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   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 16-Feb-2026 05:28:07 JST Paul Cantrell

   • tj usiyan

   This general category of question from @griotspeak is something I wonder about a lot. For many/most human beings, hearing good information and even •knowing• it to be true just doesn’t seem to outweigh having bad information in one’s face over and over.

   I know there will a Mastodonian urge to reply with “well ••I•• never succumb to that” or “Here’s how I avoid that,” and…good for you, I guess? (Also, really?) But not the question. The question is how we communicate to people who •are• succumbing.

   1/ https://soc.mod-12.com/@griotspeak/116076433717237685

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 16-Feb-2026 05:34:15 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     • tj usiyan

     @griotspeak I think often of a story my composer friend Todd Harper told of the days when he taught 4th grade.

     He brought in a piece music every day to play for the kids — widely varied in style, origin, and era, almost always something unfamiliar to them.

     One day he brought in an Erik Satie march that they all •hated•. It’s a sort of wildly repetitive and maddening, bores its way into your brain, and the kids flipped out.

     So he started playing it again every day.

     2/

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 16-Feb-2026 05:36:30 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     After nearly a week of hearing the maddening piece every single day, one of the kids walked up and said, “Mr. Harper, I…think I’m actually starting to like that piece.”

     “Of course you are!” he said. “Why do you think popular music is popular? It’s because they play it •all the time•!”

     Kid’s mind completely blown.

     3/

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 16-Feb-2026 05:36:34 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     I don’t know the answer to my original question, but maybe it’s as simple as “seize the means of repetition.”

     /end

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     Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Monday, 16-Feb-2026 06:05:50 JST Paul Cantrell

     in reply to

     Addendum: Todd remembers which piece it was! “Cinema” from Erik Satie’s “Relâche.” Audio:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgBYwSi4WwU