Why do deplorables not understand value

[Fanatical Meat]

And people in general.....
My City had Santa drive around and wave to people, there was also a Grinch and an Elf. Basic but cute and as I feel appropriate for the time.
On the Cities Facebook page some people were complaining about the tax cost of doing such an event. Turns out the figure was likely $0.08 per household. When that stat becomes accepted there were people saying “well this was cheap but what about the other 99 things just like it? We should cut them all” as I said, okay great how do you plan to spend your $8.00 per year or 65 cents saved per month. How does that make this a better place to live?
Then the usual deplorable responses like “$8 in my pocket is better” or “there are thousands of more things to cut” (no dumb-dumb there are not thousands of things to cut like this) or the outright crazy “I’ll invest that $8 and turn it into $800”
Post was deleted so no I cannot provide an image.

Why do deplorables have such problems admitting they are wrong, why do people in general have such a difficult concept of value. I don’t have kids but in theory every household paying an average of 8 fucking cents to have a Santa drive by to kids or elderly or even someone like my wife who was excited about it during a PANDEMIC sounds like a spectacular value.

 

[feralkid]

Quality of life doesn't even register with these self-hating goons.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Quality of life doesn't even register with these self-hating goons.

I mean it is really strange. Once the small change per household figure is accepted why die on that hill? Why double down on the dumb shit? Why choose the hard path with no reward?
I have seen behavior like this for 30+ years. Why is it so difficult to understand for some people, things have value something that has value has a cost attached to it. Spreading the cost over tons of people keeps it manageable. We were not discussing a weekly Santa Parade. One fucking time.

 

[ivwshane]

What your story shows isn’t the fact that the right doesn’t understand value (which I think could easily be argued that they don’t) but rather how poor good government is at with messaging.

The cost of the parade might have only been .08 on the dollar but surely nothing was said about the positive impact the parade had on things like bringing in more revenue to the local stores, people typically don’t just go straight to a parade and then immediately after it’s over go home, they shop, eat, get gas, etc. We also don’t hear about the positive impact it can have on the community, whether it’s a sense of belonging or being apart of something (comradery, pride in ones town or people) and how such things can impact crime, suicide, and even poverty.

The non right constantly has to defend itself against the rights narrative but it’s because the non right isn’t very good at explaining things that touch peoples feels, instead they are great at talking about the numbers and we all know righties are all about the feels.

 

[shortylickens]

There's a whole lot of people in America who do not understand basic economics. The difference between group A and group B is that one of them thrives on ignorance and "belief" while the other is trying to grow and learn and improve.
That scares the shit out of the 1 percent.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Haha reminds me of my small town voting down a little splash park for the kiddos because it would raise everyone's water bill 25 cents per year. Yet the money that would be spent in town would be huge, instead of people visiting neighbor towns and shopping there.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

What your story shows isn’t the fact that the right doesn’t understand value (which I think could easily be argued that they don’t) but rather how poor good government is at with messaging.

The cost of the parade might have only been .08 on the dollar but surely nothing was said about the positive impact the parade had on things like bringing in more revenue to the local stores, people typically don’t just go straight to a parade and then immediately after it’s over go home, they shop, eat, get gas, etc. We also don’t hear about the positive impact it can have on the community, whether it’s a sense of belonging or being apart of something (comradery, pride in ones town or people) and how such things can impact crime, suicide, and even poverty.

The non right constantly has to defend itself against the rights narrative but it’s because the non right isn’t very good at explaining things that touch peoples feels, instead they are great at talking about the numbers and we all know righties are all about the feels.

Excellent point people across the street had friends over
BTW I have a Republican Mayor and yes deplorables call him a RINO

 

[ivwshane]

There's a whole lot of people in America who do not understand basic economics. The difference between group A and group B is that one of them thrives on ignorance and "belief" while the other is trying to grow and learn and improve.
That scares the shit out of the 1 percent.

It’s hard to understand basic economics when you’ve been lied to, unknowingly, your whole life about it. For example, I remember when I first started posting in P&N one of the arguments I got into was that lowering taxes helps the economy and the “explanation” given was that it’s just common sense. No amount of data and historical examples changed their mind.

Unfortunately this is just another topic that will require deprogramming of a majority of people.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Haha reminds me of my small town voting down a little splash park for the kiddos because it would raise everyone's water bill 25 cents per year. Yet the money that would be spent in town would be huge, instead of people visiting neighbor towns and shopping there.

Ha we have a splash park. No complaints about the water bill to my knowledge.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Ha we have a splash park. No complaints about the water bill to my knowledge.

I'm surrounded by rural trumpers, you should've seen the Facebook threads, it was just like you'd expect, like a trump twitter feed

 

[Leymenaide]

This type of thing is rather common. That is the Santa thing. The problem is with the cities response. Usually this is done on a fire truck, an expensive vehicle to run, but there is always training going on getting young operators used to handling this large heavy vehicle.

This to me is just a great training exercise.

This misery of complaints is nothing new. The churches have historically led it. When I grew up in the 60's they claimed if you sent your children to college they will turn away from god. Well two of my cousins were buggered in Catholic colleges. I guess they were right.

 

[cytg111]

Hah.. thats FYGM personified. Until you grow as a collective rather that individuals, this is what you get.

 

[sandorski]

I'm gonna take my 8 bucks, become Bezos and then show all y'all just how stupid you are!

 

[ch33zw1z]

Hah.. thats FYGM personified. Until you grow as a collective rather that individuals, this is what you get.

That's not what the oligarchy has been pushing for 50 years. FYGM or bust

 

[Dulanic]

I'm actually surprised how many are for our Santa firetruck runs. It's a very red TX town.

 

[MrSquished]

We have a large splash park for the kiddies in my town. Pretty new too. The town next to me just redid the dog park that I sometimes walk to. It's gorgeous. Not sure why people hate things that their fellow citizens might enjoy a little. Not like these are insane amenities.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk

 

[thilanliyan]

Not sure why people hate things that their fellow citizens might enjoy a little. Not like these are insane amenities.

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That's socialism!! 😛

 

[cytg111]

That's not what the oligarchy has been pushing for 50 years. FYGM or bust

So basically you have to come up with a plan to deprogram the pcgeeks of the world, convince them to have your back and you will have theirs AND that that doesnt equal communism / end of the world. Thats gonna require intellects beyond my comprehension skills.(maybe the singularity, super bright AI?)
You know the ONLY reason you dont have this is corrupt government. Every other demogratic instance, unless fallen to autocracy, gravitates towards this.
An easy argument could be made, that since you do not gravitate towards this, means in effect, you are not a democracy. Those who is supposed to be of the people for the people... is not for the people.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

This type of thing is rather common. That is the Santa thing. The problem is with the cities response. Usually this is done on a fire truck, an expensive vehicle to run, but there is always training going on getting young operators used to handling this large heavy vehicle.

This to me is just a great training exercise.

This misery of complaints is nothing new. The churches have historically led it. When I grew up in the 60's they claimed if you sent your children to college they will turn away from god. Well two of my cousins were buggered in Catholic colleges. I guess they were right.

Yup this came up and yes it was a fire truck.
Point was the trucks need a certain amount of mileage and big ticket items are replaced by days of service not miles of service
Only decent point was we should have another station but for whatever reason building a 3rd station is difficult. Partly due to where it is needed real estate is tough to find. The only smart deplorable point was the engine is busy, however it was still in service and readily available if needed.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

That's not what the oligarchy has been pushing for 50 years. FYGM or bust

Aw that’s okay the commie left bitched about it not being open early spring due to COVID fears.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Aw that’s okay the commie left bitched about it not being open early spring due to COVID fears.

FYGM affects people across political parties, even if they don't realize it. It just so happens that the further right you go the more apparent it is.

 

[Ajay]

And people in general.....
My City had Santa drive around and wave to people, there was also a Grinch and an Elf. Basic but cute and as I feel appropriate for the time.
On the Cities Facebook page some people were complaining about the tax cost of doing such an event. Turns out the figure was likely $0.08 per household. When that stat becomes accepted there were people saying “well this was cheap but what about the other 99 things just like it? We should cut them all” as I said, okay great how do you plan to spend your $8.00 per year or 65 cents saved per month. How does that make this a better place to live?
Then the usual deplorable responses like “$8 in my pocket is better” or “there are thousands of more things to cut” (no dumb-dumb there are not thousands of things to cut like this) or the outright crazy “I’ll invest that $8 and turn it into $800”
Post was deleted so no I cannot provide an image.

Why do deplorables have such problems admitting they are wrong, why do people in general have such a difficult concept of value. I don’t have kids but in theory every household paying an average of 8 fucking cents to have a Santa drive by to kids or elderly or even someone like my wife who was excited about it during a PANDEMIC sounds like a spectacular value.

Yeah, I'd just say people in general. This sort of stuff has been going on for decades over small city holiday 'cheer' projects and other projects. Why restore statues, why put up a pavilion in the park for music festivals and cultural celebrations, etc., etc. It's not just 'deplorables', it's people who can't stand paying a few extra dollars a month on their taxes. I won't get into education spending because I will blow a freaking gasket!

 

[Ken g6]

Quality of life doesn't even register with these self-hating goons.

I was just watching an odd PBS show about how the English celebrated Christmas in the time of Henry VIII. Apparently they had all these crazy traditions for the full "12 days of Christmas". Then Henry VIII separated the Church of England from the Catholic Church. Then the Puritans got the Church of England to ban almost all Christmas celebrations. Some came back eventually, but many didn't.

Guess what English religious group settled a lot of America? I suppose they're still at it...

 

[woolfe9998]

And people in general.....
My City had Santa drive around and wave to people, there was also a Grinch and an Elf. Basic but cute and as I feel appropriate for the time.
On the Cities Facebook page some people were complaining about the tax cost of doing such an event. Turns out the figure was likely $0.08 per household. When that stat becomes accepted there were people saying “well this was cheap but what about the other 99 things just like it? We should cut them all” as I said, okay great how do you plan to spend your $8.00 per year or 65 cents saved per month. How does that make this a better place to live?
Then the usual deplorable responses like “$8 in my pocket is better” or “there are thousands of more things to cut” (no dumb-dumb there are not thousands of things to cut like this) or the outright crazy “I’ll invest that $8 and turn it into $800”
Post was deleted so no I cannot provide an image.

Why do deplorables have such problems admitting they are wrong, why do people in general have such a difficult concept of value. I don’t have kids but in theory every household paying an average of 8 fucking cents to have a Santa drive by to kids or elderly or even someone like my wife who was excited about it during a PANDEMIC sounds like a spectacular value.

The problem with looking at this in terms of the concept of "value" is that different people will assign different value to the same thing. Government spends money for the collective good, not for the individual. A given individual may see no value for themselves in any given thing the state spends money on. Conservatives usually don't mind the spending if they perceive a direct benefit to themselves. However, the idea that government spends any of their money for someone else's benefit puts them into a tizzy.

Conservatives have a concept of value. They just don't have a concept of society or community as something with independent meaning.

If you want to dig deeper, American culture is afflicted with greed and materialism, which is a byproduct of the manner in which marketing, advertising and popular culture have manipulated people into wanting things they don't need. All for the purpose of boosting consumer spending and making people rich. Conservatism is really just an intellectual framework which has been created to rationalize this. It takes something like greed and self-interest, which don't seem to be particularly admirable qualities, and gives them a false aura of morality. So, for example, when they say taxation is "theft," it sounds like they're making a moral argument when all they are actually doing is justifying their own selfishness by pretending that they are standing on some sort of principle. Ayn Rand, the intellectual founder of American libertarianism, didn't write a book called "The Virtue of Selfishness" for no reason.

 

[woolfe9998]

What your story shows isn’t the fact that the right doesn’t understand value (which I think could easily be argued that they don’t) but rather how poor good government is at with messaging.

The cost of the parade might have only been .08 on the dollar but surely nothing was said about the positive impact the parade had on things like bringing in more revenue to the local stores, people typically don’t just go straight to a parade and then immediately after it’s over go home, they shop, eat, get gas, etc. We also don’t hear about the positive impact it can have on the community, whether it’s a sense of belonging or being apart of something (comradery, pride in ones town or people) and how such things can impact crime, suicide, and even poverty.

The non right constantly has to defend itself against the rights narrative but it’s because the non right isn’t very good at explaining things that touch peoples feels, instead they are great at talking about the numbers and we all know righties are all about the feels.

You're right. Sometimes people don't see the value and it needs to be explained. The problem with conservatives, as I said above, is that they need to see direct value to themselves in the first place. Because they place no value in other people's happiness, prosperity or well being.