User:2friedeggs

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A Brief summary
I've mostly came to RationalWiki after my dangerous encounter with the world of Conspiracy Theories. I'm past that phase after a dangerously close call of becoming a crank myself, and after a bout of crippling depression, here I am, with an obsession with Linguistics and anything "Retro". Maybe one day that would be a story to tell, as I personally feel some people don't exactly know what it's like to be so close. It's like I lost 5 months of my entire life. Sane people ridicule them, and indeed get sick of listening to them, for good reason. Crazy people feel intellectually free, and "woke", for the wrong reasons. Being between those two "extremes", for a lack of a better word, can feel like a fate worse than death. The very structure and unfalsifiability of those theories can drive certain types of people, sensible or otherwise, down a path they desperately avoid.

These days I spend much of my time playing Hearts of Iron with a friend. Paradox Interactive games are fun, and Im trying to learn Crusader Kings 3.

Politics
I call myself a leftist. I'm vehemently against authoritarianism and every form bigotry you can think of, and believe that their views shouldn't even be given the light of day. While I'm pro free-speech, there is a line that needs to made lest the alt-right's shitty opinions gain more traction and actual hate crimes and groups begin to rise. Their cries about being silenced for their opinion is bullshit, and they would do the same (and likely lethally in real life) if they were in charge. Where that line should be, I do not know.

Sciency magic stuff
Alties are dangerous, fuck every form of denialism, yada yada you get the idea. I think Psychology is under-funded and not appreciated enough and fuck every parent who doesn't "believe" in it.

Non-politics
I'm naturally curious about many different interests like programming, linguistics and general science. It's led me to thinking I'm too much of a "master of none" type of guy so idk what I want to do in college yet. I guess that comes with being one of the younger editors on this site.

Other than that, I love video games. Surprising?

In short
I'm a loser like all of you. Glad to be at your service.

On a more important note
I come on when I can, especially since I got such an important and prestigious job as a Wiki Janitor but consider my presence to be inconsistent at best. No one knows who I am despite being here for 4 years for a reason

Quote(s) I agree with
RationalWiki unwaveringly provides much needed attention to the cranks that "respectable" sites only provide a platform to by mistake. The lack of an active skeptical counter to their mumbo-jumbo trash makes it hard to learn anything about these fringes without leaving the Sane Web and setting foot in the Disinformation Swamp oneself ("on their terms" no less), often naively unprepared for their tactics. Popping a crazy idea into Google and finding a flood of claims (without a single skeptical rebuttal) is enough to convert surprisingly sane people to fringe causes.

The mainstream "the-woo-is-lava" policy leaves the field open for cranks. When we don't criticize their theories, cranks point to the "total lack of mainstream reply" as evidence for how perfect, unassailable, and innovative their "interpretive models" must be. When we don't point out their roadblocks, cranks feed the pseudoscientific "...any minute now!" mentality that handwaves away critical flaws. When we don't defend our science, cranks take cheap shots against mainstream models.

Nobody can remember everything. Skepticism is hard when you have nothing to base it upon. And that is why there must be one shining Google result among the misinformation surge: to give anti-cranks a starting point. Our response need not be the be-all end-all Rebuttal of the Gods -- it need only let people start the process of critical thought.

RationalWiki does not - and should not! - fear the stench of any and all fringe movements and claims. Instead, it is a necessary, even vital, source of information drudgery up Nonsense Creek. RationalWiki works as intended just because it is purposefully immersed in fringe-dung in absurd supply.