Facebook is a breeding ground for stupidity, ignorance and subtle (sometimes overt) racism and prejudice. Since shaming is a good way to get people to change, let’s call them out on their BS. Facebook Fallacies is a weekly column sponsored by Soundtrack of the Week that debunks all of the stupid shit floating around Satan’s asshole, aka Facebook.

Caitlyn Jenner and homophobes

 

The story: See screenshot above.

The reality: Technically, this doesn’t qualify for a Facebook Fallacies entry since it’s a bigoted opinion based on religion rather than claiming a fact. It was also posted by some guy who, according to his bio, I went to high school with, so the reach was insignificant. Public education, ya’ll. With that said, I wanted to publicly address this and considering it was a Facebook post, this is a good place to use as my platform.

I have been blocked by a few people (#CrazyFacebookRepublicanMilitiaGuy) on Facebook. Mostly because they get angry when I poke holes in their idiotic post in the comments section. However, I have never once blocked someone myself…until now. Right wing vs. left wing, Dems vs. Republicans, atheists vs. born-again Christians. We’re all subjected to posts we see as idiotic. But often times the opposing view is either misguided or wrong through ignorance. Very rarely is the post we see as beyond stupid a blatant expression of hate. The above post is just that: hate and bigotry shrouded in the veil of religion.

I get into religious debates all the time on Facebook; often times with people I’m good friends with. But the context is usually god vs. no god, not blatant hate towards a group of human beings. It’s also disturbing knowing who this guy is, who can only be described as Jessie Pinkman, i.e. a ghetto thug who probably has a rap sheet. At the very least, a very un-Christ-like past and probably present and future.

The bible does talk about homosexuality. It also talks about tattoos and bunch of other stupid shit this guy is guilty of committing. For argument’s sake, let’s say the bible is real (it’s not). If you’re going to preach it, don’t cherry pick like a little bitch. Go the full nine or get the fuck out. That includes your parents being allowed to MURDER you if you disrespect them. He (or any of us, really) never would have been around to see the creation of Facebook if you took the bible literally.

At any rate, if you have a problem with transgenders, I think you’re a horrible person who will be looked upon poorly by nearly everybody in the not-so-distant future (kind of like the Strom Thurmonds of the world). Also, I’ll see you in hell (that isn’t real)…for other reasons…mostly due to masturbating excessively to transgender porn. Oh the ironic conversations we’ll have in a pit of fire!

 America is basically back to the pre-Civil Rights Act era!

 

The story: A resident of an Irvine, Ca. apartment complex saw a letter from management that basically tells black people to shut up. Said resident posted it on Instagram while saying “This is what it means to be black in Irvine.” It inevitably goes viral and a racism shit storm ensues.

The reality: Whites and Asians make up 90 percent of Irvine. More accurately, 89.7 percent per the 2010 U.S. Census. Blacks only account for 1.8 percent of the population. A blatantly racist sign like the one above comes off as unbelievable, but when you consider the white/yellow wash of the area, it’s easy to imagine racial intolerance of well-to-do residents.

The median income was $90,585 during 2009-2013. However, 12.2 percent were living below the poverty line, indicating a clash of the classes within the city. Considering the median rent is $1,832, being poor in Irvine already sucks. Nearly 20 percent of African Americans in Irvine fell under the poverty line. Irvine is ripe for the picking for racists.

Good news: It was a hoax. Probably:

 

Management claims that they did not post the flier featured in the Instagram video. As you can tell from the comments, no one believes their claim. Even after poking holes in arguments dealing with glass cases and cameras, people still refused to believe apartment management. Even with empirical evidence, you cannot change someone’s mind once they have already reached their own conclusion. Denialism and ignorance.

Denialism, as defined by Wiki, is denying reality and/or facts as a way of avoiding to deal with uncomfortable truths. In this case the “uncomfortable truth” is that they are wrong. The person who posted the Instagram video has since taken down the video and made their account private. For me, this is a red flag. If something truly racist happened, why would you delete the evidence when your entire mission was to expose it?

Good news is that this was probably a racist joke committed by a piece of shit rather than property management. The bad news is that too many people already believe it happened as presented, which does just as much damage to progress. As of press time, there are still “news sites” reporting the story with headlines such as “’Racist’ fliers posted at apartment block telling ‘African-American residents’ to stop talking loudly and keep their music down” with the apartment’s rebuttal buried down below. An SOTW blog entry is more reliable than Daily Mail.

Raising the minimum wage will make people lazy and worthless!

 

The story: California has increased its minimum wage to $15/hour, and you know what that means: People will stop trying to succeed and keep asking for more and more! McDonalds employees will keep asking for higher wages until they can buy a Ferrari! ANARCHY! OBAMA WRRGRRRBLL!

The reality: Essentially, this is going to be a minimum wage debate. Like clockwork, people on the left are for it and those on the right are against it. Even economists can’t come to a common consensus about the issue (actually, most are in favor of increasing the minimum wage). To make this easier (and in true spirit of Facebook Fallacies), let’s focus on the arguments presented by the above article.

Okay, here’s the first argument:

They very rarely speak of a “minimum” wage. Instead, they favor a “living” wage, or a “higher” wage. This change in language has two effects:

1. It shows that they’re unsatisfied with the bare minimum, no matter their occupation, lack of talent, education, work ethic, etc. They demand that someone else must pay them enough to achieve the good life, not just mere life, regardless of behavior or circumstance.

2. It removes any further barrier from arbitrarily demanding more and more. Minimum wage laws across the country already take into consideration increases in the price of living. But protesters believe those increases are insufficient. Why else would they be protesting? Their demands for a living, or higher, wage reject all consideration for the price of living (at least according to state and national standards), preferring instead to substitute their own arbitrary judgment as to what their wages ought to be. This means that nothing stops them from demanding more and more everyday, since the law no longer provides them with a good enough standard. The only standard they recognize is their own arbitrary and selfish judgment.

To start, they immediately change the debate. This is no longer about minimum wage. It is now about “livable wages.” Right out the gate this is a red herring fallacy known better as the “straw man,” i.e. misrepresenting the original argument to spark a new debate easier for the speaker. But let’s go ahead and bite.

The first bullet point is nothing more than a baseless assumption of the character of those working minimum wage jobs. There are no studies, stats or any other type of empirical evidence suggesting that poor people 1) lack skill and talent 2) are lazy and 3) are seeking a handout. It’s nothing more than this person’s delusional opinion on low-wage workers that no doubt was implanted into his brain via talking points of others rather than observations and evidence. Actually, this is all true for the second bullet point as well.

Christ. Nothing in the article uses facts, just presumptions. This is how you do it…according to the Department of Labor:

• 88% of those who would benefit from higher minimum wages are 20 or older (55% women), which pokes holes in the “it’s mostly teens working fast food who benefit” argument. Wrong.
• Three of five small business owners support the increase, which invalidated the “it’ll kill small businesses.” If it did, they would probably be against it.
• The National Restaurant Association projects California restaurant sales will outpace the U.S. Considering California is required to pay servers minimum wage before tips, this stifles the argument that restaurants/servers in California will suffer. Hasn’t happened since the minimum wage requirement, no reason why it would start now.

Perhaps the favorite argument among those against increasing the minimum wage is job losses. Opponents are quick to point out that employers will cut jobs to make up for the lost money. This is true, but the benefits still outweigh potential job losses.

According to this Congressional Budget Office study, a minimum wage increase to $10.10 over a three-year period could result in 500,000 workers losing their jobs. What the opponents won’t tell you is that 900,000 would be lifted above the poverty line. In other words, there is a positive net result of raising minimum wage.

Furthermore, the total value of families whose incomes is six times the poverty threshold or higher will be reduced by $17 billion. However, the value of those whose income is below the threshold up to three times the limit will be injected with $17 billion. Essentially, the top earners will take a hit at the expense of a better quality of life for the bottom earners. If this perturbs you, you’re an asshole. That’s the bottom line.

Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams and more 9/11 bullshit

 

The story: 9/11 was an inside job! Report: 2,200 architects and engineers have debunked the official report of how World Trade Center 7 went down! 9/11 WAS AN INSIDE JOB!!!!

The reality: Goddammit. We’re still doing this? Fine. Let’s deal with this…briefly. I don’t have time for this shit.

According to the American Society for Engineering Education, nearly 90,000 bachelor’s degrees for engineering were awarded in 2012 alone. Oh, and according to the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, more than 200,000 architects were registered in the United States. When you do the math, that totals out to a “shit ton” of architects and engineers. And they only got 2,200 signatures. And by “they” I mean Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth, a 501(c)3 non-profit of conspiracy theorists. Okay then.

Every other argument for 9/11 being an inside job has been addressed ad infinitum through empirical evidence and a common consensus among the science community. Speaking of the science community, what the hell do a bunch of architects and engineers know about the properties of fire and steel in an incident that has never occurred before, thereby, giving them no precedent to base their dumbass theories on? Nothing. That is the answer.

Episode 241: Anger Management

On the last episode of Soundtrack of the Week: Income inequality, road rage, police racism, comment sections. Everybody is angry about something. In this episode we try to find out why people can’t just chill out. Then we explore their own anger issues…especially mine. I’m always mad. Also Episode 241:

• Two-for-one Intro
• Ferguson Update
• Ty’s Bank Continues to Rape Him
• Ghetto Grocery Stores
• Meredith Can’t Deal with Children
• Sounds of the
  1. Spelling Bee Definitions
  2. Why Radio Sucks
  3. Mac Lethal’s KC Royals Rap
  4. The Buzzfeed Office
• FIFA Indictment