Psychologically, things have gotten a bit hairy lately. Trump's impeachment debacle, the Coronavirus and, of course, Justin Sun's buyout of the Steemit Inc. stake. Oh the trials and tribulations, the weeping and gnashing of teeth.
But are we overreacting?
A scroll through Trending these days makes one wonder. The reactions are damned near biblical in their proportions. Being a science guy, I decided to put the issue to the test. Via Discord Channels, I administered a Rorschach Test to a number of my fellow Hivemates.
For those unfamiliar, a Rorschach Test is a series of inkblots of ambiguous shapes that allows a person to project their subconscious thoughts onto the pictures they see, in effect "exposing their subconscious biases." Here's how Wikipedia describes it:
The Rorschach test is a psychological test in which subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation, complex algorithms, or both. Some psychologists use this test to examine a person's personality characteristics and emotional functioning. It has been employed to detect underlying thought disorder, especially in cases where patients are reluctant to describe their thinking processes openly.
The results were telling.
Below is a sample of my findings. I'll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions:
"Justin Sun buying the Steemit Inc. stake and nefariously decentralizing STEEM."
"Justin Sun, that bastard, launching DDOS attacks against Hive just because we launched DDOS attacks against STEEM."
"Justin Sun placing kittens in a brick-laden burlap bag ... then throwing it into a river. I think it's the Potomac."
"Justin (Wuhan) Sun bioengineering the Coronoavirus."
"Justin Sun colluding with Trump and Putin to buy up all the toilet paper. It will be the largest pump and dump in history."
"Justin Sun air-dropping toilet paper on his TRON minions."
"Justin Sun sitting on a gold-plated toilet at Mar-a-Lago and wiping his ass with double-ply toilet paper (the good stuff). Ivanka's bringing him a glass of Pinot Grigio. Pretty dress."
"Justin Sun wearing a t-shirt while laughing his ass off. Across the t-shirt is emblazoned 'UNJUST SIN' ... an anagram of 'Justin Sun.'"
"Huh, now this one's interesting: Everyone's putting @quillfire on auto-upvote ... at 100% of their voting power."
Folks, your focus determines your reality.
Choose your obsessions wisely.
Quill
All images are linked to source, are QuillFire originals or are modifications of images in the public domain. Videos and images may also be parodies of original works, therefore relying upon applicable exemptions from copyright.
"Justin Sun colluding with Trump and Putin to buy up all the toilet paper. It will be the largest pump and dump in history."
I had a real good laugh. Thanks!
@smasssh,
Glad to hear it. :-)
Quill
That, combined with all the scientific data collected above, is the perfect message. I tried explaining such things elsewhere but I made the mistake of being too detailed and too elaborate.
Forgetting the essence, silly me. Sending messages is an art. Art is the sending of messages.
@manoldonchev,
Manny, I think you're being overly generous in your praise (but thanks). Let's be honest, this post didn't (and won't) diminish the hyperbole by one iota. When people feel morally entitled to their outrage, no one is going to talk them out of it ... either in poetry or prose, or with seriousness or satire.
So, one creates some art and tries to entertain those so inclined along the way.
Quill
Or that :) Anyway. You can see the rocker on the chopper among the blobs, right? Funny thing is I never tried giving my answers to all these original blobses...And I guess I'll keep ignoring most of them for now. Except for the rocker.
Cheers!
@quillfire Trust you to come up with such an intriguing experiment! But then again, I should not be surprised. 😆
On a more serious note, it has reminded me that sometimes I focus and obsess over stupidity that does not matter in the grand scheme of things.
Thanks for putting them in perspective. (:
@joeylim,
I'm toying with conducting another social experiment: the transposition of words. What if every time someone was about to say or write "decentralized" they instead said or wrote ... "kanoodle?"
It would change all the dynamics on the blockchain!
Not to toot my own horn, but this is why I get paid the big bucks.
Quill
Haha, these are good @quillfire. In the first inkblot I saw a headless man (in Chinese dress)in the middle of two strong forces pulling at him.
@redheadpei,
Fascinating.
When I Iook at that first inkblot, I see two Hive Witnesses trying to dismember a grossly underpaid poet/satirist. :-)
Quill
I am really laughing at this. Please!!! Not the Potomac! Can't we use somewhere else?
This is not your usual Quilldrill! Although, I did get a laugh or three out of it.
Upped and Reposted
!tip
@dswigle,
I sometimes wonder what it says about me that my mind comes up with such stupidity. I'm pretty sure I know but am hoping people are otherwise distracted and don't give the matter much thought. :-)
Quill
Excelente imaginación.
¡Feliciadades!
@oneray,
Gracias.
Quill
@tipu Curate
Oh yes, the infamous, "It's his fault for hitting back," argument. No one wins when everyone takes the low road.
@wwwiebe,
Exactly right. People need to stop being so concerned about the honor of others while being more concerned about their own. To wit:
https://hive.blog/steem/@quillfire/better-the-devils-you-know-than-the-devil-you-don-t-migrating-to-a-new-blockchain
Quill
@Quillfire
Haha!
Focus and reality? Often misaligned...IMO. Especially in these times.
And:
I presume you will be reciprocating?
Having had a bad experience, I shall stay with manual votes...
Also, I why only auto votes when you really hanker after the comments and repartee on which you thrive?
#justasking
@fionasfavourites,
Hey Fiona. I don't auto-upvote anyone. Why? Because with a 100% upvote of 1.7 cents (at 100% upvoting power) I doubt that anyone would care that they'd secured Quill's automatic patronage. Instead, I give my maximum upvote to anything I see that seems worthy: post, comment or reply. It's purely a symbolic gesture, an acknowledgement that I've seen and appreciate what someone has said. The alternative is adding my name to the burgeoning list of 10% upvotes worth $0.00.
The curation dynamics post-bidbots is a bit better than it was before but things still have a long way to go if Hive and/or Steemit are ever to become mainstream. Until Trending pages actually display the "best of the best," posts which possess "Wow Factor," we're all just walking in circles. No one in the mainstream will be satisfied with "poor to mediocre."
Quill
Agreed
Congrats on the reblog
Maybe I don't have the skills to decipher this.. or maybe I'm thinking too much that nothing comes out
@ireenchew,
So the way these Rorschach inkblots work is that people "see in them what they want."
For example, let's say you're suffering from anxiety but can't identify the reason. A psychologist shows you these ambiguous inklblots and asks, "What do you see?"
The idea is that you will "see what you want to see" ... which tends to be that about which you are most emotionally distressed (the root cause of your lunacy).
Respecting Trump, the Coronavirus and Justin Sun, a lot of people are "catastrophizing" ... grossly, even ridiculously, exaggerating the scale of things. They're making mountains out of molehills. So, my satire was about creating a series of ever-escalating, and entirely nonsensical, descriptions of what people were "seeing" so as to demonstrate the magnitude of the silliness.
Quill
Too funny buddy. 👍👍
@wonderwop,
Go back and look at inkblot No. 3 plus the description. In hindsight, there's might actually be something to it. :-)
Quill
I had a good laugh while reading your post. I am just curious what were you on when you wrote it? Hahahah! Missed seeing you around!
@lymepoet,
Hi Lavi.
What was I on? I'll tell you what I was on ... Love.
L-O-V-E.
Love for my fellow human beings who are making us all so proud in the way they're handling themselves in the face of adversity. Got a cough? Well then you'll need some toilet paper, won't you? A lot of it. Indeed, why not buy a few pallets and fill up the garage?
And bottled water, you'd better stock up on that too because, as everyone knows, widespread sniffling can make the rivers stop flowing. I was at the grocery store yesterday ... no more soup. Well, to be honest, there was still four cans of lentil soup. I suppose that ought to be a wake-up call for the company that makes that lentil soup. Even at the height of Armageddon people still don't want what they're selling.
I'm thinking of trying to create a run on underarm deodorant. You know, manufacture a few memes about how Coronavirus makes your perspiration particularly smelly and then stand back and watch an army of mask-wearing stinkers battle each other for that last stick of Old Spice.
Grace under pressure.
Our ancestors would be proud.
Quill
Very funny! While I was reading and laughing my husband asked me if I was crazy! 😂🤪
@mballesteros,
My poor daughter ... she's back from university (shutdowns) and I'm once again making her read my posts before publishing. Her responses are invariably the same:
To be honest, I'm surprised it hasn't already happened.
Although, there is one shmuck who is auto-downvoting all my posts ... a $0.00 downvote with 10% of his/her voting power. Ten percent. It's one thing not to receive 100% of a person's upvote, it's quite another to receive but a fraction of their downvote. For God's sake, make an effort.
How can I claim to be an "oppressed poet" with such a tepid spanking as my only evidence of assertion?
Grrrr. :-)
Quill
Haha ... you must have went through a lot of bottles of wine to make this post. All I saw was a messing oenophile. Just saying:)
@prydefoltz,
One glass, Pryde.
.
.
It's time we tighten our belts.
Quill
hahaha
🎁 Hi @quillfire! You have received 0.1 HIVE tip from @dswigle!
Check out @dswigle blog here and follow if you like the content :)
Sending tips with @tipU - how to guide.
I read this a few days ago, but it appears I saw a squirrel and neglected to comment. This is really inspired and funny, @quillfire. It made me smile the whole way through.
@jayna,
Squirrels ... I have the same problem. The little buggers make me hungry and my mind starts obsessing about condiments, particularly mayonnaise. It's not easy being us, is it?
Quill