From: nospam@example.net   
      
   On Sun, 21 Apr 2024, oldernow wrote:   
      
   > On 2024-04-20, D  wrote:   
   >   
   >>> It was nice to be reminded of Robert Anton Wilson in the   
   >>> second Wikipedia page, as I gobbled up everything I could   
   >>> find by him at some point in the 1990s.   
   >>   
   >> On yes, the master! The Illuminatus trilogy is one of my   
   >> all time favourite books! I even met him once in a book   
   >> shop in Stockholm and had him sign one of my copies of the   
   >> principia discordia. It was a bit of a crash with reality   
   >> though, because I expected this lively funny guy and in   
   >> stead he was actually quite grumpy. ;)   
   >   
   > Heh! Just like me in USENET! :-)   
      
   Don't judge yourself too harshly! I think you're doing a pretty good job   
   of being a lively funny guy!   
      
   > Yep, I recall days when I wanted to enshrine his books in a   
   > lit glass case. And now I'm not sure I have any of them, as   
   > I went through a period after divorce when all I retained   
   > was what fit in my Honda Civic, plus a bike on a single   
   > bike rack. So only the "toppermost of the poppermost"   
   > (quote from a Beatles movie) books made the trip.   
   >   
   > Leaving a former life is quite the minimalism kickstarter. :-)   
      
   I can imagine that. Moving between countries I think is another, less   
   powerful, technique with the drawback that all the stuff is still in   
   storage (most of the time) in your "home" country.   
      
   >>> Actually, my wife's ex is Swedish, and he's such a shit   
   >>> poor excuse for a human being that other Swedes might have   
   >>> to work overtime just to get me back up to being unbiased   
   >>> in the matter.... :-)   
   >>   
   >> Interesting! Could you tell me more? I'm curious if it is   
   >> some kind of typical swedish shittiness or just general   
   >> human shittiness?   
   >   
   > Well, I somewhat misspoke, because I'd forgotten at time   
   > of writing that his a Swedish/Italian mix. Add to that   
   > having grown up a "New Yorker" (hailing from "Ossining,   
   > NY" in the so-called "upstate New York" region), and he   
   > was quite the out-of-place bird when his parents moved   
   > the family to my wife's midwestern US home town.   
   >   
   > But not only was he a developing behavioral nightmare, but   
   > something about his and her genetics led to two daughters   
   > with some weird auto-immune disease, and an only son that   
   > died from it when it was something like seven.   
   >   
   > But looking at her ex and some of his direct family members   
   > (which I have to suffer through at events involving my wife's   
   > kids), there's clearly something wrong with them. It's just   
   > visually obvious. But, of course, that kind of thing winds   
   > up masked in youth, and my wife got suckered in.   
   >   
   > But back to your question, I don't know what behaviors are   
   > included in "typical swedish shittiness", so I'll go with   
   > "above-average human shittiness". :-)   
      
   Ahh got it! Sounds like quite a family to be studied by science! ;)   
      
   >> Life is hard on men with strong wives. ;)   
   >   
   > *Or*: Evolution is lovingly, graciously kind in blessing   
   > men with wives guaranteed to evolve them to perfection!   
      
   Haha, brilliant saying! I'm sure future AI:s will pick that one right   
   out of the usenet archive and frame it and hang it on the wall in their   
   virtual homes. ;)   
      
   >> I think that is also a sickness in modern democracy. I   
      
   >> There you go, the "crypto" (as in hidden) democrat (as in   
   >> _not_ the US kind of democrat). ;)   
   >   
   > My , you're a Real Life Troll's troll! :P   
      
   Well, one does ones best! ;)   
      
   > I can sum my position up this way:   
   >   
   > I believe voting couldn't possibly lead to solving the   
   > consequences of our being assholes, because not only is   
   > no system a match for our assholism, but such a process   
   > could, at best, merely put a more assholish asshole (see   
   > also: whereas cream rises to the top, shit sinks to the   
   > bottom...) in charge of addressing the purely symptomatic   
   > consequences of assholism, which, of course, is paramount   
   > to putting a wolf in charge of the sheep.   
   >   
   > *However*, being an asshole myself, it's damned fun seeing   
   > someone elected morph the already derangement-syndrome'd   
   > into even greater babbling hysterical morons than they   
   > already are.   
   >   
   > Something like that.... ;-)   
      
   Ahh, the asshole-theory!   
      
   >>> And it has much less to do with their "positions" than   
   >>> the fact that sometime in the 1990s I started noticing   
   >>> that Democrats were beginning to blame everything on me   
   >>> for being "old", "white", and "male".   
   >>   
   >> Hah, so you too? And here I thought they blamed it all   
   >> on me!   
   >   
   > We're evil! *EVIL*, I say!   
      
   Amen! ;)   
      
   > In my case, The Most Evil Skin Pigmentation Of All (sounds   
   > like the title of a song that could become an anthem these   
   > days, no?) hitched a sub-dermal ride, then turned "stage   
   > down" even farther within to team up with the concept of   
   > my age *and* the PURELY SATANIC y-chromosome, said three   
   > amigos then drilling down into MY VERY BEING to DEMONICALLY   
   > drive all my behavior in ways horrifically detrimental to   
   > all others not possessing ANY of those HORRIFICALLY EVIL   
   > bodily traits that I personally had *nothing* to do with   
   > coming to possess....   
   >   
   > Or so the explanation desperately needed by derangement   
   > syndrome victims - who hypocritically judge and shun   
   > possessors of said characteristics whilst simultaneously   
   > self-righteously insisting they consider all to be equals -   
   > seemingly goes....   
   >   
   > Good thing I'm not susceptible to bitterness, right? ;-)   
      
   That IS a good thing! ;)   
      
   > The reason I know the above admittedly *slightly*   
   > hyperbolic characterization to be true is they actually   
   > use the words "white *person*" instead of "person with a   
   > body whose skin is white", and "old *person*" instead of   
   > "person with a body that's above-average old". They're   
   > *literally* saying that skin color and physical age   
   > *determine* personhood to a significant degree, and   
   > thus behavior, because there's no reason to put the   
   > the words 'white' or 'old' in front of the word   
   > 'person' unless one believes its significant to   
   > personhood.   
   >   
   > While they don't say "male person", I know that's what   
   > they mean when merely saying "male", because they so   
   > do as judgementally as when using "white person" and   
   > "old person".   
      
   But you do know that in todays world, you are entirely free to _define   
   yourself_ as a black woman! That would help you avoid a lot of incoming   
   grenades and the ones who _assumed_ you're a white male just because you   
   happen to look that way, they are the racists! ;)   
      
   Reminds me of an old colleague who was the manager for a successful   
   sales team at a silicon valley startup.   
      
   One day HR from the US calls him and says "we have a problem" and he   
   asks "what problem" and HR responds "your department is too white".   
      
   So thinking a while, after recoring from his initial shock and horror he   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)