The Oldiesfreak Deluge of Absurdity, Ignorance, and Bad Posts III

[patrick1]

My whole problem with this case is trying to feel any sympathy for Treyvon Martin. Treyvon is the epidemy of everything most average Americans hate. "Pothead", "Thug", "Hood", "PULL UP YOUR PANTS!", "Violent temper", "Thief".

When dealing with people like that, regardless of their color, I have zero tolerance. Thus as far as I'm concerned, it was self-defense against a person who was the worst of America.

People always say I'm cold hearted, but I am not. If a woman is walking down the streets and attacked, I feel sympathy for her and want a harsh punishment for her attacker. If the woman was walking down the street to buy meth, well then she did it to herself and I feel no sympathy. See? I don't think that's too far out of the mainstream.

I love how Naso has such little self-awareness that he has no idea how racially coded that whole thing is.

What a disgusting worldview.  So people with problems, or even perceived faults, deserve all of the bad things that happen to them? It is a short step to condoning and then committing reprehensible acts. The dehumanization is just appalling.

[patrick1]

Maybe Jefferson is. But otherwise, no, of course not.

For better or worse, Aristotle had considerable influence across a broad range of scientific disciplines for over two thousand years.  I don't think Marx could ultimately be a side note.

[patrick1]

Random observation on the above: Atlas Forum, the guy, I find a lot like the pony tailed dude from Good Will Hunting. There is a tendency to take esoteric bits of information, treat it like the most elementary knowledge and then belittle those who did not know it. The overall hubris may even be more off putting about the place to females than the presumed misogyny. 

[patrick1]

Random observation on the above: Atlas Forum, the guy, I find a lot like the pony tailed dude from Good Will Hunting. There is a tendency to take esoteric bits of information, treat it like the most elementary knowledge and then belittle those who did not know it. The overall hubris may even be more off putting about the place to females than the presumed misogyny. 

It's not so much that I think that familiarity with the thought of Jonathan Edwards is or should be elementary knowledge as that taking the title and gist of 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' and using it, independent of context, to convey some sort of Salient Point about American Christianity is a specific pet peeve of mine, but yeah, I think you're right about this, and I certainly wouldn't call myself 'part of the solution' (although I'm not sure I'd agree that women as a class are a group that this alienates necessarily more than others).

Broad generalization,obviously, since life doesn't work on a binary, but I think women are more consensus driven. I should also note the tenor of your posts aren't unique really, we all/most do it. In atlas terms, Im not sure you would even make the medal stand. Hashemite is my even money favorite for gold. That young man gets downright volcanic.

[patrick1]

Random observation on the above: Atlas Forum, the guy, I find a lot like the pony tailed dude from Good Will Hunting. There is a tendency to take esoteric bits of information, treat it like the most elementary knowledge and then belittle those who did not know it. The overall hubris may even be more off putting about the place to females than the presumed misogyny.  

It's not so much that I think that familiarity with the thought of Jonathan Edwards is or should be elementary knowledge as that taking the title and gist of 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God' and using it, independent of context, to convey some sort of Salient Point about American Christianity is a specific pet peeve of mine, but yeah, I think you're right about this, and I certainly wouldn't call myself 'part of the solution' (although I'm not sure I'd agree that women as a class are a group that this alienates necessarily more than others).

As much as Nathan & others do this, in this case I think it is justified. Making an inflammatory statement like "religion is abuse" and then expecting kid gloves is absurd. Now if someone (say a hypothetical girl) had made the Jonathan Edwards comment as part of a coherent and polite argument and we acted the same way, then yes we'd be jerks for being snide about it.

My main observation is about forum culture in general and not merits. Frequently the arguments are two sides of the same coin.  Below is how I see many forum topics breaking down
A. inflammatory, iron clad declaration with supporting reference
B. OMFG, you are an idiot and here is why you are an idiot. Only utter moron would>> proceed to attack interpretation/knowledge of said reference
c. No, you.
d. Forum firing squad lines up in a circle.
e. rinse and repeat

This doesnt really bother me- I have been here near 10 years now. I continue to read here because there are bright people with informative, well reasoned insights. But it is a sharp elbows, acerbic crowd. And really I'm just a spit ballin.