah, i definitely don't think i'm a hick or anything, i've just met some intolerant people both on and offline, and it amazes me how if you fit one characteristic, suddenly you become that thing. i can say i'm guilty of it too sometimes, although for me it's just when i'm making fun of people. if i see someone acting stupid and i hear they have a southern accent, i'll be like "that dumb redneck..." but i'd never seriously think they were one.

 

[Varitek]

It's funny I'm very very american in the way i think about opportunity and equality: americans believe we should have equality of opportunity (and i agree, though i am among the many americans known as democrats and further left who don't believe we've achieved it) and europeans tend to go more for equality of outcome. but i'm totally with europe on the collective good soft paternalism stuff like organ donation by default, whereas americans are still struggling to accept soft paternalism for individuals. though you'd think it'd be easier to accept for society; it's society making a decision for society vs society making a decision for an individual.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I wonder why the soft paternalism/libertarian paternalism articles don't talk about organ donation as a default in europe vs nondonation as the default in the US. I guess the theory is talking about what is good for the individual. Such an American slant on it, because the same psychology can apply to the common good, e.g. organ donation.

huh, that's interesting. i guess here it's more they want to give citizens the freedom of choice. of course me personally i see it as when i'm dead i'm dead, my liver or whatever they'd need will be of no good to me then so it might as well go to someone who needs it. i don't understand people who don't sign up for donation, but i can respect their decision not to as it is their personal choice. although on the other hand, it upsets me when i hear people dying of kidney failure or whatever because there was no match in their family and they couldn't get a transplant.

 

[Varitek]

yeah, i just came up with it (i'm sure i'm not the first to use it though) but i think it totally fits. if i talk to someone for a while, i'll end up talking like them and afterwards, i'm like "god i hope they don't think i was mocking them" or something. i just do it subconsciously. maybe it's because my brain thinks their voice is cooler than mine.

oh yeah, i definitely don't think i'm a hick or anything, i've just met some intolerant people both on and offline, and it amazes me how if you fit one characteristic, suddenly you become that thing. i can say i'm guilty of it too sometimes, although for me it's just when i'm making fun of people. if i see someone acting stupid and i hear they have a southern accent, i'll be like "that dumb redneck..." but i'd never seriously think they were one.

i think the non-americans in this thread are very good at recognizing that we and most americans on fym don't fit their stereotypes of americans in general (and hey, even if we see those stereotypes too, we also know that they are exagerations or the lowest common denominator, and we good americans exist in force too). just sometimes they forget that when they rail agaisnt "america" and "americans" they do offend us, because after all that is what we are, even if many of us feel alienated from the concept.

 

[Varitek]

also, i really like what pfan said like a month ago about being attached to his american upbrigning but not to america. i'm gonna leave this country, and i know i'll feel some homesickness and there are some things like the equality of opportunity thing that make me very american and some things where i differ from most americans on, but i am american, in my passport and upbringing and sports fanship and way of thinking, even if i'm a progressive/liberal/international/expat american, i'm still an american. though i do really want dual citizenship with an EU country.

 

[Varitek]

when i write a substantive post, even if it's just my stream of conciousness thoughts to myself, i don't get 45d!

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i think the non-americans in this thread are very good at recognizing that we and most americans on fym don't fit their stereotypes of americans in general (and hey, even if we see those stereotypes too, we also know that they are exagerations or the lowest common denominator, and we good americans exist in force too). just sometimes they forget that when they rail agaisnt "america" and "americans" they do offend us, because after all that is what we are, even if many of us feel alienated from the concept.

exactly. the people they're thinking of as the typical american don't exist here on interference. even the republicans on the forums here are intelligent and well-spoken. the problem is with the president we've got elected and the policies put forth in the past eight years, it really hasn't helped foreigners get a good idea as to how smart we are. we're not all like that.

like you said, it's easy for them to forget it offends us and we're nothing like the image they have in their minds.

 

[Varitek]

finally on page 4 out of 4 we get to organ donation!

 

[Varitek]

exactly. the people they're thinking of as the typical american don't exist here on interference.

have you read fym? i said most....there are some notable exceptions. and there's a few that are conservative wackjobs that don't think things through...and aren't even americans! but there are some americans too.

 

[Varitek]

i'd be with these soft paternalists if they weren't so privitization-biased. i'm with them on default choices for government policies or whatever, but not on bullshit like "school choice" which is the latest adp eafopgepuargiapi pisstifying euphemism for a conservative policy. it's fucking voucher education that drains the public education and hurts poor kids even more and damages equality of opportunity even more, you pissheads, it's not "school choice." fuckign asshats, why did the boston globe buy the euphemism?

 

[phillyfan26]

born and raised. never lived in the burbs except for college. study abroad and summers have been spent in cities too, except the summer in africa, well and camp as a kid. but the point of camp was to get away from the city.

I'm originally from close to the city, and I still spend quite a bit of time in eastern Delaware County for things, and often those things end up in Philly, so I'm used to the area. I think I'd enjoy living in a city. I can't go anymore rural than the suburbs, I just can't do it.

 

[Varitek]

I'm originally from close to the city, and I still spend quite a bit of time in eastern Delaware County for things, and often those things end up in Philly, so I'm used to the area. I think I'd enjoy living in a city. I can't go anymore rural than the suburbs, I just can't do it.

i can't get any more rural than a fairly central part of the city. no outer districts/outer neighborhoods for me, thank you.

college excepted, because i wanted a campus, and urban campuses just don't count.

 

[Varitek]

mmmmmm thin mints.

you know what america does right? GIRL SCOUT COOKIES.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

have you read fym? i said most....there are some notable exceptions. and there's a few that are conservative wackjobs that don't think things through...and aren't even americans! but there are some americans too.

no, i only read it occasionally

 

[Varitek]

oooh i've had like 40 posts in the last hour. i'm one away from 5885. i love palindromes.

45'd. damn. x2 3

 

[Varitek]

no, i only read it occasionally

hey that's not anything to hide in a box over. i only read it occasionally now, partly because it's gotten ridiculous and partly because i have people at school to have those conversations with - i got really into fym when i was abroad and last summer, so, when i'm away from school.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

better make it special!

 

[Varitek]

ok must. not. eat. another. thin. mint.

oh fuck these things are heaven. saturday afternoon heaven.

ugh it's gonna be rainy and cold tonight.

 

[Varitek]

better make it special!

oops.

6000 isn't that far away.

i wonder if i'm up on ian again...

damn 45. i'd totally be way above him if i were premium.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

hey that's not anything to hide in a box over. i only read it occasionally now, partly because it's gotten ridiculous and partly because i have people at school to have those conversations with - i got really into fym when i was abroad and last summer, so, when i'm away from school.

yeah, i hear you. politics is something i kind of prefer talking about in person, although i'm not really sure why.

 

[Varitek]

for example, my last 2 posts could have been broken up into 6-7 posts. i guess 6, because if i were premium i wouldn't be complaining about not being premium.

45d! grr