The JR8 vs ylgp thread

[sundaymorningstaple]

Unsure of what your Dengue is in the UK but here's the lowdown on ours here:

http://www.hpb.gov.sg/diseases/article.aspx?id=492

It's really bad this year. Keeps my boys busy as hell all over the island (good for business, bad for humans).

[x9200]

Looks like the worst is over (http://www.dengue.gov.sg/).

[ylgp]

@sundamorningstaple No I was barking up completely the wrong tree. That looks pretty ropey, I hope you're recovered.

*makes mental note to research healthcare options in Singapore*

@JR8 It was my understanding that cronyism (which is how I think it is spelt) usually refers to an old-boys-club type situation, where the "cronies" would always appear as a sort of unified front on almost anything; demonstrating how people tend to follow a particular message, or person, or a crowd, in order to fit in.

I'm not explaining it very well. An example might be when you have a friend who suddenly starts believing in something a bit out-there. Like some conspiracy theory (I am currently having to entertain one of these concerning the Japanese tsunami, which is a whole other [ridiculous] story). This ever happened to you? If it gets too serious, which happens more often these days because people can find any kind of material on the interwebs to support a theory, suddenly your friends goes from being a rational person, to getting more irrational, then to just parroting all this stuff they're reading, usually from some sort of pariah figure who is leading a crusade against whatever the subject is. And by this point, they've gone from being someone with a little doubt about something, to lapping up everything they're told because they've found a little community where everyone agrees and "sticks by each other", like a power in numbers thing. And if anyone were to criticise anything the group says, then all of them would show this wall of solidarity on every point, and forget that they're perfectly capable of thinking on their own.

Gosh, that was a long explanation. Actually it reminds me of how some political ideologies sound...!

Anyway - what do you reckon?

[JR8]

Prob best if I don't read this and just carry on

I can get intensely and technically into semantics as I find it really fun. But which for what ever reason always upsets a few people who have no reason to follow the discussion in the first place.

Next!

[ylgp]

You're not a subscriber to the tsunami conspiracy theory are you.....

[JR8]

You're not a subscriber to the tsunami conspiracy theory are you.....

What's one of those? My ancient mother still mourns that I did not become a lawyer. Is there a connection?