It must be Tuesday, Middlespace Cadets, because I'm answering your questions
Q: Dear Ty,
Is there a correlation between being a Tea Bagger and believing that this is the first October in 823 years that has five Fridays, five Saturdays, and five Sundays?
I ask because the overwhelming preponderance of my "friends" who have reposted this fact on Facebook are Tea Baggers. (Yes, I have Tea Bagger friends.)
It doesn't seem to be a far stretch to believe that Tea Baggers believe whatever they read on the internet and lack the basic critical skills to evaluate the veracity of any given statement. Though perhaps the same could be said of Do Gooders.
Sincerely,
Someone Who Knows How to Operate a Calendar
PS - Any October that begins on a Friday has five Fridays, five Saturdays, and five Sundays. These come roughly every seven years (give or take for leap years).
Ty: Good question and an even better observation, Competent Calendar Operator. I hadn't heard about his one so I did some World Wide Web searching using the GoogleBing for the following phrase:
5 fridays saturdays oct
Of the 352,000,000 results that the Googlefinder found (in .27 seconds), I went ahead and selected the very first link. That very first link demonstrated to me conclusively that this 823 years stuff is complete nonsense. The last time this 5 Friday-5 Saturday-5 Sunday October thing happened was 2004. That's six years ago. In fact, this thing happens every six years, Competent Calendar Operator.
Math is math and six is not equal to 823. So what gives? And to move us closer to an answer to your question, Competent Calendar Operator, is there a correlation between Tea Baggers and the belief in this Internet shitbit (shitbit is a shitty tidbit; to call it a shitbit a "rumor" is to give a shitbit much more power than it deserves)?
Calendars are not necessarily a new thing. But, the emailings and the so-called "social media" are fairly new things. Everybody uses the interweb now so it's not about calendars, Competent Calendar Operator. What happens when you pair our fairly new and effective information distribution system (the interweb) with people who do are not critical enough to question information and not savvy enough to check facts (Tea Baggers)? You get all kinds of nonsense shitbits that float around for far longer than is either necessary or sensible. So, yes, there is a correlation as you suggested.
This very example is why you get persistent shitbits with regard to the President (Muslim, foreigner, socialist, murderer, cannibal, closet D&D master, etc.). This very example is why the Tea Baggers have absolutely zero credibility with me as a viable political, social, or cultural movement.
You already answered this question though, Competent Calendar Operator:
"It doesn't seem to be a far stretch to believe that Tea Baggers believe whatever they read on the internet and lack the basic critical skills to evaluate the veracity of any given statement. Though perhaps the same could be said of Do Gooders."Right! To touch upon the Do Gooders (what Grayman calls "Hippies") for a moment. They are JUST AS BAD as the Tea Baggers. Perhaps they are worse because they generally have greater intellectual capacity and should be able to think how coarse and shrill they've become.
Where the Tea Baggers are basically fighting for some self-proclaimed "American rights" (middle age white people feeling painted into corners), the Do Gooders are persistently and annoyingly telling everybody how to live their lives. The last thing anyone needs is a fat, hairy, sweaty vegetarian telling people (with incisors) what to eat and what their damn carbon footprint equals; all dog allies to cat people and such. It is no wonder the Tea Baggers have nothing but disdain for Do Gooders [full disclosure: I have Do Gooder and Tea Bagger friends].
So the Tea Baggers are filling the world's bandwidth with mopetarded nonsense about end times and how they're actually not racists. People all marching around with misspelled signs calling for some strict adherence to a Constitution they've never, ever read.
Meanwhile, the Do Gooders are using a greatly disproportionate amount of coal-generated electricity whining about the Pacific gyre and fair trade coffee but doing nothing of substance to fix those problems (except for tweeting, right?). People all crying internet tears over the pigs but not the people who eat the bacon.
Nobody is looking past their own segregated playpens. Everyone is so afraid of their own shadows anymore. People are so worked-up and worried sick over shit they don't really care about or understand when they could just enjoy their damn short, short lives. Hence, Competent Calendar Operator, the Internet will fuel the ultimate death of the American empire. Mark my words, Kaczynski.
Want to fix this shit? Teach your kid math, science, and the Golden Rule.
Just a guess,
-ty
Posts
