Poe's Correlary. in The Napkin.

  • June 8, 2022, 5:20 a.m.
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  • Public

Thesis statement aka tl;dr: If you act like an ass, you are an ass. And if you act nice, you are nice.

Been on my mind, and we’ll see whether this is longwinded, or so concise it misses the point. For starters, there’s Poe’s Law:

    Poe's law is an adage of Internet culture stating that, without a clear indicator of the author's intent, every parody of extreme views can be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of the views being parodied. ([x](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law))

So if you’re mocking nazi views and repeating them, you can’t tell the difference between sarcasm and reality at times. Thing is, eventually repeating their talking points is repeating their talking points. So if I were to write about, say, how horrible immigrants are. If you knew me, you’d be ‘wtf, Timmy, that’s not you’. But an outsider might think I was serious.

I’m thinking of how people sometimes are “jokingly” mean, or teasing. The sort of deadpan “oh, just busting your balls” crap you thought only middle school boys do. Eventually, it stops being “just a joke” and…

I’m thinking about how language patterns are. If I practiced typing in a fashion such as “r u serious 2nite?”, many of you would assume I had brain damage. I practice orating properly. I practice annunciating. So by sounding like a pendantic smartass, I am a pedantic smartass.

Which, in this case, is entirely intentional.

I sometimes can slip into a really bad parody of a southern accent. But, living south of the Mason-Dixon Line, I’ve specifically avoided using it. Because I don’t want that to become my default. I don’t want that to be me.

Consider positive, kind actions. Meaningful ones. The pleases and thank yous. Some call them “manners”, but that’s not entirely my point. If you practice being a kind person, you are a kind person.

No, no handwaving here about intensions. If your first thought is “what can I do to make people feel better”, and you lead with kindness, then you are kind.

So if parodying negative bullshit makes you sound and be the same as what they’re parodying.

It behooves us to “parody” the gay free healthcare utopia we want.


Side note: This is how Republicans win. They parody themselves to the right, which shifts the narrative. If the left wants to want, SKITTLES FARTING UNICORNS FOR ALL. …Or is that unicorns farting skittles. Whatever.

Bizarre that killing will get you a medal, but a handjob will get you a citation. ABORTIONS FOR SOME, HANDJOBS FOR OTHERS!

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