Nate Posts Things @infernaltank - Tumblr Blog

This meme came to me in the shower

Cake: The Movie (2020) dir. David Lynch & David Cronenberg

Someone presents you with a troubling fact. Say they tell you, “we should close the border because 28% of immigrants are violent criminals.”

If you’re a skeptical person, your first response may be to look for ways that statistic might be misleading. Are police enforcing laws more harshly against immigrants? Does the definition of “violent” include some not-actually-very-violent crimes like resisting arrest? What is the base rate of violent crimes for citizens with the same age/gender/socioeconomic status distribution as immigrants?

This isn’t wrong, but it should be your third response.

Your first response should be to ask “is this even worth responding to?”

Your second response should be to question if that 28% number is even real or if someone just pulled it directly out of their ass.

I’ve seen so many well-intentioned people screw this up. They start earnesty debating, and in doing so, accidentally give more credibility to this fact that the other side completely made up. In posting “yes, 28% of immigrants are violent criminals, but you have to look at the underlying social factors,” you’re spreading the lie and your weak defense doesn’t defuse it that much.

How to Lie With Statistics is a fascinating book, but never forget that the easiest and commonest way to lie with statistics is just to straight-up lie.

wallnoises

“homer’s enemy” is such a fascinating simpsons episode because although it was largely panned by viewers for being too dark (even by the show’s standards), it’s gone on to become the number 1-rated simpsons episode of all time [according to IMDB] and most people who were young kids at the time the episode first aired (myself included) consider it one of the most iconic and classic episodes of the series

wallnoises

like damn, it was always a running joke that homer is much too incompetent and lazy for his line of work and yet somehow still manages to live in a decent 2-story home in a nice neighborhood but this episode hit it on the fucking nose with how unfair and ludicrous it all is

therealsongbirddiamondback

The show creators wanted to make this episode unsettling. They wanted to show what would happen if a real person ended up in Springfield.

big-block-of-cheese-day

The message of “Homer’s Enemy” is far more Chesterton’s Fence than Peter Principle, and I think a lot of people miss that.

Everything Frank Grimes says is both obvious and true to the viewer.

The twist is that Frank Grimes is from our world, but Springfield isn’t. Where he ended up, nuclear power plants ooze glowing green goop and undereducated drunks pour sodas on control panels to short them out rather than investigate error messages. In our world, Springfield would be a slightly more colorful Pripiyat, the town evacuated in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster. But that keeps not happening!

The fundamental logic of Springfield is that of TV: big stuff happens, but it all has a way of returning to the status quo after 22 minutes. The Simpsons constantly makes reference to all the outlandish things Homer did, as if this mid-30s man actually did all the things he supposedly did over the last three decades of TV. They still callback Poochie, for chrissakes! It’s TV given self-awareness and this license to acknowledge its built-in logic.

For all his supposed knowledge and competence, Grimes’ skills of observation failed him miserably. He was driven to madness by a world that didn’t play by his rules. The lesson of “Homer’s Enemy” is that you can’t demand that a world you barely understand follow a set of rules that you do.

wallnoises

goddamn every time i go thru the notes of this post i find more and more in-depth analyses and interpretations of it, i’m impressed

jerryterry

I saw a recent interview with Bill Oakley (one of the writers during the time) where he compared Frank Grimes to Superintendent Chalmers - one of my favorite Simpsons characters because of how he plays a similar “only sane man” sort of role, but only ever asks a few questions before dropping it and taking everything at face value. He’s learned just not to care, because he knows it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Oakley sums it up really well: “Chalmers is able to live in Springfield and succeed, because he knows not to ask too many questions. Whereas Frank just wouldn’t let it go. He wouldn’t let it go, and he died.”

miyukifuji

This has unconsciously became a kind of unitentional ritual passage

catzgba

okay can someone help me

for some reason whenever i try to copy anything now it won’t work and this image is the only thing i can paste

catzgba

this isn’t a joke my computer seriously isn’t letting me paste anything but windmill man

d3rachi-deactivated20210601

Filing this under “not an issue”

zennistrad

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

inkxlenses

Beautiful Smoothie! | by smoothiethecat

nicothebumblebee

I would die for you Smoothie

z0mbiep1ush-deactivated20190610

vine compilation titles then: OMG EPIC FAIL VINES 2015 😂😂😂 | SUBSCRIBE FOR A FREE IPHONE 6

vine compilation titles now: vines for when you want to forget about the trauma caused by your father leaving you when you were 3 years old

captain-acab

Coming out as a slave, and imma join the jedi

gotta make qui-gonn proud, because i’m way too old

it was only a sith, how did it end up like this

it was only a sith, it was only a sith

now she woke from her sleep

and i’m catching a cab

but my lead’s up in smoke

and she’s taking a stand

now mace windu is dead

im becoming a sith

and a hood’s on my head

but she’s clutching her neck, now

he takes off his dress, now

“we were bros”

i just got cooked, it’s killing me

i can’t feel my toes…

JEAAALOUSY, turned me into a machine

killing off all the jedi, choking out those who survive

but it’s just the PRICE I PAY, DESTINY IS ALL I SEEK

TAKE AWAY THIS REBEL SPYYY

‘CAUSE I’M MR. DARK SIDE

artemis-the-changeling

@letitrainathousandflames if I had to see this, so do You

D E L E T E T H I S

Half Life scientist

when people say shit like “why do you play video games so much when there’s a whole world out there” and i cant help but think “yeah but real life wasnt designed for me to have a fair outcome and a satisfying ending you fuck”

shutupandtakemymonies

The Retromini (Retro mini) is a handheld console which can play GB, GBC, GBA, SNES and NES Games. At only 103. grams with the battery, it is lightweight and extremely portable. Bundling 36 Games into one convenient player that fits in your pocket, with the potential to hold hundreds more games with its MicroSD slot. It is an ideal choice for entertainment on-the-go.

You can find the Retro Mini HERE!