InsaneJournal

Current mood:	FOR SCIENCE
Current music:	Nerf Herder--Telekinesis
Entry tags:	fandom, idiots, lulz, screencappery, screencaps of evermore, shit involving me

i've had enough of this pseudo-zen
From today's video (in a college class)...

"[Positive energy] is like electricity, y'know? No one really knows what electricity is!"

"No one really knows what electricity is"

"No one really knows what electricity is"

"No one really knows what electricity is"

"NO ONE REALLY KNOWS WHAT ELECTRICITY IS"

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF--

--okay, yeah. I'm in Intrapersonal Communications this summer. Observant readers will note this as the class I attended half a session of a few semesters back before running screaming to search out an alternative. Unfortunately, there aren't any. If I'm gonna graduate, I'm gonna sit through this swill.

What is this swill, exactly? I'm honestly not sure. Firefox refuses to even register "Intrapersonal" as a word. It seems to consist of 85% motivational-speaker dreck, 15% talking to people, and 100% bullshit/me chewing my own arm off in intellectual rage. The teacher is into visualizations like /b/tards are into neckbeards, and likes giving us assignments that he doesn't actually grade or even look at. (The first one was to attempt to "stamp out devaluing, belittling, sarcasm, and teasing in your speech over a period of 24 hours, then grade yourself accordingly." I gave myself an "F", for "Fuck this, I like how I think. Compassion isn't funny!") So far, my role in the class has been to deconstruct his ridiculous attempts at science piece-by-piece. Head-desking and lulz have ensued.

--One of the first things he did was hand out a paper that states (incorrectly) that quantum physicists have proven that matter is energy, and goes on to say that since (not IF) this is true, thoughts and words are energy. I pointed out that thoughts and words are immaterial, and thus the previous statement didn't apply. He said quantum physicists would disagree with me. I took comfort in the theory that for every quantum physicist that disagrees with me, there are millions of others agreeing with me in alternate timelines.

--For our study groups, he gave us cards with "qualities" to check off if we see other people exhibiting them--for example, if the person you're set to watch compliments someone else, you put a check mark on their card for that quality. These are totally irrelevant, as all we have to do is start out the meeting by pointedly saying or doing something to get each particular check mark and then ignore the cards for the rest of class.

--He tried to get us all excited about the "message from water" bullshit theory. Instead of taking the easy route and pointing out that Mythbusters gave this one a sound spanking a season or two back, I decided to break it down inconsistency-by-inconsistency ("What about the variable of sound waves?" "She said the human body is 90% water. That's blatantly wrong and casts doubt on her credentials." "How do we know the results weren't cherry-picked?" "He's picking the 'better' ice crystals based on human aesthetics. Aren't there other ways of rating them?" "Ice crystals can form in nigh-infinite combinations. How does the study account for this variable?" "Do you realize that the site you're pulling this from is called 'wellnessgoods.com'?"). In less than five minutes, at least half of the class was murmuring consensus, and a few of them pointed out things I'd missed ("Writing things on the bottle may eliminate the sound waves, but there could still be vibrations." "What about the way people carried it from the faucet to the testing facility?"). In short, the class was noticeably un-wowed.

--Then there's THIS shit, from which the lovely quote before the cut comes. How anyone can NOT realize the movie is utter bullshit and throw the DVD at a passing Mormon after hearing something as galling as that is beyond me, but if you continue watching (as I was forced to do), you're exposed to 120 minutes of people talking about how you can have anything you want in life if you just visualize it. Somehow, nobody manages to point out that the majority of the speakers are middle-aged white men (I counted two black people and three or four women out of fifteen to twenty speakers) and are thus in the most privileged socioeconomic status in this grand nation of ours. HM, I WONDER IF THAT HAS AN EFFECT.
---We are treated to a word-of-mouth "success story" about a man who is discriminated against by his coworkers, people on the street, etc. for being gay, but "visualizes" himself out of it with happy thoughts. Implication? If someone has a prejudice, it's YOUR fault, and you can THINK it away. Gosh, it's a shame no one told the Holocaust victims that.
---Likewise, you can think your way to being rich with little to no effort (they specifically state that if you try to gain fortune in a way that you don't like, you won't make it). Implication? If you're poor, it's YOUR fault. You gosh-darned no-good deadbeats!
---In the middle of telling everyone how to get rich quick, they quotemine a vaguely positive-energy-related saying from Buddha. Oh, THAT isn't a horribly offensive association at all.
---"Disease cannot exist in a positive body." OH FUCK YOU. HEY IT'S YOUR FAULT YOU HAVE AIDS, KIDS IN AFRICA, YOU'RE NOT THINKING HAPPY THOUGHTS. FUCK YOU.
--I pointed out how offensive it was after class. He said to finish the movie before making any decisions. We have ten minutes left on it.
--FISSION MAILED.


And we're only two classes in.

This is gonna be fun times, my friends, fun times.


ETA: This. So much this.


ETAA: New Screencaps of Evermore! I'm seriously close to being on something vaguely resembling a roll, guys.