Politically Correct OTD
Out of context: Reply #146
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- Nairn2
I saw that in the DM a few days back and didn't bother with it then, and I'm certainly not going to bother with it from RT.
Amusingly, there's a link down the page to something else we should all be outraged about - "2+2=Oppression" and which I just happened to read this morning is actually a load of shit*
Turns out - the problem is mostly down to people not reading Abstracts or Papers, or failing that, not even reading a good summmary, or fialing that, not even a bad summary, or failing that - perhaps barely even the Tweet they could barely manage to consume before frothing with rage.
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* Quoted from someone much smarter than I:
"Recently there was a brouhaha on the Twitters about 2+2=5 that went viral and, unfortunately, political. The argument is that post-modernists are trying to tear down mathematics as a "white supremacist social construct" and trying to say that "2+2=5" is as valid an answer as "2+2=4". Which sounds pretty bad, so I looked into it.
The original Tweet thread was a math nerd who jokingly, and not incorrectly, illustrated how it was mathematically possible for 2+2 to sometimes be 5. The argument may have been weak, and some people may not have found it convincing, but it was a mathematical argument, meant as a joke for a small Twitter audience.
Through the Twitter telephone, many retweets and steps later, the original argument - considered, funny, valid, perhaps weak - somehow transformed into "2+2=4 is a mere social construct, and 5 is a valid answer" - which, yes, would be a disturbing trend if that were actually the argument. Thus the unduly passionate took up "2+2 is 4 not 5" as a political rallying cry. People I otherwise respect as rational began tweeting this.
It became complicated because there are always people who believe dumb things, like "mathematics is merely a white supremacist social construct", and as always with the unduly passionate, extreme opinions are held up as examples of dangerously typical. The author of the original thread was bullied by a mob."
- The world's likely always been filled with 0.001%ers who make a meal out of whatever outrage they suffered that day. Trouble is, now they have a global audienceNairn
- Decolonizing math is a thing. A retarded thing, granted, but still a thingGnash
- I sent it out of ridiculousness on all levels, not because I was outraged. I'll go look at that other thing though. Sounds wild!Ianbolton
- Ironically, the ‘math nerd’ — that smarty refers to here — is one of the guys involved in the Sokal academic paper hoax (exposing grievance studies beautifully)Gnash
- Sorry Ian, I was reacting to 'the thing' not to your posting it - I was fairly sure I could appreciate where you were coming from! :)Nairn
- Aye Gnash - I remember seeing some thing from an African school a few years back where they were discussing 'decolonising science' and I'm like, ok, whatever.Nairn
- Don't inspire your students to make the next 100 years of discovery more diverse - no, not that! Spend the next 50 years going backwards. Well done.Nairn
- He was trying to explain how woke-think works and used A 2+2=5 math proof as an example.Gnash
- I swear to fucking Christ, it's like some of you go out your way to find things to be somehow unduly agitated by.face_melter
- Tragically, hilariously, some peeps from the Wokus Dei began to actually use it as the OP had jokingly put forth in the first placeGnash
- @f_m - given that I DIDN'T read the full stop article and happened upon the 2+2=5 thing somewhere entirely unrelated, I didn't go out of my way to find anythingNairn
- Point being that Daily Mail and RT have a vested interest in outrage generation, so best to spot it and steer clear.Nairn
- +1 Wokus Dei!Nairn
- . o O ( Why swear to 'fucking Christ'? What's THAT all about? Perverts. )Nairn
- Wokus Dei.
That's gold!deadsperm - This is similar to when #eggsalad trend on twitter and the reason why they are trending is users are tweeting asking "why is #eggsalad trending?" #tunamayoPeterPancake
- ^ I thought this was gonna be a reference to that woody Allen film with the secret egg salad recipe, lolGnash
- #PartOfTheProblemNairn
- https://www.youtube.…PeterPancake
- Some people are only happy when they're angry.i_monk
- Yeah, the math nerd is James Lindsay, well worth checking out. I could listen to him talk for hours... and have. Keep meaning to pick up his books.kingsteven
- lets decolonize math, science, engineering, and western civilization so we can all feel good about our accomplishmentshotroddy
- the opinion of hardliners is always amplified. nevertheless, public debate is something to celebrate. more mass-debate = good, even if it's 90% trash noise.PeterPancake
- I always thought it was just a tiny percent. But this movement is now having major influence in my work, ability to get work, and future hires.inteliboy
- A lot of it is for the better, but also a lot of it is nonsense and swinging the needle way too far. Just gives Trumptards more ammo and more anger.inteliboy