I've never understood the jokes about "underwater basket weaving" by people against post secondary education like, sure it would be pointless, but it would also take insane amounts of skill to weave a basket underwater. people do more pointless shit in stupider places every fuckin day - ThreadSky

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social • 6 days ago

I've never understood the jokes about "underwater basket weaving" by people against post secondary education

like, sure it would be pointless, but it would also take insane amounts of skill to weave a basket underwater. people do more pointless shit in stupider places every fuckin day

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etchachan.bsky.social•6 days ago

PADI accredited an underwater basket weaving course for scuba divers, back in the day.

https://blog.scoutingmagazine.org/2013/09/19/minnesota-venturers-try-underwater-basket-weaving-no-seriously/

juliadilliard.bsky.social•6 days ago

Like dress up in maga rags & red hats.

recappi.bsky.social•6 days ago

I learned how to make vehicle wraps for industrial vehicles at my post secondary education. Now tell me in any honest way how that's any more useful than being able to make a basket.

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social•6 days ago

like people ski off mountains and free dive hundreds of feet. they jump out of fuckin planes and shit. why would doing a difficult learned skill underwater be particularly pointless

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social•6 days ago

and at the end you've got a basket! that's a sellable item!!

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social•6 days ago

being told that underwater basket weaving is a thing, the person isn't underwater but the basket is because it makes the wicker more pliable. seems it's a traditional basket weaving process and people are racist! so I learned something today (about the baskets, not that ppl are racist I knew that)

lostsoulsalliance.bsky.social•6 days ago

Thank you for helping to spread the knowledge <3

pprbllts.bsky.social•6 days ago

💯

therealunclesam.bsky.social•6 days ago

Aaaand followed.

flintironstag.bsky.social•6 days ago

My favorite part of that particular meme is it's basically navy seal training

flintironstag.bsky.social•6 days ago

Like you realize you've fetishized this exact behavior in a different context right

lostsoulsalliance.bsky.social•6 days ago

The basket is in the water, not the weaver. The water softens the wicker and allows for a better finished product after it's dried again.

All this joke illustrates is profound ignorance.

I love baskets and this is personal.

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social•6 days ago

wait so underwater basket weaving is actually a thing?? that's so cool lol

lostsoulsalliance.bsky.social•6 days ago

Depends on the material but yes. Raffia is much easier to work with when soaked. Plaiting basketry can use wood soaked in water.

toribion.bsky.social•6 days ago

And it isn’t easy

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social•6 days ago

I mean my initial post said that it wouldn't be

rhysneedham.bsky.social•6 days ago

Not pointless. They'd probably be quite useful for catching fish or something.

tangerra.bsky.social•5 days ago

I’ve worked in IT a long time. The amount of time I’ve wasted waiting for bars to fill I wish I’d have done something useful like make a basket instead.

thatdoll.online•6 days ago

they for sure don't want people learning history

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social•6 days ago

nooope

jadedargyle333.bsky.social•6 days ago

As weird as it sounds, I think that's where this comes from. When you look at professional archaeologists, they tend to have a very specialized area of focus with a high level of education. They also tend to be funded by grants, and usually not enough to live a lavish lifestyle.

jadedargyle333.bsky.social•6 days ago

The focus on underwater basket weaving is just shorthand for grant funded scientist. They do the same with gender studies. Dog whistle that lets people know that you don't understand science.

wheneverends.bsky.social•6 days ago

i suspect it's only as useless as crochet, which is to say very useful for the right application and irreplaceable by machinery

gendercoffin.bsky.social•6 days ago

I think it's a racist dunk on people learning actual native methods of basketweaving (where water makes material more pliant)

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social•6 days ago

that's crazy how everything always just comes back to plain old racism

emdashel.bzky.team•6 days ago

Always has been.jpg

wheneverends.bsky.social•6 days ago

absolutely

an ex's mom uses a technique with soaked and flattened strips of wood that can create a watertight weave with obvious utility

it's unclear if anyone actually weaves underwater, but the phrase is dripping in racism when used as a pejorative

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social•6 days ago

I'm learning a lot from this thread lol I had no idea this was all a racism issue

wheneverends.bsky.social•6 days ago

it's also a stem superiority issue but yeah same difference

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social•6 days ago

yeah for sure I knew that part but I didn't realise it was also a racism issue haha

wheneverends.bsky.social•6 days ago

really beautiful stuff

dirtsquirrel.bsky.social•6 days ago

that's so pretty!! now I wanna learn to weave baskets

pyslexicdharmacist.bsky.social•6 days ago

It's not hard to learn, but takes a lot of practice to get something that nice. I've made a couple of wonky pine needle baskets, and unless you're using fresh green needles, they need to be soaked in water, too.

msmarvel.bsky.social•6 days ago

Our college actually had underwater basket weaving as a course one could take in between semesters 😂 They’d do it in scuba gear.

mrfox.bsky.social•6 days ago

the college I went to was constantly dunked on for being an uinderwater basket weaving school and it's so weird that that became the standard put down in all of academia lmao

electron.bsky.social•6 days ago

iirc the true "underwater basket weaving" major was psychology and/or sociology back when i went to college. this was pre-recession though--when we were still being told that having a bachelor's in *anything* was actually valuable

pyslexicdharmacist.bsky.social•6 days ago

I double majored in sociology and communications, and seeing how susceptible grown-ass adults are to propaganda, both subjects should be required starting in kindergarten.

electron.bsky.social•6 days ago

they are for people who are neurodivergent

they just call it something different like "speech class" and pull us out of regular classes so we are made to feel like we need extra help

pyslexicdharmacist.bsky.social•6 days ago

Um, communications is not speech class. That's closer to linguistics but I'd never compare the two because that would be kind of insulting.

electron.bsky.social•6 days ago

it sure is
sucks i got forced into "communications" then

pyslexicdharmacist.bsky.social•6 days ago

I'm not sure I follow but ok.

oclan.bsky.social•6 days ago

I thought water was essential in basket weaving… just as essential is post secondary education. Seems plainly simple to me. I wonder if those against it even know understand it.

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