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Re:Mental Wealth by austincheney on Friday June 05, 2020 @03:31PM (#23432831)
Objectively speaking becoming involved in a trend only for the sake of a given trend becoming more trendy strikes me as directly irrational. It’s following for the sake of following only because that’s what followers do which is circular and absent of any original consideration.
Re:Mental Wealth by ifokiedoke on Friday June 05, 2020 @08:20PM (#23435547)
But humans are social creatures, beholden to social norms. Doing something just because other people do it is literally how society works. There are very, very few (if any) "well-adjusted" members of society who don't do many things just because that's how other people do it (a.k.a. it's "trendy"). If you behave otherwise, you're likely be socially outcasted.

Of course, if you're saying society at large is irrational I pretty much agree... but within the context of social expectation, I'd say it's pretty rational to compute that your contribution is more likely to land once a movement has already started. If anything, those who first begin the movement are the most irrational (since the likelihood of success is much lower compared to the personal cost to the individual).

In other words: if you live in an irrational system, the only way to be rational is to behave irrationally.

EDIT: Italicizing.

Re:Mental Wealth by chillwaves on Friday June 05, 2020 @05:36PM (#23434283)
There is nothing objective about your comments. That's just another veneer of credibility.

Same with calling protestors "irrational" -- maybe to your point of view, they are but this is not an objective statement by any definition of the word.

Re:Mental Wealth by karatestomp on Friday June 05, 2020 @03:50PM (#23433115)
> only for the sake of a given trend becoming more trendy

Sure, but that's not what I described.