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by cehrlich 1469 days ago
Agreed, "normies" is a fine shorthand for "people who are not concerned with the niche thing we're currently talking about", but seeing people who think of it as an actual category that they judge people by is a dangerous mental model that a lot of people on here seem to fall victim to.
2 comments
fartcannon 1469 days ago
We are amall group primates, it's our nature. Us vs Them. In and Out groups. Everyone is a victim of it.
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javajosh 1469 days ago
Maybe your narrow-minded group believes in in- and out-groups, but not mine!
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erklik 1469 days ago
Ahh. You mean your "in-group" of people who don't believe in "in-groups".

This is tongue-in-cheek. :)

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javajosh 1469 days ago
There was a time I would lamented the need to be so explicit. But now, I'm just grateful the point got across. Communication seems to happen less and less reliably, with more error modes with greater negative emotional impact, and I worry that this implies the existence of some sort of inevitable drift between my brain and other people's brains. And I'm not sure if the solution is to bridge the gap, or just keep going and learn to accept inane resistance with some combination of stoicism and resigned amusement.
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antisthenes 1469 days ago
You will burn in sparrow-hell!

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EF3JLYwXUAAqDPP.jpg

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javajosh 1469 days ago
Not sure how it applies, but it is funny in its own right. I mean, it's a good example of in- and out-groups, but it's not a good example of a group that denies the existence of out-groups (which is admittedly more self-referential and weird. You know, like an xkcd cartoon.)
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ironmagma 1469 days ago
It's also our nature to beat each other up on occasion. That doesn't mean we have to be victim of it.
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tomjakubowski 1469 days ago
Yes, absolutely. People are multidimensional. Most people may not care for your particular captivating niche interest, but some will find your excitement about it interesting and enjoy your excitement about it. And you can reciprocate that feeling towards their niche interests (almost everyone has at least one). Toss everyone who doesn't care about your thing into the same "normie" pile at your peril.
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