Someone argued that I was actually probably Russian like their grandfather, not Polish because Polish and Russian is both Slavic and therefore the DNA test and our culture is probably wrong and I was Russian the whole time.
I was working telephone company helpdesk. A customer called in demanding that I raise the priority of their ticket so the serviceman (who was in their house already) would finish the work faster. I made the mistake of trying to explain that’s not how it works.
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
One coworker claimed that all seedless fruit are genetically modified. I explained that it’s just good old selective breeding. No fancy tech required, though gene editing can achieve the same result. I even pulled up the relevant Wikipedia article to back it up. His response? And I quote:
That hit me like a mental blue screen of death. My brain froze for a solid few seconds before rebooting. Once I recovered, I realized I’d just witnessed what might be the dumbest argument I’ve ever heard in person.
At that point, I knew he was far beyond reason, so it was time to cut my losses. I let him keep his distorted worldview and steered the conversation toward less soul-crushing topics. It’s a coping strategy I’d learned a few years earlier: when you encounter people like that, you can either bang your head against the brick wall or simply walk around it. Once you realize it’s not a problem you can solve, it’s better to just avoid it.
Scubus@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
I like to just respond with “Oh… ok.” And then stare at them for a massively uncomfortable amount of time. Really let them marinate in it. Even if they dont realise theyre being stupid, it makes them feel very awkward and hopefully pavlovs them into saying less dumb shit around me.
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Gotta say, I love the semi-hostile energy of that approach. 😈
Cethin@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Selective breeding is genetic modification. That’s what makes the anger about the lab stuff so stupid. Sure, it isn’t natural, but neither is what we’ve been doing for thousands of years.
TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Yeah, well where do you draw the line though? When normies talk about something being GMO, it always involves fancy labs, modern biotechnology and greedy corporations.
When wolves were modified to become dogs, people were effectively practicing low-tech genetic manipulation, but people usually don’t think of it in those terms. Well, what about when the same thing happens without humans in charge of the process? Like, why do peacocks have such impressive tail feathers? Humans weren’t involved in that manipulation, so does it still count? It’s the peacocks themselves who did all the selective breeding and genetic manipulation.
What about when one species causes another to change? Just think of the relationship between orchids and hummingbirds for example. What about wasp-mimic flies or harmless snakes that look a lot like venomous ones? Surely, that’s a result of genetic manipulation too. This is getting completely ridiculous, so I guess we need to draw the line somewhere.