@usefewersyllables I think I have to take exception to your comment. Without going into any detail about background, I mentioned a couple of comments ago that members of my "family" (estranged) had slapped a labels on me that were contradictory. In effect they had fallen into a fallacy that I encountered long ago:

The Labelling Fallacy
Sat 7 Jan 2012 13:27:27 desipis1 comment

Over the few years I’ve been reading gender related blogs I’ve seen many occurrences of people making the range of argumentative mistakes listed here. Yet one common tactic I’ve seen used that I can’t find in that list is something I would call the “Labelling Fallacy”, which involves identifying an argument one disagrees with as fitting some pattern or another, applying a label to it, and dismissing it on the basis that it fits that label. The most recent example I’ve seen of this was an attempt at Feministe to institutionalise a form a false dichotomic thought, an “us vs them” mentality, by pathologizing a certain way of phrasing nuanced disagreement (to which ToySoldier responded “yes, but…“). There other examples I’ve come across, and this approach does sometimes extend into the ad hominem territory, where once a participant is labelled everything they have said is summarily dismissed. Perhaps the worst example is when it reaches the point of putting a collection of these labels onto bingo cards, as if putting an argument on a card with a collection of other arguments one disagrees with somehow negates the argument. Regardless of the format, the end result is that a point that one disagrees with is dismissed by being labelled, rather than being counter argued. I can only presume that there is an assumption on the part of the one doing the labelling that such arguments have been adequately rebutted elsewhere, yet these are not referenced.

The examples I’ve provided above are all from feminist blogs, however it wouldn’t surprise me to find the tactic being used elsewhere. In particular, discussions about religion and climate change come to mind. To me this sort of behaviour is not a positive one, and it’s one that would both limit the quality of the discussion by excluded potentially valuable input and drive the group dynamic towards simplistic and partisan approaches to political issues. Perhaps the only benefit to the labels is that it might enable someone to rephrase a point in a way that is more likely to be treated as serious by those predisposed to dismiss it otherwise.

In part I think it’s an extension of the 101-blog approach to limiting the scope of a discussion, by out-sourcing discussion of common foundation or periphery topics. This is an approach that comes across as a much more reasonable way to deal with the issue of frequent thread derailing, even though the implementation may leave much to be desired, and as long as it isn’t used a means of arguing from authority. However if you don’t do the ground work of establishing a comprehensive rebuttal and providing a link to it, using a bunch of labels to dismiss potentially valid arguments is something that might make you feel high and mighty, but will make you seem little more than a petty partisan.

https://desipis.wordpress.com/2012/01/

Please do not interpret my comment as being judgemental of you but more a muddy spot in our path to improve the situation in our country. MAGA is not a bad thing unless it is being used to divide us. There are parts of the MAGA idea that I very much agree with, there are other parts that I disagree with. People are complex. They do not fit into "Little Boxes"...

Thank you....

somehow succeed, and they are able to block Trump from the presidency just before the election (or worse yet, immediately afterwards after he's won it), I expect the increasing rumblings from the heavily-armed MAGA types to erupt into actual open violence. There are a great many of them just champing at the bit to go shoot some of the people that they regard as their oppressors ("liberals", LGBTLMNOP people, non-whites, cops, and so on). That seems the most likely form of civil unrest, at least to this reporter.

That is based upon the naively optimistic assumption that we still exist by the time of the election, though.

@exindy

I don’t remember the details, but during Obama he relaxed nursing home rules that put patients in danger. A few hundred thousand in fines are nothing to those places because of how much money they make. Now putting repeat offenders in prison would do a lot of good, but it will never happen because it’s the CEOs who make the laws that they get congress to pass.

Pfizer paid $2.3 billion for criminal activity but not one CEO was charged for it. Yet Pelosi says that no one is above the law. Pffft!

I appreciate jtc and c99 and how close I feel to the people here. I know we are different while we are similar but I think that this little corner offers me a place of sanity in really stressful times.

Thank you so much.

So much happening that affects elderly people, so much blame being heaped upon us for our supposed greed in not sharing the meager nestegg we might have built over 4 or 5 decades of sacrifice. The latest BS is one that reminds me of the forced tenancy that happened during WW2 to provide living quarters for all homefront people to support the troops. Hmm, what was that play again.

Excellent piece in NC that linked to the Lever:

Where Nursing Homes Hide Their Profits

https://www.levernews.com/where-nursing-homes-hide-their-profits/

Last June, an elderly stroke survivor residing at Chicago’s Lakeview Rehab and Nursing Center fell to the floor while being transferred by mechanical lift from his bed to a shower chair. The fall broke his leg in two places. A single nurse’s aide had texted her coworkers three times seeking help before attempting the lift. None responded. The nurse — in a clear violation of a requirement that two aides conduct any high-risk transfer — went ahead on her own.

It wasn’t an isolated incident at the 178-bed facility. Since the beginning of 2021, federal regulators fined Lakeview Rehab, which is run by privately-owned Infinity Healthcare Management, more than $250,000 for 10 serious violations, according to the government’s Nursing Home Compare website. The facility earned just one out of five stars for quality, the lowest possible rating.

In response to the deteriorating conditions at nursing homes nationwide, regulators have proposed bare-minimum staffing standards. The facilities have cried poverty, claiming they can’t afford it. But in fact, researchers have found many of these private equity-owned operations, including Lakeview, are funneling funds — almost all of which come from Medicare and Medicaid — to pay exorbitant fees to their affiliated companies.

In short, nursing home owners are poaching government funds that could be used to increase staffing levels to line their own pockets with inflated real estate and management fees.

It was my experience last year with a couple of homes near me that forced me to face the requirement to change all of my estate planning and financial activity. In my research I found that my plan involving a trust offered no shelter. So I started dissolving it.

Next was finding a shelter that would provide for the LOML. Looking for legal advice was another grift and one that preys upon their clients in league with the nursing home. Each of the 3 or 4 that I approached used a scripted ploy.

The net result is that after 55 years the LOML and I have been forced to be the same as marriage partners dividing their stuff before a divorce. Hurts but necessary. Today when she hands me her credit card and says I can use it for groceries I have to explain that it is illegal.

Lately I have been following https://www.theautomaticearth.com/the-automatic-earth/ and especially the comments of https://www.theautomaticearth.com/forums/users/dr-d/. If you get the chance he offers an excellent take on our dystopic gov't, particularly his opinion of the PMC crowd and AI. It matches my experiences to a T.

I think this is enough. Thanks for listening.

In my literary project I have found Hemmigway and Islands in the Stream to be fantastic. I can most certainly identify with it.

The part where he is talking of his life in Paris came so close to our experiences there. We stayed in a small hotel just down the street from his favorite bar. LOML and I always found our own paths in the places we visited. The 6th arrondisement was one of them.

It's been a wonderful life and we still have far to go before we sleep.

Thank you all. Be well, please.