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The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

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Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#151

Post by dkarl »

vorpalhex wrote: post #36

This post is a great tutorial in why we shouldn't derive meaning from expressed language. Imagine if you sat in a room of software engineers and tried to make conclusions about their life views based on their jargon: "I think what they're saying is you just need to form a single value store and react to it, dividing life into small composable micro components that are DRY. We can really comprehend how this minimalism…

There are a lot of statements in these subcultures that can't be definitively pinned down as ironic or not ironic. For example, calling software "broken" started as a gross oversimplification that drew attention to itself as a gross oversimplification. It could be used when you wanted to gloss over complex questions of what the software is good for and what you need it to do, while at the same time, to avoid lying by omission, drawing attention to what you were omitting.

But then people started calling software "broken" to express, "My gut feeling is that this software sucks, and I think it would be a waste of time for me to question or attempt to substantiate this feeling," and they felt validated in that attitude because there was a perfect means for expressing it in the programming lexicon.

Now when I hear someone say "broken," it doesn't have the reassuring subtext of "I know this is a gross oversimplification, and I'm open to providing more detail about my reasoning." It might mean the opposite. (Or it might mean, "I'm making outrageous statements because I know I'm right, and I would relish the opportunity to bully anyone who questions me.")

Similarly, one person might say "everybody hates me, and I can't blame them because I'm worthless" in a deliberately ironic way, to express an emotion and at the same time signal their awareness that what they believe under the influence of that emotion is not true (since their mom is bringing them tendies in the basement.) The next person might say the same thing with no intended irony.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#152

Post by virmundi »

Scoundreller wrote: post #142
virmundi wrote: post #81

I love WSB. Up 200% on GME, 240% NIO, 60% on Carnival Cruise. They have decent insight when you learn their lingo. They also admit this is gambling. Current GME argument. A short squeeze will come around April. Long term the guy that fixed Chewy is going to take over. It will become a good company again. However between those two sentences is a gap where the stock will go back down to 5-10. Current theory: ride the f…

I’d be surprised if there are any shorters left right now. Probably all got margin called and forced to exit. VW’s squeeze was different as it turned out their parent was holding almost all the shares. There was only one seller left.

Valid point. People in WSB are tracking shorts. Haven’t heard them call for bailing. Could be they just want to beat up the boomers.

Here is a discussion on why they think it will go up. https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l4tu4r/why_...

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#153

Post by username90 »

diveanon wrote: post #143
mechEpleb wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4chan is still mostly teenagers and 20-somethings from middle class families shitposting for fun

Qanon disagrees. 4chan trolling nearly resulted in a coup, its reached a new level of seriousness.

A coup can't succeed without support from the military, the police or a majority of the population. A few hundred badly organized crazy people can't perform a coup, they can however perform acts of terrorism which is what they did. Crazy people sometimes kills high level politicians, there are many cases like that in history, doesn't mean it was a coup or it was even near succeeding.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#154

Post by safog »

undefined1 wrote: post #80

Generational warfare waged via Robinhood. The video and comments here sum up a lot of it: https://www.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets/comments/l1u036/wsb_...

Along this note, the new generational warfare is Gen Z vs Millenials.

Gen Z posters are mostly tired of the millenial narrative of boo-hoo the system is rigged, I'm so poor, why won't someone give me free stuff and it's a meme to make fun of millenials on TikTok for saying this.

I wonder how it'll go for them given they're mostly still in college / high school but we shall see. They've mostly graduated into a booming economy, got well paying jobs just as they graduated but that might all change in the next few years.

I for one am pretty tired of all the doom and gloom inequality nonsense all the time. I did everything right and am not successful story doesn't resonate with me at all for one. Most people who went to college and chose a standard, decent major (business, law, medicine, engineering) are doing pretty well for themselves. Yes we had 2008 and things really sucked just as we were graduating, but so what? Lots of people (including me) have dug ourselves out of that deep career hole. Don't blame rich people for your nonexistent career. Even if you took away all of Jeff Bezos' wealth and wiped out college loans, the career you've built for yourself doesn't change.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#155

Post by PascLeRasc »

vorpalhex wrote: post #36

This post is a great tutorial in why we shouldn't derive meaning from expressed language. Imagine if you sat in a room of software engineers and tried to make conclusions about their life views based on their jargon: "I think what they're saying is you just need to form a single value store and react to it, dividing life into small composable micro components that are DRY. We can really comprehend how this minimalism…

The Bogleheads forum uses its own form of language to gatekeep too. I’ve found it so much more smug and closed-minded than WSB.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#156

Post by ACow_Adonis »

vorpalhex wrote: post #36

This post is a great tutorial in why we shouldn't derive meaning from expressed language. Imagine if you sat in a room of software engineers and tried to make conclusions about their life views based on their jargon: "I think what they're saying is you just need to form a single value store and react to it, dividing life into small composable micro components that are DRY. We can really comprehend how this minimalism…

if anything, I think WSB shows off the hacker humour pattern: "haha, only serious".

that's also an element of internet troll evil clown: "oh, you didn't really think that I meant that!"

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#157

Post by tpmx »

treis wrote: post #144
curiousllama wrote: post #30

WSB is hilarious. It’s also such a place of sadness. Taking credit card advances to YOLO into short-dated OTM call options is drug-addict level desperation. People joke about YOLOing their inheritance - and I suspect there’s some reality to it. Their parents’ entire life’s wealth can’t dig them out of whatever hole their in. The CNBC guys freaking out is incredible. Their Cramer feud is gold. But... this trend is dif…

>Taking credit card advances to YOLO into short-dated OTM call options is drug-addict level desperation. It's actually somewhat rational. Say you just graduated college and make 30k as a waiter. You scrape together savings, loans, CCs, etc. and pull together 20k. Take that to Robinhood 2-3x it with margin and place a 50k bet that has a 8% chance to pay off 10x. If you "win" you're up 15 years of wages or more. If you…

The sensible response from society is unfortunately restricting personal bankruptcy laws. Essentially this is an organized attack on civilized society and it needs to be shut down, somehow.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#158

Post by BitwiseFool »

brodouevencode wrote: post #87
nostromo wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment reads like a "they're really playing 4-dimensional chess" moment. There are definitely some smart people on wsb, but I very much doubt the use of silly language (like, say, calling bears "gay bears") is anything other than users being intentionally ridiculous and funny.

$420.69

Funding Secured!

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#159

Post by renewiltord »

Just a characteristic of the fact that money has increasing marginal value for quite a while before it has decreasing marginal value.

$10000 is more than ten times more valuable than $1000. $100k is more than 100 times more valuable than $1000. Each of these shifts you into a new spending class.

Re: The nihilism of r/wallstreetbets

#160

Post by blackrock »

diveanon wrote: post #143
mechEpleb wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4chan is still mostly teenagers and 20-somethings from middle class families shitposting for fun

Qanon disagrees. 4chan trolling nearly resulted in a coup, its reached a new level of seriousness.

It was more of an erection of the village idiots, than an actual military coup.
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