Pac Men by Niki2

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Pac Men

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 04:32
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Monday, November 18, 2013 8:55 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Remember this little guy?

As I was falling asleep last night, for a few minutes my brain was stuck on how weird it is that several of our hard-right posters are SO stuck on swallowing stories which aren't true, and defending things which have been debunked, despite the obvious illogic of their claims. Wasn't long, I ended up chuckling to myself and not thinking about it again. But I made a note to myself: "Pac Man".

That's what they're like, the old Pac Man game. They wander the internet until they see something to gobble…"oh, boy, that's BAD about Obamacare, goodie…" GULP! Then they see another… GULP! And another…GULP! Remember how Pac Man looked on the screen?

"Students complain about losing health insurance because of Obamacare" GULP! Turns out a University dropped what was its MANDATORY health insurance for students…at the students' request…because now those students can get coverage through their parents' policies or buy it cheaper on the new exchanges. It's shown clearly that the story was actually just a person with a microphone walking around campus, lying to the students then asking their opinions about those lies. But our little Pac Men swallowed it gleefully, and will go on defending it to the death.

"MSNBC guy loses health insurance, has to pay tons more"…GULP! Turns out a millionaire who's not with MSNBC put up a short Tweet LYING about how much he'd have to pay to replace his health insurance policy by quoting what his previous company offered him, far more than he's entitled to pay through the ACA exchange IN THE STATE HE LIVES IN (which on-line exchange--California--is working just fine). But our little Pac Men swallowed it gleefully, and will go on defending it to the death.

"Insurance Company Drops Gazillions of Doctors"…GULP! Turns out a company that's been investigated for fraudulent practices numerous times in the past does something which is getting it investigated yet again, and EVEN THE COMPANY says they'll be back up to 90% in the end (if they don't get prosecuted/fined/whatever in the meantime). But our little Pac Men swallowed it gleefully, and will go on defending it to the death.

And on and on and on it goes. They see that succulent-looking little bite, and just GOTTA eat it. Never a thought to "is that real?", never a question about the source, never an effort to look further, or anything else, just: "Oooo, that's juicy, I GOTTA EAT IT!" and, once swallowed, they're on the hunt for the next one. Meanwhile, thousands of other little Pac Men are not just swallowing those bites, but regurgitating them all over the internet for other Pac Men to swallow (so that Googling the story makes it look like a whole BUNCH of people are reporting it), just as the programmers intended.

(And I know what's coming so here's my response: I see a story, read it, Google it for other reports on it, go to the links it offers backing up the facts and read those, and if it pans out, post what I believe is the best-written report of it (with the links), so others can check it out too. That's the difference.)

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Monday, November 18, 2013 1:35 PM

FREMDFIRMA

That ain't a half bad analogy, of course it made me snicker cause I can throw an audio bit to go with it.

I actually took apart a broken Pac-Man machine to get the ROM data off the board for my MAME32X Emulator, kinda pointless cause once you have the 9 & 15 key patterns down pat not much point, but I wanted it.

-F

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Monday, November 18, 2013 2:09 PM

STORYMARK

Beautiful, and very succinct, Niki. A very solid analogy.

"Goram it kid, let's frak this thing and go home! Engage!"

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Monday, November 18, 2013 3:18 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Thanx Mark, but I don't think anything I've ever posted could be called "succinct"... ;o)

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Monday, November 18, 2013 7:27 PM

OONJERAH

"All I suggest is a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest" ~Paul Simon

I s'pect, if one is teaching a course in logic or critical thinking, one
might spend the first week making students aware of our natural
human foibles: forming opinions based on preference, habit, what
everyone knows, and especially, Ego.

To tell myself the truth, I have to want it badder than my comfort zone.

======================
A man's gotta know his prejudices.

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Tuesday, November 19, 2013 4:32 AM

FREMDFIRMA

Quote:
Originally posted by Oonjerah:
To tell myself the truth, I have to want it badder than my comfort zone.

I *always* want it, no matter how ugly it is.

Quote:
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and, having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.
-Patrick Henry, March 23rd 1775

-F

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