Just When I thought Nothing Could Surprise Me, I Read This....

Margret

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Have you ever been to those MLM "parties"? I have. They aren't businesses (despite the scamming nature of MLM schemes); I would (and do) call them cults. Think about it. They basically tell people that this product (whatever it is) is so wonderful that it practically sells itself. Therefore anyone can make a profit selling it. And those people who can't make a profit doing this simply don't believe well enough - if they truly believed in the product that belief would come out in their voice and body language and people would be clamoring to buy from them.

Blind faith. That's religion. Worse, that's an abusive religion, i.e. a cult.

Margret
 
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MonaLyssa33

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I know it's terrible of me to say, but let nature take it's course with these idiots. If someone lacked common sense 200 years ago, they'd be weeded out of the gene pool because they'd have done something stupid to kill themselves.

I'm so glad I deleted my Facebook last month. I had an acquaintance (who barely passed high school might I add) who acted like she knew so much about "natural remedies" and was also an antivaxxer. I'd see a post by her and I'd rage-post on my lunch break defending vaccines and insisting autism is not a death sentence like antivaxxers seem to think it is. I'd tell my coworkers I'd need to run to Iowa to burn off the adrenaline because I would get so angry my hands would shake.
 

Margret

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I know it's terrible of me to say, but let nature take it's course with these idiots.
I'd agree with you, if it were just themselves they're killing, but it isn't. It's their kids. It's also other people's kids, since there are always a few children who, for medical reasons, can't be vaccinated. Those children are only safe if herd immunity protects them.

I'd see a post by her and I'd rage-post on my lunch break defending vaccines and insisting autism is not a death sentence like antivaxxers seem to think it is.
I sympathize; that's the kind of stupidity that makes me angry, too. We are, however, talking about two separate issues here:
  • The fact that autism isn't the end of the world.
  • The fact that vaccination doesn't cause autism.
Don't allow people to bait you into concentrating on the first and letting them get away with the junk science that says vaccinations cause autism.

That said, I'm glad you ditched FB.

Margret
 

MoochNNoodles

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I used to hate it when coworkers would bring their kids' fundraisers to work and make you feel like you HAD to buy their cookies. I don't eat dessert, so for me it was a waste of money. Then they would treat you like crap if you didn't buy anything.
Thankfully I only had one job where I had a co-worker with school aged kids...the boss. And she wasn't bad about it. Some people are. I haven't seen any at church in a while either. I've always wondered how much money the schools actually end up with off those. I'd rather just write a check. "Here's $20 to leave me alone." :paperbag: But it's not just schools anymore. It's sports teams and Scouts and clubs and trips. I get that it's expensive and cuts down on how much the kids have to pay for some things; but it's too much when it's so constant! :sweat: The only GOOD fundraiser I've seen is one school sells Rita's Italian Ice by the quart in the middle of winter. The stores aren't open then so people like getting their "fix." A 4H club here sells mums in the fall too. That I can support. It's useful. But most other stuff is...meh.
 

Margret

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I used to hate it when coworkers would bring their kids' fundraisers to work and make you feel like you HAD to buy their cookies. I don't eat dessert, so for me it was a waste of money. Then they would treat you like crap if you didn't buy anything.
I run into them at the grocery store; mostly scouts. And it's always something like cookies or candy, so I just say "I'm sorry; I have diabetes and can't eat it." Nobody criticizes that!

Margret
 
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Mia6

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My helper, soon to be my ex helper, believes everything she reads or someone else tells her, from what she calls
"Social Media". What she means is Facebook but won't say it. She told me 9 or 10 states don't do daylight savings
time. It's only 2, Hawaii and Alaska. She was arguing with me till I brought it up in print. She then backed down and
said this was what she was told. Yes, other states want to stop doing it but they still are, as of now. The list goes on
with her. I've brought up so much stuff she thinks is true I can't even think straight.

She is also a racist and a bigot.:angryfire::fuming::yelling:
 

maggiedemi

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She told me 9 or 10 states don't do daylight savings
time. It's only 2,
My mom always gets things mixed up that she reads and nothing will convince her otherwise. There was a story that they found honey on a shipwreck from like 100 years ago that was still edible. My mom was convinced it said olive oil, not honey. So she believes that we can keep our olive oil for 100 years and not have it go rancid! :fear:
 

Foundkitty

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I know it's terrible of me to say, but let nature take it's course with these idiots. If someone lacked common sense 200 years ago, they'd be weeded out of the gene pool because they'd have done something stupid to kill themselves.

I'm so glad I deleted my Facebook last month. I had an acquaintance (who barely passed high school might I add) who acted like she knew so much about "natural remedies" and was also an antivaxxer. I'd see a post by her and I'd rage-post on my lunch break defending vaccines and insisting autism is not a death sentence like antivaxxers seem to think it is. I'd tell my coworkers I'd need to run to Iowa to burn off the adrenaline because I would get so angry my hands would shake.
I’m with you 100%. Only reason I use FB is family.
 

Margret

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I've brought up so much stuff she thinks is true I can't even think straight.
For those who haven't read my profile, in 2012 I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Fortunately, it was benign, and operable. But for a year after I came home from the hospital I was afflicted with my husband's nephew and his family, who moved in with us to "help" me, and then stayed way longer than needed. (We finally evicted them after the nephew's wife physically abused me.) I call them "the house guests from hell."

Anyway, these folks were very anti-cat, and they kept informing us that my brain tumor had been caused by exposure to cat pee. Roger finally insisted that they back up this claim, and they responded by showing him a whole bunch of threads on various websites with titles like "Brain tumors caused by cat pee." But then Roger made his nephew actually read the threads (not just their titles), out loud. In every case, the thread referenced a single article about long-term exposure to the smell of cat pee being associated with brain tumors in rats. And in every case, someone had pointed out that cats would be a major source of stress for rats, so long-term exposure to that smell would put the rats under extreme stress over a long period of time, so this study proves nothing about cat pee being a carcinogen. And then the thread went on to other topics entirely without changing its name.

As a general rule, I've found TCS denizens to be intelligent people, and readers. This makes a huge difference for us. We have access to information that non-readers don't, and we've developed at least a few critical thinking skills. People like my husband's nephew, who don't read except for skimming titles are vulnerable to all sorts of misinformation.

And since we do read, and enjoy reading, we tend to think of that as a basic fact of life - how could anyone not be a reader? But the truth is that the world is full of people who don't read voraciously. They read a little, of course, or they wouldn't be able to function on social media, but they tend to stick to specific websites, where they believe implicitly everything that they're told by the people they follow.

It may be helpful to try to strike up a conversation about books with new people. Their response will tell you a lot about them.

Margret
 

aliceneko

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I know it's terrible of me to say, but let nature take it's course with these idiots. If someone lacked common sense 200 years ago, they'd be weeded out of the gene pool because they'd have done something stupid to kill themselves.

I'm so glad I deleted my Facebook last month. I had an acquaintance (who barely passed high school might I add) who acted like she knew so much about "natural remedies" and was also an antivaxxer. I'd see a post by her and I'd rage-post on my lunch break defending vaccines and insisting autism is not a death sentence like antivaxxers seem to think it is. I'd tell my coworkers I'd need to run to Iowa to burn off the adrenaline because I would get so angry my hands would shake.
Don't worry, natural selection will come for them!
 
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