mark_asphodel | Mark's Rules to Live By

Since there's been a tide of stupidity present of late, allow me to introduce myself:

Hi, my name is Mark of the Asphodel, and these are principles I hold to:

1) Never attribute to malice what can be laid down to carelessness. Generally speaking, the world is not out to get you-- people are merely careless. Or negligent, if you prefer. And it hurts, but it's not intentional, so deal with it.
(I try to live by this and fail a fair amount of the time. To err is human, etc).

Sidebar #1 to the above: Some people are genuinely malicious and horrible people and are indeed out to get you. Fortunately they are an extreme minority and once you learn the signs you can often avoid them.

Sidebar #2 to the above: Human beings are too careless and stupid to pull off massive high-level conspiracies. People talk, people screw up. No one is orchestrating the strings to the entire world, and the Apollo Program was not filmed by Stanley Kubrick in Meteor Crater.

2) You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your personal set of facts. See: climate change, the Holocaust, vegan interpretations of human biology, and Mormon archaeology. Among other things.

Sidebar #1 to the above: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. On all counts.

Sidebar #2 to the above: If facts = insulting, you are probably not in the right. Retool your worldview accordingly. (I've done it more than once.)

3) Anyone doing something gob-smackingly stupid on the Internet is 95% likely to be a troll or a performance artist. (This includes my own dear mother, a certified troll since 1998.)

Sidebar #1 to the above: Unfortunately some people really are that dumb.

Sidebar #2 to the above: Chances go to 99.999% when anonymity is involved. See Johnathan Gabriel.

That's it for now. Dinnertime.