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Comment by scrum-treats | Hacker News Reader

>> You've tricked the brain into believing a specific version of reality that is not objective reality

> Whereas civilians, of course, have a completely accurate view of objective reality with no illusions? It is to laugh.

No. It's just different; in some ways radically different than the niche reality of "military." .... That's the point.

Are you still in the military because you are sending clear signals that you are not in control of your own mind. Which gets into the illusion of free will and if that's real, but there's a boundedness that is tight or loose depending on the individual/group. And yours seems quite tight. As in, constricted from any thoughts outside your military programming. Scary stuff.

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> you are not in control of your own mind

Personal attacks will get you banned here. No more of this please. Also, please avoid perpetuating flamewars - we don't want those here, and you did it quite badly, and a lot, in this thread. See also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36935261.

This is how cults work. Another example is Republicans who believe in Trumpism and QAnon. It is quite reasonable that those persons can use a defense of insanity, because they are brainwashed (i.e., not in control of their minds). It's how cults work.

I didn't make cults. And I didn't make people join them.

Why does providing basic facts break rules of HN?

You made the statement in a personal way. Responding with a generic argument doesn't address that.

Telling someone "you are sending clear signals that you are not in control of your own mind" is super obviously a personal attack, or at least guaranteed to read as one. Please stop doing that so we don't have to ban you—and please stop posting flamewar comments as well. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for:

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

It's not a personal attack. It's a statement of cause and effect. When a person is programmed to think and believe a certain way, to the point of operant conditioning, that pattern in the brain fires first. By design. That's the purpose.

In terms of the "flamewar" claim, (1) did you also warn the other person? (2) Just because the truth doesn't make people feel good doesn't make it less true. Stoking a flame can be a subjective experience depending on one's personal position about a topic.

> please stop posting flamewar comments as well

Okay. Noted. Will do.

I did warn the other commenter: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36935242. But in general, we need you to follow HN's rules regardless of what other people are doing.

(I don't mean just you personally, of course, but everyone here.)

> It's just different

If you mean that civilian life is different from military life, yes, of course, that's to be expected. That doesn't mean civilian "reality" is somehow more valid or more accurate than military "reality". Indeed, since most civilians aren't expected to routinely risk their lives as part of their job, one would expect civilians' view of reality to be missing some things. (And looking at civilians whose jobs do routinely involve risking one's life, such as police or firefighting, might give quite a different take on even civilian "reality".)

> Are you still in the military

No. I already said elsewhere in this discussion that my military experience is several decades old.

> you are sending clear signals that you are not in control of your own mind

Spare me your patronizing. You are welcome to your uninformed opinions, but don't expect me to respect them. I see no point in further discussion with you.

> That doesn't mean civilian "reality" is somehow more valid or more accurate than military "reality".

It's not any more valid than living in a different culture. There's an assimilation that one undergoes. And it seems to be the case that the transition from military to civilian life is quite jarring (for lots of reasons we don't have to address here). I don't think people understand how PTSD (e.g., the constant nightmares and jerking awake to fight for your life, against your kids who stumbled in the bedroom because they are scared of the dark) impacts families. It's silent. And VA doesn't provide sufficient resources to help people cope. It's a serious situation. It's possible to make the transition better for service members and their families. It's also gravely underfunded.

> I see no point in further discussion with you.

OK. Well, if you change your mind, I'm cool with continuing the conversation.

And you are the only one who can see clearly through everything. How nice.

> And you are the only one who can see clearly through everything. How nice.

I'm not the sole arbiter of truth. Lots of people research and write about these topics. I'm also autistic and this happens to be one of the things I research to death (being human, how humans "human", power dynamics, group dynamics). I really like this topic actually.

Apologies if I'm coming off callous. It's not my intention.

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