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   Ricki Gray Area Witch Tarr (rickitarr@beige.party)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 12:10:03 JST Ricki Gray Area Witch Tarr

   A Hindsight Question!

   What is something you loved or enjoyed when you were younger, that isn't so great now that you're older?

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 12:10:01 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     @RickiTarr The comedy of Bill Hicks. He was a sledgehammer to the facade of conformity in the Reagan and Bush years and a voice for the weirdos. Now he just sounds like the kind of White Guy With Opinions mixed with incel misogyny and enough conspiracy kookiness to put him at risk of falling for QAnon.

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 13:35:55 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

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     • Yakyu Night Owl

     @YakyuNightOwl @RickiTarr I think that conspiracy theory started specifically to mock some of Jones' techniques, but there's a great poetry to it for sure. It has a very Andy Kaufman / Tony Clifton vibe, and you can honestly hear how Bill would eventually break bad. Their mutual Texas connection also unites it...there's a certain vein of crazy they were both tapping.

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     Yakyu Night Owl (yakyunightowl@mastodon.world)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 13:35:56 JST Yakyu Night Owl

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     • Kit Rhett Aultman

     @roadriverrail @RickiTarr This might be exactly why there was a wild-ass conspiracy theory that he hadn't died, but just reemerged as a character named Alex Jones. Then the bit got out of hand.

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 13:42:24 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

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     • It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸

     @Tweetfiction @RickiTarr I think, in a lot of ways, Rand is optimized to be a bit of a tar pit for precocious youths. it has a veneer of philosophical discourse without challenging many fundamental assumptions about the world, so you feel like you're elevating yourself without being made uncomfortable. Adults will praise you for reading it. And it centers the ego at a time when ego development and individuation are part of one's cultural arc of development.

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     It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸 (tweetfiction@mastodon.world)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 13:42:25 JST It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸

     in reply to

     @RickiTarr I blame my honors English teacher who assigned it. Thank God I got to college and read real philosophy and realized Objectivism is a bunch of nonsense, and mostly stolen nonsense written by a massive hypocrite.

     Glad I wasn't the only one sucked in who grew up. 😆

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     Ricki Gray Area Witch Tarr (rickitarr@beige.party)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 13:42:26 JST Ricki Gray Area Witch Tarr

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     • It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸

     @Tweetfiction You and me both lol

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     It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸 (tweetfiction@mastodon.world)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 13:42:28 JST It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸

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     @RickiTarr *whispers* I was into Ayn Rand as a young teen and thought The Fountainhead was a guide to becoming some sort of elevated human. 🫣🫣🫣

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 23:24:48 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     • Stanley Nerdlinger

     @SNerd @RickiTarr And I too have hurt myself laughing to his records and loved sharing him with others. My partner, back in 2003, said watching his London show was almost painful because it was like listening to a Greek prophet of legend. We didn't even realize how bad major parts of his work aged until we tried to introduce our other partner to "Rant In E Minor" a few years ago.

     Again, still love his place in history and believe in what he was. Just won't share it like I used to.

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     Stanley Nerdlinger (snerd@lor.sh)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 23:24:49 JST Stanley Nerdlinger

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     • Kit Rhett Aultman

     @roadriverrail @RickiTarr
     I saw Bill Hicks live when I lived in Orlando. At the end of the show my sides actually hurt from laughing 🤣

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 23:52:19 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     • It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸

     @Tweetfiction @RickiTarr I see nothing wrong with reading some Rand within context. The real problem with Rand is that, given how unchallenging and accessible it is, a lot of people just kinda stop there. Especially if they're teenagers, it kinda arrests parts of their intellectual and emotional development in those late-teen years.

     I also think teens and young adults should read Nietzsche, but with guidance and context, as his work can *also* have a similar effect.

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     It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸 (tweetfiction@mastodon.world)'s status on Friday, 29-Sep-2023 23:52:20 JST It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸

     in reply to

     • Kit Rhett Aultman

     @roadriverrail @RickiTarr honestly? I might assign it myself if I was a HS teacher. It's like baby's first philosophy. But I would assign it with context. And then they'd read Aristotle, maybe John Stuart Mill and David Hume, probably Nietzsche.

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Saturday, 30-Sep-2023 03:11:06 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

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     • It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸

     @Tweetfiction @RickiTarr You know, I read that originally only thinking of "survey of philosophy", and my immediate reaction was "Hm...a lot of that's kinda redundant to Rand and/or her influences..." and then I didn't consider that the idea was precisely that. I shouldn't philosophy before coffee.

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     It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸 (tweetfiction@mastodon.world)'s status on Saturday, 30-Sep-2023 03:11:08 JST It's Just Spider-Jenn 🕷🕸

     in reply to

     • Kit Rhett Aultman

     @roadriverrail @RickiTarr agreed on all points. I mentioned those pholosphers specifically because she either ripped them off, or they're Utilitarians, which I consider the more enlightened version of the self-interest she preaches.