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Has reading ERA Off-Topic made you a more intelligent person?

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g23

g23

Member
Oct 27, 2017
592
Fremont, California
Been wondering this for quite a while, but does anyone feel that the huge repository of conflicting viewpoints, opinions, advice and worldviews that this forum has amassed over the years (for better or for worse) has genuinely made you a smarter person? As in, because of ERA, I would feel comfortable interjecting my thoughts and opinions into most politically relevant issues/current events discussions at a bar or house party because I read about said issue on a thread in ERA.

As a side note, sometimes I do wonder what kind of person I would have turned out to be intelectually if I were into refreshing my IG/Social feeds like most of my friends instead of spending the bulk of my time on this forum.
 
Regulus Tera

Regulus Tera

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,028
I feel like Off Topic is only good at reinforcing biases and hardly conducive to actual discussion for matters that have to do with anything except enthusiast hobbies.
 
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
26,908
No, it's made me worried. Not at the state of the world, but because of the amount of fucked up shit y'all do and pass off as normal
 
BDS

BDS

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,845
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand ResetERA. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical reader's head. There's also ERA's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into its characterisation- its personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike ResetERA truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in ERA's existential catchphrase "Oof this ain't it chief," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as ERA's genius wit unfolds itself on their computer screens. What fools.. how I pity them.

And yes, by the way, i DO have a ResetERA tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
 
Siggy-P

Siggy-P

Avenger
Mar 18, 2018
9,920
Half of the posters here call everything a Chinese owned neo-liberal incel Snyder-fan who hates TLJ regardless of context. The others genuinely don't know how to wipe themselves after going the toilet for real.
 
MrCibb

MrCibb

Member
Dec 12, 2018
3,276
UK
If anything I've probably replaced useful knowledge I can no longer remember with whatever the hell happens every week-end in here.
 
echoshifting

echoshifting

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,843
The Negative Zone
BDS said:
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand ResetERA. The humour is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical reader's head. There's also ERA's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into its characterisation- its personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realise that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike ResetERA truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in ERA's existential catchphrase "Oof this ain't it chief," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons. I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as ERA's genius wit unfolds itself on their computer screens. What fools.. how I pity them.

And yes, by the way, i DO have a ResetERA tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- and even then they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
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Beat me to it lmao
 

Deleted member 60096

User requested account closure
Banned
Sep 20, 2019
1,295
Siggy-P said:
Half of the posters here call everything a Chinese owned neo-liberal incel Snyder-fan regardless of context. The others genuinely don't know how to wipe themselves after going the toilet for real.

After 2 years the guy with the dog avatar remains the only poster of value.
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I'm curious, which camp do you see yourself as being a part of?
 
Avitus

Avitus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,246
OT has just made me wary of how the internet and this overload of information is fucking with us. People react to it in different ways.
 
J_ToSaveTheDay

J_ToSaveTheDay

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
9,474
USA
It’s given me understanding of perspectives that I feel I wouldn't get anywhere else in my life. I don’t tend to agree with some of them, but I do feel like I’m building an understanding.

I’m not sure if that’s definable as an increase in intellect.
 
Siggy-P

Siggy-P

Avenger
Mar 18, 2018
9,920
To be honest actually this place is better than most forums, as the content discussed here ain't too different from anywhere else. Just more left wing and modded. And hating this place while being posters here is sort of a meme.


The problem is that that due to the highly sensitive and contreversial nature of the political threads, people can get overzealous in their rightousness on certain issues. Which is fine and I support that level of righteousness and even anger sometimes.

But the problem is that bleeds into other topics and subjects. Something less politically potent gets filled with posters trying to race to be the angriest. Any topic on relationships get turned into a race to see who can force a thread backfire. And don't even get started on superhero film/are wars threads.

It also bleeds into wrong opinions as well. There are some posters that skirt along outright Tankies at time and I've seen some argue for incorrect definitions of "neo-liberal", a word that has a specific meaning and context, as a word to be used for any politician they don't like.

The bad information you pick up here is well intended, but certainly not always right.
 
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g23

g23

Member
Oct 27, 2017
592
Fremont, California
J_ToSaveTheDay said:
It’s given me understanding of perspectives that I feel I wouldn't get anywhere else in my life. I don’t tend to agree with some of them, but I do feel like I’m building an understanding.

I’m not sure if that’s definable as an increase in intellect.
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This is exactly what I was trying to get at though. Without ERA, I feel like I wouldn't be able to absorb and digest as many different viewpoints on a lot of current events/issues.
 
Servbot24

Servbot24

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
29,732
No, it makes me lazier and dumber because I don't spend as much of my time looking for my own sources of information.
 
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