army1987 comments on Rationality Quotes October 2012 - Less Wrong

8 Post author: MBlume 02 October 2012 06:50PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (298)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Plubbingworth 06 October 2012 04:14:13PM *  0 points [-]

As I was growing up around here, I discovered that there are certain curiosities which are always welcomed in this redneck sort of area. They include such lovely questions as;

  • "What church do you go to?"

  • 1. "You root for the home sport team, right?" 2. "...Do you follow sport at all?" 3. "Why not?!" (They progress like this the more you answer "No")

  • "Politics? Politics? Politics? Politics? Politics? Politics? POLITICS?"

Any curiosity more complex than this is usually just there to serve these three topics.

But if you answer correctly (cough) these questions three, it's basically like using the Konami Code or something. Just in case you're ever in the South.

Comment author: [deleted] 06 October 2012 04:25:59PM *  0 points [-]

(They progress like this the more you answer "No")

Now I'm curious about how the progression continues. (In Italy, I am asked what football (soccer) team I support all the time, but when I say “I used to support Juventus, but I haven't actually followed football in years” they usually leave it at that, and when they do ask me why and I say stuff like “I just don't enjoy it anymore” they never progress any further.)

Comment author: Plubbingworth 06 October 2012 04:48:36PM 1 point [-]

Usually I try to give similar answers that halt the line of conversation.

"I've never cared for sports, I shouldn't play for health reasons, it's not interesting to me, I don't understand the point, I've got other things to do, my dog was killed by a rogue football and I've never been the same since that fateful day", etc.

I've never actually answered "No" to the question "Why not?!", but I feel as though I should try, now...

So, I've never really let it progress beyond that point. As a kid, I did that with both religion and politics, by giving noncommittal answers.