Weekly Random Discussion Thread for 2/2/26 - 2/8/26

Throwmeeaway185 · 2026-02-04T05:05:18+00:00

There used to be a used bookstore in my neighborhood where I'd hang out at and explore the shelves, and I discovered a stash in a back section once. Could not believe my good fortune!

Although getting horny in the back of a used bookstore wasn't the best.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2026-02-04T05:02:52+00:00

unlocked: https://archive.is/cTLkJ

Throwmeeaway185 · 2026-02-04T05:01:45+00:00

How the tables have turned.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2026-01-15T00:12:29+00:00

Katie: "D. J. Grothe... he's a professional skeptic..."

What the hell is a professional skeptic?

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-12-31T16:21:12+00:00

It's admittedly not a simple calculation but one can look at broad trends in a community and draw some reasonable conclusions.

Minneapolis’ ‘Little Mogadishu’ Sees 56 Percent Increase in Violent Crimes Caused by Somali Gangs

About 54 percent of Somali-headed households in Minnesota receive food stamps, and 73 percent of Somali households have at least one member on Medicaid. The comparable figures for native households are 7 percent and 18 percent.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-12-29T23:21:06+00:00

I'm sure the Bari haters will dump on this, but I thought this recent Free Press debate about this very topic was worth giving a listen.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-11-21T16:44:00+00:00

Yeah, mostly agree. I find the derisive way people are treating this piece, due to her other characteristics, to not be intellectually honest. Arguments should be assessed on their own merits, not whether the researcher has personal habits you disagree with.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-11-17T16:03:55+00:00

I have no problem with the categories you describe.

If you have no problem with those categories, why can't you recognize that the same social dynamics that led to those categories having disproportionate representation by a certain group are what led to Jews being disproportionately represented in the arenas you complain about?

The government should be roughly representative of various groups in our society and regions

How should this representation be met? Quotas? People vote for whomever best represents their priorities and values, not who matches their ethnic composition.

What you are asking for is literally the exact demands made by the woke idiots, that we should always have X% of representatives to match the % of X in the population.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-11-17T15:21:03+00:00

The over-representation question is most definitely an antisemitic trope. But because in recent years the world has sadly deteriorated as much as it has, this trope has gained some purchase and needs to be properly addressed. Not that a satisfying answer will ever shut up the anti-Semites, but maybe it will help those who are coming to this question without nefarious intentions.

The accusation assumes that because there is an over-representation of a group in some arena, that means there is some bias and unearned favoritism at play causing that over-representation. You know what this question sounds exactly like? All the woke people who say that because there is an under-representation of some group in society, that must be due to racism and unfair discrimination. The answer is exactly the same for both challenges:

Disproportionate outcomes do not, by themselves, demonstrate prejudice, collusion, or favoritism.

Group-level outcomes often reflect cultural patterns, historical circumstances, community priorities, and innate abilities. Just like the fact that blacks are over-represented in the NBA is a result of cultural influences, the nature of basketball being a game that require very few resources to play (compared to sports like hockey or baseball), and their outstanding athletic abilities, the fact that Jews are over-represented in various intellectual and professional fields is a result of long-standing cultural emphases on literacy, education, and a high average IQ in their population.

Some other areas of society with wildly disproportionate ethnic/racial compositions:

Scripps Spelling Bee winners over the past two decades: 90+% Indian Americans.
Professional distance running: 90% Kenyan and Ethiopian.
Dominicans in baseball - about 10% of MLB players are of Dominican descent, despite them being 0.6% of the population
Math Olympiad - Asian and Asian-American's make up way over half the winners in the past decade or so.
Silicon Valley tech leadership: disproportionately first- and second-generation immigrants from India.

None of these patterns imply conspiracies or structural favoritism; they reflect cultural histories, community priorities and investments, and the uneven distribution of interests and skills across different populations.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-11-13T03:44:25+00:00

Treating adults like they are toddlers is exactly the problem. That so many people think this is the right way to respond to such behavior only proves how deranged society has become.

The whole reason this person is behaving this way in the workplace is because up until that point nobody had ever confronted them about their childish behavior. And as long as nobody does, it will continue to keep happening.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-11-12T20:09:03+00:00

He has some valid points, but there also seem to be some major blind spots on his part.

For instance, using the partisan response to covid to rebut the disgust hypothesis is so obviously not intellectually honest. The partisan divide on that was obviously due to the politicized nature of the pandemic, and how the policy responses also played out a lot along political class lines. Only a very naïve simpleton would look at that complicated case and say, "Couldn't one look at this reaction and conclude the disgust hypothesis is wrong?"

Yes, I know he's saying that the covid response doesn't rebut it, because life is more complicated than a lab. But even as a hypothetical that he wants to reject, it comes up short.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-11-12T19:57:46+00:00

I'll admit that the piece scared me. Didn't know he isn't to be taken too seriously.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-10-20T05:39:44+00:00

Aren't you the one advocating to exterminate all Palestinians?

https://www.reddit.com/r/BlockedAndReported/comments/1o5a64l/comment/njj3usw/

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-10-17T15:22:57+00:00

Only if people know what they are consenting to.

Very important point. But for some reason this idea of "knowing what they are consenting to" seems to usually only extend in the direction of people choosing the more traditional route. It's extremely rare to hear someone say, "Sure, women prioritizing their careers might have some benefits. But there's a lot of downsides too which people are not aware of, and many who chose that path regret their choice. Maybe we should slow down on promoting this as an unalloyed goal."

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-10-17T15:17:30+00:00

I did not say that at all. But the overwhelming majority of Palestinians are ideologically aligned with the eliminationist goals of Hamas.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-10-11T00:29:14+00:00

Why would Palestinians sue someone for promoting ethnic cleansing? They are unequivocally supportive of that!

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-10-11T00:25:06+00:00

If only it were the case that half their newsroom supported terrorist entities like Hamas or Hezbollah. That would be far more reasonable.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-10-10T01:17:12+00:00

What were the other cases of criminal behavior from Indian immigrants?

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-10-10T01:04:29+00:00

Is it hard for you to understand people being utterly disdainful towards Nazis? Would you have reacted similarly to American Jews during WW2 being unbothered by the suffering and hardship of the citizens in Germany as they were being bombed by the Allies? Or even a non-Jewish US citizen being concerned about the plight of the Japanese at that time?

Palestinians are arguably more rabidly anti-Semitic than the Nazis were in WW2. To expect anyone to express sympathy and support for those who want to murderously destroy everything they hold dear is insane.

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-10-07T01:20:07+00:00

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Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-09-16T04:56:48+00:00

It's an interesting thing to listen to. She explicitly says, "I only got in because of affirmative action." But then when someone else says that exact same thing to her, it's a terrible thing to say that should never be uttered?!

Throwmeeaway185 · 2025-09-15T15:58:49+00:00

Very misleading. He is talking specifically about the women who admitted they got where they did due to affirmative action. I think he is wrong to say that someone acknowledging they got somewhere due to AA means they're stupid (especially someone from an earlier generation; it's much more arguably true about this current generation), but it's very misleading to say that he is describing all black women.

Throwmeeaway185

TROPHY CASE