I would bet on it being a little bit (well, a lot) of ablism mixed with people wanting only answers that they personally can use. Which circles back on the ableism… people don’t want to believe that they could suddenly join this minority group at any time.
I had to be in a wheelchair for a year. The internalized shame from pervasive background ableism is horrible.
Likewise, the crime wave of the 70s in the US has been directly linked to leaded gasoline putting lead in the air, and leaded paint. You can map the crime wave literally block-by-block to correspond with areas that have not done lead mitigation efforts or those that have.
Also makes you think about the pathologically evil governmental policies the older generation have enacted, and how those people have also been influenced by lead in the air.
I’m of the understanding that lead poisoning effects the ability to engage in theory of mind (thinking about what someone else is thinking— also, empathy) and future planning, consideration of consequences, first before influencing other mental faculties. Which is why it can be linked to crime so easily.
What I don’t get is why they don’t just hire a mathematician to make a map that looks fair, meets all court requirements, but still wins them the elections? Alphaphoenix did a pretty clear video showing how it’s basically always possible: https://youtu.be/Lq-Y7crQo44?si=8Y6b7xblWm6FhcFc
I mean, I’m happy they aren’t getting away with it. I prefer my enemies to be stupid and incompetent. It just befuddles me that they are.
Alas, I just tried searching that and a few close variants, and find nothing but this Memmy post.
Other mammals are sentient, but not sapient so far as we know, with the possible exception of some species of dolphins and whales, but this has yet to be proven. (It is pretty much proven that apes, monkeys, etc are not sapient)
What’s they key distinguisher of sapience? There are different measures, but “theory of mind” is the one that seems most relevant. The ability to think about what someone else is thinking. This seems to correlate also with the ability to ask questions and tell stories, and we currently know of no other being besides humans that can do either— again, research into dolphins and whales continues, and there might be potential there, but we’re pretty darn certain nothing on land has it.
Her version of “Creep” is actually my least favorite, because I feel she really needed to do more with the lyrics. “Weirdo” makes no sense in an old-fashioned sense, as “weird” means “fate”, often “ultimate fate” as in “your death”, but also in the sense of “prophet” or “fortune teller”. I am creep, I am… fated to die? I am a reader of entrails? I am… what? I don’t get it. These don’t mesh at all with the song.
That’s not to say I don’t like her music. I do! I’m a huge fan! My favorite is actually “Pumped Up Kicks” for doing exactly what I said “Creep” doesn’t do and translating a school shooter into a Welsh archer defending against an English invasion force… “I doth gaze upon the fyrd and I maketh a plan” where “fyrd” is an Anglo-Saxon army. It’s brilliant.
Person A quietly swipes a pen off your desk.
Person B robs a bank at gunpoint, and it goes bad, murdering 12 people in the process, including kids.
“Obviously both sides must be talked about with the same weight of seriousness.” “That was my favorite pen, how dare he!!!” “They’re both thieves, and there’s no difference between them.” “They’re both the same.”
Fuck that.