This is Thunderdome, the unmoderated open thread on Pharyngula. Say what you want, how you want.
Status: UNMODERATED; Previous thread
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
This is Thunderdome, the unmoderated open thread on Pharyngula. Say what you want, how you want.
Status: UNMODERATED; Previous thread
It’s a risk.
But I’m bored.
“To be bored is to insult your own intelligence”. – Samuel Johnson, or maybey Dr. Johnson. One of those old English dudes.
You’re bored, I’m pissed. Strange evening.
darwinharmless
There’s your problem.
It’s morning, not evening.
And it’s snowing.
Today’s literary snippet courtesy of Stephen Crane:
“Think as I think,” said a man,
“Or you are abominably wicked;
You are a toad.”
And after I had thought of it,
I said, “I will, then, be a toad.”
Did that get all you iconoclasts cheered up a bit?
I finished today’s Set in 47 Secs. Beat that!
And you are wrong, chigau, it is evening.
I AM ZIM
Well, time for something to piss all of you off!
Get a load of the sermon that the friendly atheist found!
This is some of what poor Hemant had to listen to:
Anyone think that attitude maybe explains the constant lack of funding for education in the states? Or is that going a bit too far? Still, people like that guy can’t help.
One wonders how he was able to keep a wife in the first place.
Ok. shit. Botched that right up. At least the links work. Too bad there’s only supposed to be ONE effing link!
My Set time was 3:24.
Beatrice, do you have the Set pop-up blocker installed?
(It’s overcast but the sun is definitely up.)
(and the cat wants to go out. She doesn’t do that at night.)
(QED)
athyco:
Are you attempting to shame my wife and me for the family dynamic that we have chosen? Just want to be sure.
And “by YOUR choices”? So my wife is completely incapable of making such choices for herself? Or are you suggesting that I forced my wife into this situation?
———————-
myeck waters:
But this reasoning can also apply to the woman “choosing” to go back to work, right?
You can argue that we lack free will, as long as you remain consistent doing so.
Nope, don’t have the blocker.
I must be imagining the dark outside, all the street lights being on and the room getting kinda dark when I turn the light off. Oh well, if I don’t get better, I’ll have to go and take a long nap in a couple of hours.
You didn’t hear a word I wrote. *sigh*
You really are a piece of work. You respond to a comment AS IF you had actually read it…and then you proceed to completely ignore what was written.
myeck waters:
Why not just answer the question?
Joey,
I would make a distinction between enthusiasm and freedom. I have little doubt that there are people who have enthusiasm for the situations in which they find themselves, I know I am about my life and have trouble imagining that I am alone in that perspective. But to suggest that I have reached this solely on a considered approach to how my life might turn out is to discount the influence that culture at large, my specific social circle, and my past experiences have on my inclinations. You may not be aiming at the position that you believe you and your partner have reached where you are in the exclusion of these factors, but it’s been very hard for me to escape that conclusion in reading your comments here.
Why don’t you stop being deliberately stupid and answer our questions. Like why do you keep posting your presuppositional and unquestioned idiocy like it is the TRUTH, rather than the opinion of someone who never questions their presuppositions?
Here’s the link to the latest Forbes feature on the developing Kent Hovind story:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2013/02/08/is-irs-persecuting-kent-hovind-for-creationism/
Joey
Because the question was answered in Myeck’s previous post, and has been answered, over and over and over again, throughout at least the past 2 thunderdome threads, you disingenuous asshole.
fucking hell, Joey’s still yammering on about “my wife”? I should go get my copy of the DSM, see if his picture’s in the “Defensiveness” entry.
Why should he? What makes you think yourself entitled to a response when you do not bother to read HIS post in good faith or respond in good faith?
@robertblaty 17 (from your link):
$25 million. TWENTY-FIVE MILLION DOLLARS.
What a tragic fucking waste.
dishonest joey:
I would have answered an honest question. But you don’t ask honest questions.
In point of fact, that particular question was asked as your way of avoiding the very same thing I was talking about.
You are still avoiding it.
And trying to deflect attention away from your avoidance.
Which is yet another data point on the Joey Chart of Dishonesty.
Pathetic.
Pizza, when covered with nutrition-minded toppings, is a healthy and delicious food.
Beer, when enjoyed in moderation, is refreshing.
georget improved:
Delicious pizza and beer and a boozing shrimp is a good health food for the soul.
It is a delight to converse with Janine: Hallucinating Liar. Is there anything else you might want to discuss?
georget improved:
I think I want to talk about the jazz.
I like music too!
Fucking hell, geroget! Did you go to Comrade Bob’s Trolling Academy, or is there just something about dipshit libertarianism that destroys a person’s ability to communicate in writing?
georget improved:
I love all the songs of joy.
georget seems to be edging ever closer to the creepy-harassment boundary condition over which comradebob crashed and burned.
I smell entrapment. But music is a gift from Deity nonetheless. Concord and discord, harmonics and frequencies, in all a glorious canvas upon which we may seek to make our mortal mark. Do you like Coldplay?
@”Georget”
Bob…. is that you?
georget improved:
Available on the Internet. This music you want to listen to the harmony of heaven and Disharmooni, the famous Sao Paulo a gift, but I think faith?
It’s what FEDGOV THOUGHTBLOG does.
Georget, you are sounding exactly like ComradeBob, and sharing the same obsessions — behavior that got him banned. I think you’re next, unless you knock it off immediately.
The FedGov thing is what convinces me that he’s not comradebob. Bob never used the term, and people who talk about the FedGov never shut up about it. I’m just waiting for him to bust out “ChiCom” too. As I said over on the solar thread, FedGov is a particular shibboleth of the heavily armed, white-supremacist libertarian right.
Also, I think the shitbag was an atheist. Or at least he never brought up a belief in a deity. Georget has.
Well, first thing I’m going to do before reading the rest of joey’s post to me is to point out some grammar.
By your choice–the choice that you and your wife have made. Nowhere in that post is there an intimation that you (singular) have forced your wife into anything.
“Your” is also plural. As in, I asked the couple, “Is this your choice?”
Now I’ll read the rest.
Work outside the home is a sanity-saver for many women who would otherwise be deprived of adult company. An independent pay packet and bank account bolsters a sense of self-worth. You can see why insecure husbands might feel threatened. What’s that saying? “Women are mirrors with the delightful quality of reflecting men at twice life-size,” approximately? Dependency is bad for the soul and bad for relationships.
It was different when men and women both worked in the fields and the farm wife ran several home industries from producing eggs, milk, pork, honey and beer to weaving thread and fabrics and clothing the family.
Damn. I didn’t realize that if joey could latch onto “your,” that he’d ignore all the rest about education, employment gap, work experience, insurance, and Social Security.
Not sure if anybody cares but abear is now in Ed’s place continuing to shit on Tethys and Pharyngula.
Thanks Don Quijote. I will go defend my honour.
Ah, I think we’ve come to the heart of the problem. joey, nobody’s suggesting that you’re a controlling monster who forced your wife to stay at home so that you could continue to go to work. We’re saying that the choices you both made were not completely unfettered by societal expectations. Let me share with you an example. My husband stayed at home with our kids. We had to deal with a lot of grief for that. Short list: mothers eyeing him with suspicion on the playground because he was a man around children, doctor’s offices and school offices always calling my number with child emergencies even though his was listed as the first contact, my parents giving us sad little “oh, that’s ok, so nice for you” responses to information about our lives, his parents giving him more blunted “so, when are you going back to work” messages, our kids’ friends’ parents getting uncomfortable when they realized it was him home when the kids came over to play instead of me, people I work with alternately making either jealous comments (wish I had a man who would cook and clean!) or condescending ones (oh, your husband…doesn’t have a job, then?), secretaries looking at us strangely when we filled out the forms at the doctor’s office with “stay at home parent” next to the blank for his occupation.
None of those were overtly hostile to the situation. None of those people thought they were judging us. None of those, by themselves, were really awful things. But it’s been a nonstop flow of that kind of thing for years. And none of that would have been there if I’d been the one to stay home instead. That would have been fine. That’s what’s expected. That’s the kind of thing we mean when we talk about whether it was truly a free choice or not; one of those choices is easy and supported by society, the other is hard and will constantly get a background level of rebuke.
If you desire such a thing, you can watch abear act like a complete fool at Ed’s blog. I would suggest not answering to him, it is completely off topic. But it is so funny when a troll thinks the troll has a point.
I’m done with abear. It’s the least I can do in exchange for my sniny new troll title.
Oh goodness me, abear is just going to milk that for all it’s worth. I note that neither Tethys the Possessed nor Chris Clarke the Evil have bothered to show up on his doorstep with broken bottles and banhammer.
arggh…forgot to hit the update profile button.
blarget:
Actually, this is true. I had a really delicious Pizza Express Fiorentina the weekend before last.
Its relevance to anything here is questionable.
cm, trolling is trolling.
(As in: “I posted the most innocuous comment, and was chided for it!”)
Wife and I are working to lose weight, mostly by limiting carbs (and fat (but if we limit the carbs, the fat usually takes care of itself)) and have been pleasantly surprised how well pizza (both restaurant and home made) fits into the healthy eating.
Road Pizza
That’s good
Gotta get me some road food
I don’t usually hang out in Teh ‘Dome, only I heard this rumor that there were macadamia nut cookies over here….
–
Cicely, it’s true! I baked some the other night. Check your USB port. Should be some en route.
Janine
I missed that in the word salad. It makes sense, though. The class if rhetoric that involves FedGov references is very much a ‘god, guns , and oil made America great’ sort of thing.
Hmm. I remember the Hanson brothers. There were only three of them though.
Cicely:
There are, kindly offered (and made) by evilisgood. Mind, they are evil.
I am perplexed.
A mash up of Kylie Minogue and NoMeansNo?
A palette cleanser is needed. The real version of Now by NoMeansNo from 0+2=1. In my little corner of the world, it is a stone fucking classic.
Tag. I’m it.
I see what you did there.
cm’s changeable moniker, The Hanson Brothers were a side project of a band called NoMeansNo. NoMeansNo plays rather complex, jazz inflected punk rock. The Hanson Brothers were a concept band. What if The Ramones were hockey playing Canadians. The results were just as goofy as it sounds.
I loved it.
Blitzgreig Hops
Hey! You! Let’s brew!
Fucking YouTube is recommending a girlwritewhat video for me.
I thought the Hanson Brothers were the bad boys in Slap Shot.
But my lack of cultural knowledge is well known. Given the crowd here, my ignorance is internationally known.
Wow.
Ogvorbis, the band I have been talking about named themselves after the goons.
http://individual.utoronto.ca/somody/quiz.htmlhttp://individual.utoronto.ca/somody/quiz.html
We need to petition this site to get PZ in their quiz!… {grin}
–MAB
Ah.
Sorry.
*nomming cookies*
Thanks, evilisgood—and so are the cookies!
–
evilisgood –> cookiesisgood –> cookiesisevil? evilscookiesisgood’n’evil?
–
The Game is imminent!
*leaves with cookies in hand&mouth*
–
Ogvorbis:
You can place me on Team Huh? as well. I’m abysmally ignorant of pop anything and almost always have to search stuff when it comes up. I remain as I was as a sprog, with my nose buried in a book most of the time. And since I pay no attention to ‘bestseller’ lists and the like, I’m generally ignorant of popular mass books too.
Hanson brothers. MMMBop.
Yes, I went there!
*cackles*
I had a Hanson Brothers (band) t-shirt at the same time the band Hanson were popular. I had to keep pointing out that it had nothing to do with MMMBop. Never mind the hockey motif the shirt had.
(Seriously, can anyone who knows me think I would like MMMBop?)
You fucking die, cm’s changeable moniker.
(Slymies, quote mine this!)
The scary thing is that in 20 years’ time, that’ll be internet commenters’ idea of classic rock.
Sic transit gloria mundi and all that. ;-)
You Fucking Die!
I am so pop savvy, Caine. I have not listened to Top 40 in over thirty years.
(Yes, I am aware that I know almost every Top 40 of the seventies. It is not like I am proud of it.)
I have a problem with the fact that the stuff I loved in high school (and the stuff I loathed!!!) are now classic rock. If I remember it, it cannot be classic!
Janine, you really don’t want to know how poor I am with music, either. I wasn’t really paying attention in the ’70s, any more than I pay attention now, which isn’t much.
Oh gods, I’m at a point in Manhood in America where I have to read quotes from Hoff Sommers. Blecch.
Hah! Not unless you got ten million pounds of sludge from New York and New Jersey!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yHrEykOGpo
(Actually, now I come to think of it … arrgh …
PZ just wrote a piece entitled “Come on, Ken, you can say it.” I followed the link over to the Answers in Genesis page. Whenever I read stuff like this my feelings of frustration slowly escalate. By the time I finished reading the article my frustration levels were nearly unbearable. Add a dash of feeling impotent and hopeless and I wonder why I bother surfing the net at all. I’m just glad there are folks out there who can move past the frustration and actually communicate, with knowledge.
What really caught my eye was the spin (redirection?) the author (Mitchell) used when addressing the Facebook inquirer’s message. Mitchell prefaces a quotation from the inquirer by writing “Frustrated with the difficulty of obtaining the published research data, he graciously wrote:” (followed by an excerpt from the Facebook post). As if the real problem was a lack of publicly available research data.
If the quotation is complete, the only frustration I can spot is the responder’s frustration that Mitchell didn’t provide links to any relevant research.
Then again at the end of the article, Mitchell complains that the relevant research material is hidden behind copyright laws and not freely available to the public. She continues how she would be required to purchase rights to the material and even then “fair use” requirements would severely limit sharing the information. Damn government and greedy capitalists make it so difficult for truth seeking creationists.
It’s a minor point I know. (simple things, my simple mind… or something like that.)
We’ve Only Just Begun-Curtis Mayfield
Nothing’severgonnastandinmyway(again)
Fucking YouTube is recommending an other girlwritewhat video.
That worked out well.
Kimmel’s “Manhood in America” does not appear to be Kindlized.
Fortunately Holland’s “Misogyny” does come in a Kindle version. If the foreword and introduction are any indication, I’d better get my chores done now, cause once started I’ll never be able to put it down. I have such poor self-control in that way.
Okay, finished up Manhood in America: a cultural history by Michael Kimmel. That was an engrossing and excellent read, learned a lot. I’m looking forward to what Esteleth has to say about it. Now it’s on to Guyland by Kimmel.
X-posted.
I think I could win all contests involving failing to know pop music since I don’t listen to any music willingly. Well, with the occasional exception for things like Prairie Home Companion’s spoof of Les Mis.
Have you ever been tickled …?
Bentley Rhythm Ace – Let There Be Flutes
I’ve actually been listening to rather heavy rap music, so this is a let-off. ;-)
With a facebook friend posting pics and memories from the 80’s and Janine putting up Nomeansno vids I know when I’m beat.
Surrendering to nostalgia:
The Enigmas, Windshield Wiper
The Pointed Sticks, Out of Luck/Somebody’s Mom
The Young Canadians, Hawaii Do I have to add a NSFW tag in the Thunderdome? NSFW
My Little Japanese Cigarette Case-Spoon
Completely off-topic: How easy is it to get access for example through libraries? My library gives me access to most articles I want. It even allows for online access through their website. All you have to do is go to the library and set up a user account, all free.
Is that a rare thing out in the world?
I should, of course, if posting BRA, post this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-iks7Xhpp8
Bentley’s Gonna Rock Ya.
It’s obligatory.
LykeX:
I don’t know. Depends on the library, I imagine. University libraries are fab in that respect, but most of us don’t have access to those once we’re loooooooong out of school.
The sidewalk of Placencia, a stroll to the east, and toes find themselves immersed in warm sand. The waves, slowly and rhythmically engaging the beach. An umbrella casts a shadow under the light of the full moon. She sighs, content for the first time since she can remember. Finally free from… them. In the distance, a guitar strums. Straining, she attempts to better perceive the features of the silhouette, and the meaning of the music.
georget #92
Bland and sophomoric.
2.5/10
georget improved:
Cement, sand and ondz experience, starting this month at his home in Larsen, the beach. But I never forgot you, that is the mind. In the rest of his days. Training tools, music, family or try and at the top of the screen.
Is georget attempting some sort of performance fart?
Damn.
Sorry.
That ucking ‘f’ is not supposed to be there.
Though it does sorta fit?
Janine:
Why bother? They’ll just soak it up as attention and as PZ has already given one warning, I’d rather not engage until the banhammer hits.
Well, each to their own, I’ll just use my killfile and shut up about what everyone else does now.
georget improved #94
Poetic and evocative.
7.5/10
—-
Ogvorbis
the fart makes more sense
Caine, it amuses me.
Delicious pizza and beer and a boozing shrimp is a good health food for the soul.
Who can’t laugh at a boozing shrimp?
I tried bad translating this. It ended up indistiguishable from Chekhov.
I’m reading Chekhov.
I’m now slightly concerned as to the relevance of Russian literature. :-/
Ogvorbis:
I think performance fart is an exquisite descriptor. Keep it.
You Turn Me On I’m A Radio-Joni Mitchell
Sorry.
Didn’t realize that georget has been busy ’round here.
Not only do I disengage, but I’m heading for bed.
That is the result of a bad translation.
LykeX:
As Caine said, it will depend on the library. And on how much effort I want to expend. Some stuff is just hard to get. On the other hand it’s amazing how much info I can get with a little effort. And if I’m really stymied, asking for help from the relevant researchers themselves usually gets results. Just gotta show some real interest, respect and patience.
In regards to the AIG article, the whole issue was just a rhetorical diversion. I have little doubt that the author had all the resources necessary to find and communicate the research involved.
G’night, Ogvorbis. Sleep sweet.
Smackwater Jack
And on the whole, it was a very good year for the undertaker.
Am I the only one who thinks of the undertaker from Yojimbo when this line is sung?
Dreamless sleep, Ogvorbis.
Another Long One-Shawn Colvin
When I was young (1960s and 70s; highschool class of 1977), “oldies” stations played music of the 1950s and early 60s. The music of 30 years ago was, like, Benny Goodman and the Andrews Sisters and shit. Now the music of 30 years ago is played every night in the bar I hang out at. My daughter (16 yo) wears Beatles and Pink Floyd t-shirts. That would be like me, at her age, wearing, like, Bing Crosby and Tommy Dorsey t-shirts when I was 16 in 1975. No way!
Something’s different or the evolution of popular (only?) music has slowed down or something.
Chas:
You whippersnapper. (class of ’75 here.)
Yeah, or being into Woodoy guthrie and Pete Seeger. No one listened to those guys in the seventies.
Do you imagine culture should progress in a linear fashion?
Babies, babies. Class of ’67 here. And was present during the Summer of Love in San Francisco. Good times.
Fucking tags, how do they work?
I had a friend in collage, who, in the early eighties, changed her name to Woody because she was a fan.
I saw a person using “It nice to be nice to the nice.” as a tagline. And I know where it is from.
Weep for me.
Janinie,
How about Odetta? Or Hedge and Donna?
Morgan:
Braggart. :p
Who Needs The Peace Corp?
Sorry. I had to.
Janine:
:tears on my tentacles:
Trouble-Iris DeMent
I’m even older, primary school in the 50s. So I have one 20yr old and one younger in the house in the early 2000s, and it’s like walking through a broken time warp machine. Innocently doing not much on a Saturday morning, and I hear a young Frank Sinatra followed by Rage Against The Machine followed by Ella Fitzgerald ….. then Patti Page, The Cat Empire, Ben Folds Five, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and even South Australia’s contribution to the world of pub bands – Working Class Man sung/croaked/roared by Jimmy Barnes. Then maybe some Bach or Mozart.
All well and good bringing up kids to appreciate all kinds of music wherever it’s found. It’s a bit jarring to hear the result sometimes.
In meat space, people keep me away from the music player. I will play some Wiemar era cabaret songs and follow it up with some Jesus Lizard. Or Temptations followed by Sonic Youth. They think I am trying to cause mood whiplash on purpose.
Cloud 9-Temptations
In The Kingdom #19-Sonic Youth
Goo Goo Muck-The Cramps
Good Things Happen To Bad People-Richard Thompson
恭喜發財 !!!
(May your New Year be Slithery.)
The superstitious part of me wants to make a little shrine with offerings to Murphy for the year of the snake to leave my corn snake breeding pairs alone!
@ rowanvt
We have very many of those around my part of the world. “Corn snake breeding pairs” sounds interesting…
As the youngest of five kids, my musical tastes were borrowed from my older sibs, so I was several years out of step. The music that popular when I was a teenager? When that insipid pap started getting played as Classic Rock I was pissed off for a decade.
YAY cookies!
From previous thread:
Big Rhonda Rousey fan right here. I’m very pleased that Dana White finally saw the potential of women’s MMA. He was resistant to it for many years. It’s exciting!
@Theophontes:
I have two lines going as my main interest. One I’m breeding purely for temperament, the other to create a solid black corn snake. The others are het testing for the most part. I’ve 7 females going this year, though I’ll be dropping down to just 3 next year. I’ve had strange odds the previous years.
Oh, that poor, oppressed abear. The dear was subjected to harsh criticism and a barroom brawl threat that ultimately was nothing more than a joke. I loved seeing him talk about lawyers and
terrorist threats. How heavy is the head sporting a slymepit crown?:
Re:pizzas-
Years ago, shortly after I first met M, in an attempt to make better choices for our health (he wanted to start working out and wanted my advice on healthier eating. Homemade pizzas made with sandwich wraps, pizza sauce, lots of cheese and turkey peperoni. Sometimes drizzled with EVOO, or fresh herbs. One wrap with enough toppings often provided a full meal. This also works for quick late night snacks.
@ rowanvt
Beautiful snakes those. It appears though they are only found in the USA.
Sadly, the only snakes I ever see here (China) are for the pot…
ﴡ
It’s simple: the music of our youth (class of ’72 here) is objectively better than that of our parents’ or our childrens’ youth ;-)
I wished it were that easy to turn them into one….
True. Why you never leave high school:
I want to be good.
Yeah, or being into Woodoy guthrie and Pete Seeger. No one listened to those guys in the seventies.
Not sure what your point is. First, I was explicitly talking about ‘popular music’, and those guys were never on the radio. And second, not very many people did listen to Guthrie and Seeger in the seventies. Some people listened to Dixieland jazz or accordian polkas or Wagner in the seventies too, but, see, I’m not talking about niche music. (I was a youthful jazz elitist myself; the tastes of my classmates ran to the Eagles and Steve Miller and Zeppelin but I was into Eric Dolphy and Miles).
Do you imagine culture should progress in a linear fashion?
um, what? There was no ‘imagine’ or ‘should’ in my comment; it was just an observation.
If you can imagine blockquotes above, you should.
Imagine all the blockquotes, it’s easy if you try,
Typos below us, unclosed tags awry.
Imagine all the comments
formatted correctly AHAHAHA
You may say I’m a bad typist,
Well I’m not the only one.
I hope someday the preview
Will void all mistakes, every one.
nice
Tpyos!
Funny about that musical tastes thing. I remember my mother getting all hot under the collar about ‘entertainers’ coming to the community centre where she lives and presenting stuff like “Roll Out The Barrels” and similar old-time stuff. “That’s my parents’ generation music! Not ours!” (She’s 88 this week and there is nothing in the world that she wants, needs or won’t find something odd to say about, in the way of a gift. I have no idea what to get.)
She wants the eras of Frank Sinatra and The Beatles as well as a bit of WW2 music and all those film musicals. The stuff from when she was going out dancing and when her kids (my lot – the baby boomers) were doing the same.
That’d be ages 15 to 35/40ish, I suppose.
At all times, there is music that is artistically compelling. Aperiodically, music that is artistically compelling is also popular.
Maybe people who grew up with it might be able to comment more appropriately (graduated in 1991), but it seems like this kind of happy conjunction happened in the latter half of the sixties.
I don’t actually know how popular music sounds nowadays. Maybe it’s awesome.
My music, on my mp3 player, is Woody and Arlo, Pete Seeger, Ian & Sylvia, Kingston Trio, Styx, Limelighters, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, some Broadway musicals, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Peter Gabriel, Phil Ochs, Dizzy Gillespi, etc. Pretty much what I listened to in high school.
umm, psst, Chas! Zip up, your ignorance is showing!
It could be due in part to just having access to a longer history of recordings. Sure, there were recordings in the 1920s from the 1890s or whatever, but most didn’t survive very long and most people couldn’t afford them. People growing up now can easily get exposed to something like Pink Floyd without being a fan or deliberately searching out music like that: their grandparents have recordings, their parents, their friends’ friends, youtube has recordings, MTV and VH1 used to have recordings…. and most of those are all still around to be enjoyed.
Why is it often something like Pink Floyd, rather than some obscure and more crappy band from the same era? Because it’s not as obscure or crappy.
consciousness razor:
Good point.
I remember, back in the early 80s, trying to find Woody Guthrie records. Or The Weavers. Or even some Kingston Trio other than the three greatest hits albums, the Hungry i, and one other. Now I have far better access to folk music of the fifties and sixties than I did 30 years ago. Makes it far easier to be eclectic.
The Internet is Teh awesome in exploring music in a way that wasn’t possible, like,…before the Internet. I used to have to go to the record store and talk with the clerk or owner to figure out what sounded cool, or what was new, or what I would like. And sometimes I’d hear about things from friends too, but I always had to plunk down a few bucks to get a record that I hadn’t likely heard yet, and that entails all kind of risk when you only have a few bucks and evolutionary spans of free time that must be filled with sound.
I don’t feel romantic nostalgia about this.
I spent all last week listening to black metal on the internets, for the sake of satisying curiosity. I didn’t have to buy anything. Then I spent like two hours listening to Throbbing Gristle, and didn’t have to buy anything either. I could not have done this in the nineties. It was liberating.
I have no problem finding new awesome music to listen to, even though I’m still fond of the Breeders, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Us3, and Digable Planets. Not to mention, I still find it quite fun to go to contra dances.
For instance, I urge everyone to check out Janelle Monae, here performing “Tightrope” with Big Boi and a large brass section. With her narrative arcs, her musical complexity, and her sci-fi alter ego, she puts me in mind of David Bowie sometimes.
The power just went out. *sigh*
I discovered Janelle Monae thanks to comments in here. Hurray for the Internets!
@ Joey: So not debating the huge free will issue (got tired of that in college), but let me ask you a question:
Do you believe truly and freely and deep down in your heart that a woman may choose entirely of her free will as you define it never to marry, never to have children (to in fact not even want to marry or have children), never have to be dependent on anybody, let alone a man, for her survival, and, to move away from the negatives, can choose to pursue a doctorate and and a job and her own interests entirely unfettered by having to limit her choices in any way by her “responsibility” to another human being, and in effect, to be responsible (insofar as any one individual can be completely responsible in a culture) for her own life, money, retirement, etc. (luckily being privileged by being white and coming from a middle-class family before Dad ran off with graduate student in this oh yes completely hypothetical situation), and be completely and utterly happy and not feel in the least deprived?
Do you really claim that you feel no sense that perhaps there’s something wrong with her, that she’s just “making the best” of nobody wanting her, that she’s somehow unnatural (by your definition, totally NOT inflected by social attitudes or narratives, nope, no way, arrived at in complete isolation)?
Do you even know any women who fall into this cateogory?
Have you ever seen how people treat women who fall into this cateogory?
And finally, why are you so desperately invested in receiving some validation here for your and your wife’s totally free choices?
And do you have her permission to be talking about her all over these threads?
Godsdamn, I am freezing. I want my power back!
I’ll just leave this here:
http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/02/08/16887815-male-caregivers-face-gender-bias-at-work?lite
—
*buries Caine in warm rats*
@Theophontes:
You might be able to find them as pets there in China. I know there are some people in Japan and Taiwan that have corn snakes and breed them. They are fabulous pet snakes because they don’t grow very large and are usually very docile.
http://imageshack.us/a/img690/270/dier3113.jpg
That’s Dier, my sunglow and the sire that is helping me restart the line for temperament. He is a truly fabulous snake.
Caine,
I’m sorry.
*hands over warm blankets and a cup of hot chocolate*
*Offers Caine several warm blankets, 4 cats and a rather fluffy small dog*
Pteryxx:
They’re already doing that because *they* are cold. I only got one cuppa tea, too. *feels even whinier*
Just saw a power company truck go by, hopefully we’ll have power back in a couple hours. Note to self: buy more candles, idiot.
Thank you, Beatrice & Rowan!
Caine
I’ve just reheated some coffee, I’ll put some in the USBs.
@music:
I still listen to a lot of the music I grew up with (The Corries, Tannahill Weavers, Silly Wizard, Steeleye Span, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, the Everly brothers; I grew up listening to my dad’s records a lot), but I’ve also been able to find new music that I like too (thank you, internet). I’ve been really liking Anggun lately.
new nym: Caine, giant snuggie for chilly ratties!
Yikes. Stay warm, Caine! Hopefully they get the power back on quickly. If I could send my absurd pile of extra blankets through the computer, I would.
I learn something new every day, with luck. I never knew one would or could breed snakes for temperament. Amazing.
Caine, I hope your power if back on. If not, here is a huge pile of 65 degrees F from my neck of the woods. (Pretty close to Chris Clarke, BTW) I actually wish it were colder.
Cuddle the ratties.
Janine:
Apologies, I didn’t see your “Who Needs The Peace Corps” – Frank Zappa post until just now. I’m laughing my ass off. Good one. Thanks, I needed that.
Am I wrong to assume that my links to girlwriteswhat condoning omestic violence and being a MRA are being ignored?
Oh, I have such a crush on her. She’s fantastic in oh so many ways.
Yikes, Caine! Hope they get the power back soon. And then you can make up for the hours off by cranking up the heat for awhile?
Janine:
Didn’t get those links. I’m confused.
Janine:
Of course he’s ignoring them. Because PENIS!
Morgon, that was about the neolplum99 thread and an obvious troll called patrickdoyle.
Power is back, yay! Now I have to get stuff done. Darn.
Carlie:
Just came back on, phew. Space and house heaters are cranking as we speak.
Yay!
Hooray for warms!
FUCK. The power is fluctuating again.
Just in case you are missing out on georget’s latest exhibition of troll performance art.
The Performance Fartist hath been kissed by the banhammer. Until the next puppet shows up.
ummm, hey, buddy: thanks for posting your content-free comment specially to insult me!
But you’re right: I forgot about the Weavers.
So it turns out the heavy rap music (my #86) samples the same track as (my previously-posted) cuttlefish porn:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=aOGLtZCFBw8#t=142s
Bonus points for anyone who can work out what I’m listening to! It’s not the Herbaliser. ;-)
… sorry, cuttlefish ultra-violence and porn. I missed the crab-stabbing bit at the beginning.
What I’m listening to.
Soave sia il vento
These fuckers are making shit up
Let’s chuck them in the pool
The last has pietra mesmerica for the win.
*sigh*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=6Wi7UsXW1As
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEoKVn-o7QM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCWxbfFIflE
If you could use those links, that would be more helpful.
There is a poor link there cm. Just the first.
Aha! Thanks, dhorvath, the urls need the “v=”. Got it.
So, I finished Manhood in America. Fascinating!
Found a quote that resonated deeply:
I’ve noticed this as well! A lot of the conservative types (and many EvPsych types seem to be conservative) seem to have these deeply regressive views of men as barely restrained rutting beasts.
And they call us “misandrists”!
The above was x-posted in the Lounge.
Caine, I read Guyland a few years ago. It is also quite good. And profoundly depressing.
Esteleth:
Yes, so have I. It’s hard to ignore just how often anti-feminists are deeply misandrist. Same goes with rape apologists – Bill Openthalt was arguing ‘rape is male nature’ in the NYT thread recently. Didn’t get it at all how misandrist that view happens to be.
About Guyland, yes, it explains a great deal, but it is depressing.
Huh. No-one took the cuttlefish challenge …
It was Nas – Illmatic – One Love.
@Caine #187
I haven’t read either of the two books that you and Esteleth are talking about, but that view will never be understood as misandrist until people become more aware of, and intolerant of rape culture. As long as violence is sexy and sex is violence, “rape as male nature” will be seen as something masculine, although it’s a prime example of toxic masculinity.
I’m sure all of that was covered in the books. Just connecting the dots for myself. I wish people like Bill Openthalt would, too.
By the way, is there discussion of rape culture in the books you’ve been reading, put in context of masculinity?
Mythbri:
I haven’t finished Guyland yet, but yes, it’s addressed in Manhood in America, albeit indirectly. There’s more focus on the history of violence being an accepted part of masculinity, and not just accepted, but considered to be a vital part of masculinity. There’s also a great deal on the culture of entitlement, which is the basis of rape culture as we know it now.
Guyland deals more explicitly with the “boys will be boys” notion and I think it will also deal with rape culture more directly, but I’m not deep into yet.
but I’m not deep into it yet.
*sigh*
One thing that is addressed in Manhood in America is how and why men think that the best way to revenge themselves on another man is to rape his wife/daughter/mother, and that historically, rape has been about putting another man in his place – women have simply been the objects in attaining that goal.
Guyland should, going by what Kimmel had to say about bro culture and Steubenville:
(spoilers, I guess)
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/01/24/the-18437-perpetrators-of-steubenville/
via Ophelia: https://proxy.freethought.online/butterfliesandwheels/2013/02/no-one-ever-rats-out-a-fellow-bro/
er *should deal with rape culture more explicitly. Oops.
Hello, Pharyngula. My name is Yvonne. Oh, “athyco” is still fine, please.
Why tell you? Because I made the mistake of trusting a near-‘pitter who got my email addy through my comments either on his blog or YouTube channel. He sent me what seemed to be a sincere request, and I answered him. Today, he replied to a ‘pitter’s comment on his blog identifying me as Dixie/Yvonne. (Dixie is part of my YouTube name.) There’s nowhere but my email that he could have gotten it, and no one on his blog who wouldn’t know whom he meant with just plain “Dixie.”
So here I am. It’s a weird combination of feelings, but mostly grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Jesus, Athyco. I’m so sorry! My identity isn’t exactly difficult to find, but it’s still very much a betrayal when people out you.
Athyco, let me also “GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR” with you.
In other news, I’m reading this *gag* wonderful *gag* book titled “You lost me” which is all about reasons why young folk are being less committed to christianity and how to get them back.
I’m reading this because my best friend from high school (a catholic high school, which began my journey towards atheism) wanted to do a discussion of the book with her friends and wanted input from various levels of faith, from extreme to none at all. I happen to be the none at all.
However, this book is damn painful to read. The author has no idea how condescending he often comes across, and uses some lovely catch phrases like ‘scientism’ and calls those of us who were christian but now don’t believe at all ‘prodigals’. I started reading it early January. I’m only 60% of the way through. I can usually take down an 800 page novel in 2 days and this book is nowhere near that long. I just have to put it down frequently before I start chewing on my kindle.
-_-
Aw fuck, Rowan. That sounds an awful mess to be stuck with. Best of luck with the discussion.
If my telling him that he’s got the passive-aggressive cowardly swipes down pat is enough to make him think, Caine, it’ll be good.
And I’m about as boringly bullet-proof nowadays as they come. Heck, I share a property line with the dead Methodists, and the pastor thinks I’m one of the almost mythical good atheists. (During yardwork, I gather up the blown-away fake flowers even if they’re in the ditch across the street. And I made a wire pen for them so the families could find them on their next visiting day.)
rowan, I think I’d hate the book, too, but the discussion might turn out better than expected if you can give them some terminology examples that they’d not like to show that he’s doing that to others. Gah! Hard to tell, isn’t it, when you know you’re going to have such a planned range in the room. (And thanks for the harmonic grrrrrrrrr.)
@ rowanvt
From the Dutch for “Animal”?
What a beauty. Sadly, I’ll have to look on from afar. What with four hungry cats in a tiny flat, I’ll have to put off my dreams of a menagerie for a while.
@ athyco
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Mmmm music.
I’m listening to a cat named Jacam Manricks atm.
One big difference in the way music is made these days in comparison to yesteryear: Live performance. Since recordings came along the opportunities for muso’s to get regular paying gigs has diminished. I’m talking about gigs like playing live music for radio theater and so forth. Or playing five nights a week at a club.
Might be different in the US but here in New Zealand unless you are in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch your chances of finding live music happening are fairly slim.
Harder still to find Jazz gigs so I’ll admit I am a little biased.
Oh. I should have said: Live music that isn’t a covers gig.
And just in case anyone is interested in my never ending reading list, next up after Guyland is Assholes: A Theory by Aaron James. Mister just finished it and declared it good. We both got a laugh out of a passage early on which declared Dawkins an asshole. James is right, but for the wrong reasons (It’s not because he was mean to the goddists. It’s because he’s privilege blind and sexist.) Hee.
Responding to coelsblog’s comment, here…
I’ve read your (lengthly) re-cap of your discussion on your blog. I agree with your paragraph that begins: “That wording was poor”. I also sympathize with your encouragement to avoid hyperbole and escalation.
However, I do notice that nowhere in your re-cap do you mention any discussion you had with people supporting Shermer’s “side”. This suggests to me that you haven’t done any such discussion. Once again, I ask, is this correct?
@Theophontes:
I have 4 cats as well! Just make sure the lid is secure and you’ll be okay. Also, no, I had no idea that dier meant ‘animal’! It’s from my conlang and means ‘fire’. Many of my snakes are named from my constructed-language that I like to work on. Torandre means “at last” (lit. ‘this finally’). Vanay (actually vane) is an exclamation of surprise. Ferenea is ‘snow’. Leshen is ‘silver’. Essan is ‘red’.
Athyco and Caine, thanks for the encouragement on the book. I’m gonna need it, as the discussion is on the 21st. Must… finish…. stupid ass book…
Jon Trollstein, you’re wrong.
Just in case anyone missed it, there’s a nifty new script for greasemonkey at the wiki that converts embedded videos into links.
What do you mean?
athyco
That sucks. I’m not at all committed to my anonymity, I’m totally safe, but it would still kind of piss me off.
Jon Trollstein
Seriously? You call yourself trollstein and dump a video without comment or explanation? That’s your best shot?
Apropros of nothing, really, other than general theme of sexism, but I was unlucky enough to see the latest episode of the Big Bang Theory over the weekend. In the opening scene Sheldon complains that Leonard has had too much oestrogen and as a result is behaving like a whining woman.
i don’t watch the show out of choice normally, as it’s all the same jokes recycled over and over, but this was just horrible.
Jon Trollstein:
What’s your confusion?
Clearly, that video doesn’t make the point you imagine it makes.
Therefore, you are wrong.
(duh)
thetalkingstove:
Oh hell. I really had hoped it would get better.
Dhorvath:
I understand what you’re saying. But just because one isn’t “enthusiastic” about making a particular choice doesn’t necessarily mean that “freedom” isn’t involved in making that choice.
I have admitted to the existence of social pressures numerous times. My point is that it is still possible to make a free decision even with all these factors involved.
———————
myeck waters:
How is it not an honest question? This is what you said…
And I asked whether this reasoning can also apply to the woman choosing to go back to work.
If the answer is yes, then the point is essentially that ALL choices are made in part by programming, including the choice for a woman to go back to work after having children. Alright, fine…ALL choices are in part the result of social factors.
But if the answer is no, then there would obviously be an inconsistency. You would have to explain why a woman’s “oh-so-rational decision” to stay home is more “programmed” than a woman’s decision to go back to work.
As I’ve said, I agree about the social pressures. But in our case, my wife has received MUCH more pressure to go back to work rather than to stay at home. We grew up in households where both of parents worked (out of financial necessity), and daycare was our grandparents for most of our childhood. My wife has a bachelors degree in finance, and numerous family/friends have questioned why she would “waste” her degree just to stay home. Her own mother has pressured her to go back to work, since that is what she did when my wife was a child. Her dad still expects her to go back to grad school. Her younger sister is a climbing up the corporate world even with a brand new baby (her parents are used as daycare).
When we had our first child up in New England (not exactly the hotbed of conservatism), the vast majority of younger couples with children chose the daycare route. With the exception of one family, we didn’t personally know any mothers at the time who chose to stay home after having their first child. Since then, we have moved down south (exclusively due to cost of living reasons) where it is more common to see stay at home parents. But still, the pressures for my wife to go back to work remain from family and friends and most especially former classmates/co-workers, not to mention the shaming that she gets once in a while that isn’t too much different than some of the posts you see here.
————
athyco:
Thanks for the clarification. But you have to admit given the context of this conversation where numerous posters have argued that my wife “didn’t have a choice” or “much of choice” in staying home, the phrase definitely needed some clarification.
As for the rest of your post listing the cons of a stay at home parent, we are definitely aware of all those disadvantages. But you focused only on one side of the choice. What about the advantages for a stay at home parent? The advantages for both parent and child are obvious and plentiful, and there is no need to list them out. For some families, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages that you listed, not to mention they are in a more stable financial position that would allow for such a choice.
My wife and I don’t think we’re “foolish” in making this decision for her to stay home. Although it has certainly been very tough on her physically and mentally to stay home to raise four children (have I mentioned before that she has by far the tougher job?), she has made the choice willingly and we both feel it has been best for the entire well-being of the family. You and others may not believe me when I say this…it doesn’t matter.
———————————
carlie:
I can agree with that.
Thank you for volunteering you and your husband’s story. I certainly commend your husband’s choice to stay home, and I’m certain he made the decision willingly out of concern for what is best for the family, despite all the grief that he expected to receive.
I understand how one choice can be considered “harder” than the other, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the “easy” choice is always more “free”. Like I’ve asserted above, my wife choosing to stay home after our first child can be considered more difficult than if she decided to go back to work. The societal pressures of urban New England in 2005 is not quite the same as they were in 1955, or even some rural middle-America town now. But again, just because it may have been “easier” for her to choose to go back to work doesn’t necessarily make that decision any less “free” either.
——————–
rrede:
Absolutely.
No, I don’t claim that there is “something wrong” with such a person. Not every man/woman has the vocation for marriage.
Yes.
Yes, I can see how such women can be stigmatized. I don’t think it’s right to look down on a woman (or man) simply because she (he) chooses not to get married and have a family.
I’m not. I’m just pointing out that a woman deciding to stay home can actually be a free decision on her part. If you followed the conversation from the start, it has been suggested right off the bat that due to “patriarchal pressures” a woman choosing to stay home isn’t really considered to be a truly free choice. Such a blanket statement is complete hogwash, and it has been my attempt to reason that it is hogwash. People can claim that such a decision is stupid and foolish all they want, but please don’t claim that it isn’t a decision at all.
@ 204
JesseW, the Juggling Janitor:
Yes, that is correct. At the time I participated in two FTB threads (on Greta’s and Ophelia’s blogs) and then wrote about it on my own blog, I had not discussed this issue anywhere else. (I did subsequently post a couple of remarks on Harriet Hall’s post about this.)
I don’t normally read any Shermer blogs and my knowledge of this was from reading FTB posts and things, such as Shermer’s replies, linked to from those.
coelsblog, “I don’t normally read any Shermer blogs”?
(How many does he have?)
@216 John Morales
I’ve no idea how many (if any) he has (but if there are any they are not ones I usually read).
nice straw caricature you got there
Pope resigns, dancing tardigrades are called for.
So, the pope is standing down. He says it is because of his advancing age, but I wonder if there’s about to be another scandal about to hit. (As opposed to all the preceding scandals, that is.)
Text of resignation message
@ Bob
Seems to be some financial scandal brewing… :D
Wait a minute, maybe we’re arguing about different things? There are two types of pressure/decisions here: whether anyone stays home, and then who stays home. I heard a record scratch in my head reading that, because I thought the main argument you have recently been making was that there was no pressure for your wife to stay home instead of you. Because in that case, you’d be under about ten times as much pressure to go back to work as she would. If the argument is simply about whether she stays at home or you have daycare, that’s a different argument. Still pressure on women to stay home instead, but not as much as the pressure for her to be the one who stays home if a choice of one of the two has to be made.
I am not trying to make a point. I just saw this viral video and put it here to see what people make of it.
If you don’t have a point, why post it? That is the prerogative of the blog owner, not casual posters trying to stir shit, to do that.
Do look at the rest of the sentence.
What I’m listening to right now (much too loud, considering I have a headache, but…)
Jon trollstein – why should anyone care to comment on it when you drop it in with no context or statement whatsoever?
Why would you think we would want to watch it when you could be bothered to offer any reason why we should ?
Seems to me you did not think about this at all.
Joey,
This sentence makes very little sense to me. Do you mean to suggest that all of these factors can be considered and balanced against to produce some semblance of a complete consideration before a decision is made? Or do you mean that it can be free despite not considering all influencing factors?
I cry bullshit on the first option, no one is that aware of all of the facets of their situation. And the second seems contradictory to me, so long as there are social, cultural, or biological influences that are not considered saying that a decision was freely made is a stretch that makes me cringe.
Still, I am pleased for you and your family that the decisions you have collectively made feel like the best ones. I wish that more families could feel that way. However, I don’t think that people claiming they are above or have transcended the difficulties involved in making decisions is going to help that come about in any fashion.
Do read my post. Only PZ can do what you claim to be doing. Now, what was your real reason for posting? Trolling? Stirring shit? Ignorance of protocol?
Richard Dawkins just tweeted:
I
@ Matt
We can only wish that this last was true.
:(
I think that judge looks JUST LIKE PZ MEYERS hes FAT. And h’es a poopyhead with denying that grls right to free thouhghts he cesnored her JUST LIKE MEYRS.
athyco: Damn, that sucks. Definitely grrrrrrrrrrrrr,
:(
–
I doubt that vomitting on it would do it any good, either.
–
This? Well, I can make a hat; I can make a broach; I can make a pterodactyl!
–
Okay, I’m trying to respond to lee coye’s “gendered slurs are not sexist” argument on the “I am asked a question about commenting” thread, and they’re not showing up.
I’ve used the n-word as an example of why insults based on immutable characteristics are more harmful and prejudicial and cause splash damage, and I’m wondering if there’s an auto-mod filter specifically for that word.
It strikes me as odd if that were to be the case.
mythbri:
Try turning on and then off italics in the middle of the word, between two letters. That may work?
Why ? And why should we watch a video you could offer a reason to watch ?
And that is what you did, and does not explain why you did it.
Now why not answer the question you were asked ?
I don’t know if it has already been posted, or that this is even the right place for this, but still, it’s quite interesting nonetheless:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/11/mens_rights_site_blacklist/
AHAHAHAHA.
AHAHAHAHAHA.
Oh yeah, no seething resentment there.
Oh, and surely I do not need to add that saying you were wanting to know what people made of the video sounds rather like a justification you came up with afterwards, otherwise you would have asked what people thought in the first place.
You do yourself no favours being quite so transparently dishonest (or incompetent).
Shirley you can’t be serious?
theophontes,
Abuse =/= sex.
So why are you still blathering on about it? It doesn’t matter if we “believe” you, right?
I’m getting damn tired of hearing about your wife and never from your wife. No, I’m not intimating that she needs to trot out here to perform a convincing act; I’ll state outright that I’m tired of you blathering. Finally, I’m tired of your oblique sniping. First, you ignored argument to focus on a pronoun everyone knows can be singular or plural to jump to the idea that you “forced” a choice on your wife. Then– see what you put in quotation marks in your latest about my comments to you? “Foolish.” I never fucking said that either. You pulled them both out on your own, thank you very much. It was in your own brain, so if you’re honest, you’ll shut up about what “you and the others may not believe” and deal with what you yourself believe.
Festering crap, if you can’t see that expected societal memes made you jump to the “forced” and “foolish” conclusions while ignoring that similar expectations are as hard at work in your other choices, you’re a lost cause.
Young girl dancing to the Bad Brains.
Damn! That is one of the most adorable things I have seen in a while.
Don’t call me Shirley!
&nsbp;
(That’s my sister-in-law. She’s a fundagelical.
I am so totally not Shirley.)
–
@PZ – I’m not sure why I feel so compelled, but I have to say this:
I just saw the conference discussion about “the nature of trolling” you had on Feb.2 with Pooka, C0nc0rdance, et. al.
Let me preface the meat of my comment first, by admitting I am no friend of FTB. The specific reasons are unimportant. Suffice it to say, I am diametrically opposed to the political attitudes here. As such, I am not typically inclined to run to anyone’s defense here. However, after having watched the vast majority of the video (I’m up to the first 55 minutes), I can’t help but find myself agreeing with almost everything you had to say in your own defense in that discussion.
What’s more, I actually think you were trolled hard.
Why do I think this? Well, in the past, I moderated a fairly large message board for several years, that dealt with personal and ethical topics that provoked incredibly powerful emotional and psychological defenses in people who came there. As you would expect, we were knee-deep in trolls. A handful of whom were actually CRIMINALLY destructive. Still, whenever we had to ban someone, twenty people would pop up demanding to know why we were so “capricious” and “tyrannical”.
I realize this is going to raise a few hackles, but from where I was sitting, this is EXACTLY what that discussion looked like to me. It was a “concern troll” ambush.
The discussion was not honest at all. Because if it was, instead of calling it a discussion about “the nature and effect of trolling on the internet”, they would have called it, “We’re really annoyed at you about this ban-hammer thing, PZ! So, you need to explain yourself.”
Lastly, I have to admit as well that I feel a significant amount of frustration and disgust at how (to put it in C0nc0rdance’s terms) “inward looking” the _whole_ of the internet atheist community has become.
The world is on the verge of another dark age. Christian fundamentalism is surging not just in the US, but in Europe as well. Muslim fundamentalism is sprouting everywhere (in no small part, a result of US and European foreign policy), a powerful anti-reason and anti-science constituency has been eroding civil society for decades, and nothing seems to be getting in its way. The slow march back into ignorance and fear appears to be relentless and unstoppable.
And yet, here we all are, the ones holding the candles. The ones bearing responsibility for the weak flame of human growth, human potential, and human progress, and what are we spending our time on? What are we pouring our considerable intellectual energy and resources into?
Making videos yelling at PZ Meyers because he blocks people.
Seriously?
Nice of you to inform us upfront you are opposed to all form of social justice. It makes you an arsehole of course, but at least it is honest.
So…you are conservative, racist, anti-feminist, anti-secularist, pro-religion, pro-accommadationism and anti-marriage equality? Those are all diametrically opposed to political stances that I’ve seen PZ take here at Pharyngula.
Are you sure you want to make such a blanket statement here?
I see no reason to disbelieve him. Absent any evidence to the contrary, I will accept he is racist, sexist, god-bothering, anti-poor, homophobic and all the rest.
But like you, I am puzzled as to why he would want to say he is those thing.
Do I have to watch Arrow?
The long awaited meeting of Captain Jack Harkness and River Song.
There must be a reason why the Doctor has not let them meet.
Hmmmm…..
I believe many of us are pouring our efforts into fighting racism, sexism, homophobia, religious fundamentalism. You know, those political attitudes you are opposed to. I am thinking you meant something else by this statement, but this is how it reads.
*checks how much time until more Doctor Who*
47 days.
48/49 since I’ll have to wait for the torrent.
That’s not that bad.
The torrent? River Song’s gonna be in it?
Oh-h-h-h-h-h-h-h…
You know, I think your observation about the content of that video was spot on. I’m just curious how it is that you think that you’re diametrically opposed to the political views here when you say you’re in favor of advancing human growth, human potential, and human progress. After all, the main difference between traditional gnu atheists (I guess that’s a thing now) and atheists in the A+ vein is that the latter recognize that “human” includes people of color, women, non-gender-binary folks, disabled people, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, and so on. And they take action to ensure that their efforts to spread the light of rationality and critical thinking reach all humans, not just the minority of relatively privileged mostly white, mostly male people who have formed the bulk of the movement in the past.
Bahahahaha… Lee thinks that vets and vet techs make lots of money. heeheehee…
Oh whoops. Missed his high-end executive part. *feels silly*
Gee, Greg, why are you moaning about this here? We’re deeply committed to social justice here (most of us) and we’re one of the only places holding up a candle to all those who wish to stomp all over women because, hey, that’s the nature of things! Why don’t you click off and tell all those making pointless, whinging videos to find something better to do with their time? Why don’t you click off to the slymepit and the ‘skeptic’ network put in place solely to rag on FTB and give them your awe inspiring message? Let them know that 2 years spent on concentrated harassment campaigns is just, well, silly.
Thanks for doing that. Because you are going to do that, right?
For those who asked (and in spite of the intense hostility and defensiveness packed up along with the question), I will answer your question earnestly. I am none of the labels cast at me.
I am “anti-political” in the way that Christopher Hitchens was “anti-theist” (I am anti-theist as well, but that is beside the point).
At it’s root, the state is not simply the aggressive use of force applied to impose personal preferences. It is the moral claim that said aggression is not only necessary, but __GOOD__ (both of which, are insanely contradictory).
No one has ever been able to justify the statist position to me sufficiently. 47 million little slips of paper with my name scribbled on them, do not suddenly give me magical power to turn murder, theft, kidnapping, and extortion into Goods. Therefore, I remain not only a non-believer in the state, but a human being appalled by the moral horror of the state, as well.
Having read many posts on Free Thought Blogs over the years, I have not found anyone on this site who shares this conclusion with me. It is one of the reasons I have been nothing but a casual reader of it, for those same years. And, it is why I say I am diametrically opposed to the political attitudes here.
I do believe in being honest. And the honest truth is, no matter how much I may hate ignorance, bigotry, poverty, sickness, and cruelty, I cannot countenance adding organized violence to that list, no matter how it is packaged and sold (monarchy, minarchy, communism, socialism, democracy, whatever) and I realize that pointing the guns of the state at people, threatening them with the false choice of compliance or suffering (just like religion does), is not going to solve any of these social problems.
In fact, it is a social problem.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
I’ll leave y’all alone now.
Uh huh. And without doing one godsdamned thing about those who are busy trying to silence every woman and feminist (man or woman) in the atheoskeptisphere. Thanks a bunch, Greg!
Correction:
Intense hostility and defensiveness of *some* of the questioners, not all.
for when commenter thisislame gets here:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=why+is+cunt+a+sexist+insult
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=is+lame+ableist
Short version, saying ‘it’s not always sexist’ or ‘it’s not all that ablist’ aren’t valid excuses. You might get away with them in other spaces than this without being called out, but that doesn’t validate the excuses.
that multiple definitions exist is not a defense, especially when the two most common ones are “crippled” and “pathetic”; in fact, it’s the connection between those two meanings that makes the word ableist.
also, not “everyone” is accusing you of defending the use of the word. I haven’t. I’ve merely pointed out that after seeing the pattern repeat, people don’t have much “benefit of the doubt” left, hence the jumpy responses to you
That was hostile? You got a few confused, if snarky, responses.
I guess it is easy to be “anti-political” when you are part of the privileged class.
Part of what we are talking about is changing the culture, the climate of our culture so that equality is a given… not about forcing people to be different, but helping people to see our own biases and prejudices. To address them. To make spaces where women can be free of harassment.
It is a social problem, as you say. And we’re talking about it.
Crossposted from the thread on banning Plum:
thisislame: Let’s start with your user name, which is obviously the beginning of picking a fight both because of the site policy about using the word ‘lame’, and because your choice of user name indicates that, despite asking questions, you just want us to know you think the whole thing is stupid.
Your comment #953:
“Hmmmm, to me it (my comment: referring to the word cunt, as stated first in your comment @ #947) is no different then calling someone a ‘dick’ or ‘dickhead’. Calling someone a ‘pussy’, on the other hand, does seem sexist since you are equating being a wimp or scared with a female part.”
Response:
Why the arbitrary line between cunt and pussy? Both refer to what you stated (among other things): these terms are an unfavorable comparison between genitalia being used a slur and comparison to being female, in order to shame. And yet, suddenly, there’s an arbitrary distinction within the same class of insults. There are two likely causes. First, that you are under the impression that the basis of using the word ‘cunt’ is not that same comparison to female genitalia and weakness/unworthiness/disgust. This is highly unlikely, since you know to make the analysis on other terms in the same category.
The second most likely reason for doing so is that you’re stirring shit to make yourself feel justified in some preconception or later course of action (likely insults and a flounce you won’t stick). Because your user name functions in roughly the same fashion, this is the more likely possibility.
Moreover, the presumption for this comment is the relative harmlessness of the term ‘cunt’, or the presumption that comparing someone to stereotypically female genitalia is defensible. This sort of set up is used three different ways by trolls here: first, to state that using the term is okay because the troll likes it or his (9.99 times out of 10) friends like using it. Second, it’s sometimes used in London, therefore no other use of it is really a problem. Third, that there needs to be an insult for some sort of offensive behavior and the term cunt is handy.
Your comment #956:
“Wow, such a simple question arises such hostility… I figured I could save some time and have one of the enlightened folks here tell me. I’m just lazy is what it comes down to.”
Response:
After IDing pussy as an offensive term, any responses to the disingenuousness of the previous post are treated as overreactions to a “simple question,” with the clear implication that there should be no problem with asking a disingenuous question after clear indicating that the response is disingenuous through both framing and user name. The attempt here to frame any responses which do not ignore the disingenuousness of your name and previous comments as unreasonable and the sarcastic use of “enlightened” to describe your responders makes it clear that any meaningful analysis of your request (eg any analysis which acknowledges your attempt thus far to defend the use of the term and your framing of objection as unreasonable) will automatically be ‘unreasonable’, setting up the use of ‘women are too emotional/the subject is not rationally defensible’ as a latter attempt to muster support for your use of the word cunt.
The tl;dr version: Look here, you disingenuous asshole, I see whut you’re trying to do there. And, I’d imagine, so does everyone else.
Come back when you know what you’re doing.
@Greg Gauthier
So you’re anti-political. And does that mean that you’re “diametrically opposed” to every single political stance that PZ has taken in his posts here at Pharyngula? Or does it mean that you’re diametrically opposed to taking ANY kind of political stance, for the mere and simple fact that it is political in nature?
Are you an anarchist? I’m having trouble understanding what you mean by your post at #259.
I’m confused as to how you expect to effect any kind of meaningful change while disavowing politics entirely.
As glodson said, it seems to me to indicate a position of relative privilege. I wish I had the option of sitting out on political discussions, my rights as a human being safe and sound. And then, of course, there are all those pesky rights of other people that I feel obligated to fight for and protect, too. My stupid ethics keep getting in the way of my dream of political isolationism.
Since I’m starting to suffer bigot troll fatigue, i didn’t read past this ridiculousness. Is he actually telling us he’s a multifaceted bigot, or was there some “deep” meaning behind this?
Also, thisislame, this is abusive?
My, how delicate you are. Or is it just that you expect to be agreed with when you talk?
Illuminata: Since he’s not our “friend”, we’re supposed to be extra nice to him, of course.
Diversity of (the majority) opinion or some such facile bullshit.
LOL ooh, of course. I suppose that’s why he ran for cover only two posts later? People probably responded to him, which, as we’ve learned is the very definition of ‘abuse’ to these delicate, fragile boys.
Alright. I have been kicked to this thread for asking why ‘cunt’ is de facto sexist. Never thought of it as a sexist term, though my mind can be changed…
I essentially look at it as the female version of calling someone a ‘dick’
Oh yeah, please don’t answer by telling me to read a book or some old threads. I don’y have the time or patience. I am lazy in my acquisition of knowledge… I want it fed to me please.
Oh, in that case you can Fuck Off, thisislame.
mouthyb how are posting to me here before I even arrived? What kind of witchcraft do you practice?
Oh, it is definitely more abusive here… they don’t call it thunderdome for nothin huh?
Explain why you are such a fragile peach we can’t expect you to read the previous two Thunderdome threads where this was discussed ad nauseum like the rest of us have? Get some perspective.
thisislame–
Error #400: Bad request
Ah. In that case, have a nice walk on out of here, preferably off a tall cliff. Ta.
sorry all…just noticed responses above… took me a while to get here…
which is also “sexist” in the sense of being gender based, although it does not cause the same cultural damage because it doesn’t reinforce power structures and stereotypes.
and you think you should be indulged, despite showing signs of not actually reading people’s responses because…?
you’re behaving in a very entitled manner.
so, thisislame is ignorant AND lazy and expects mommy to do his homework for him. No wonder he’s too goddamn dipshitty to understand the problem with using hate speech.
diagnosis: troll or complete internet n00b
Well, thisislame, I read the request from Caine to come here and, you know, did it promptly.
Mythbri:
I doubt it. SC is an anarchist, and you won’t find her being blasé about feminism, human rights or animal rights, or social justice in general.
Jadehawk:
Troll. ‘thisislame’ is hardly new around here.
True that, Caine. She’s made me face a hard truth (for me): all the annoying vegans on my FB newsfeed are right . . .. gawddamnit. About the needless and horrendous suffering, anyways.
I should thank her next time I see her.
pretty sure “anti-political” just means “ok with the status quo”
Oh my! I’d say low probability that this is true, but if it is …
*lol*
either that, or it means “i don’t actually now what ‘political’ means”; anarchism is anti-state and anti-hierarchy, but it cannot possibly be anti-political
I wish SC was here, just in case Greg does make some claim of anarchism. SC has one helluva cluebat when it comes to what being an anarchist actually is, as opposed to the handy label some people use.
re-reading Greg’s post, he’s simply being libertarian, whatever he might claim. especially the deeply stupid assertion that “The State” is the sole source of “organized violence”, which is why the existence of “The State” would somehow add organized violence to the list of social ills
When you don’t choose to fight injustice, you’re automatically siding with the oppressors. There is no such thing as being anti-political. Only complacent.
Let’s begin with mouthy…
– did not read site policy… if lame is frowned upon my apologies I will gladly change it.
– yes you are actually correct in saying i look at the two terms completely differently. I always thought cunt meant you’re being an ass.. similar to what dick meant to me as a slur. Pussy means you are being a wimp or sissy. I have never seen them used otherwise, so if they have diff meanings elsewhere please forgive my ignorance.
– yes i was being sarcastic in my use of enlightened … am i not allowed a bit of fun?
I do understand you get a fair number of trolls visiting here, though my question was in no way to set something up to later defend the use of the word. I was hoping to get a quick answer and be done with it…
Jadehawk:
That was my first thought, too. It was strengthened by Greg’s refusal to name his position as well. It’s so convenient, being a libertarian. You get to blame everything else while sitting on your ass doing nothing.
you did. twice now. any comment on that?
thisislame: We had to work for our knowledge. Why shouldn’t you?
Damn you, Michael Ian Black! /shakes fist at sky
Oh, the ironing is delicious!
See here.
:D
trust me, this is plenty of work…
Jadehawk, I guess none of your responses seemed like good answers. I told you why i though pussy was sexist. I also don’t think dick is sexist because there doesn’t seem to be a connection between the anatomy and what it is describing when used as an insult. Same with cunt for me. Not like I like using the word or currently do so…
Mouthy, it seems to you that cunt is obviously and without question sexist. This means that yoiu probably did not have to work for this knowledge since it is almost intuitive to you… If you know of some good posts that explain what you intuitively understand please send some my way.
really. you think using a synecdoche for an entire sex as an insult fails to connect the two meanings?
seriously, why do you think genitalia are used as insults, if there’s nothing bad about them? does it make sense? do you think it’s possible to insult someone by using a word that has no negative connotation for the people using/hearing the word?
stupid assumptions will get you nowhere.
seriously, you’re going to have to do some of the work here yourself, we can’t make you think.
@thisislame #299
I’m not convinced you actually know what the word ‘cunt’ means.
Pussy = Vagina. According to your own admission, this is a sexist insult because it implies that weakness and femaleness are intrinsically linked. One cannot be female without being weak, and one cannot be weak without being feminine.
Cunt = Vagina. How is this not sexist, while pussy is?
And yeah – when someone uses an immutable part of your anatomy and sex as an insult, it feels pretty sexist. When someone uses that insult to target you, then they’re reducing you to a part of you that has historically been considered shameful, evil, “other” and wrong.
How is this NOT sexist?
mythbri, I have never experienced that term used in the way you described… Though if that is the main connotation of cunt then I would agree it is de facto sexist term. Though does context matter? Can it be used in a nonsexist way…as I always, rightly or wrongly, assumed it was (to me dick and cunt were interchangeable). Mean, but not necessarily sexist.
Also, I have already explained why i feel pussy is de facto sexist while cunt is not. It doesn’t matter if they ref the same thing. Does this mean the word vagina is de facto sexist?
not as an insult, it can’t. not as a “friendly” insult, either
if it’s used as an insult? yes
Yeah right, fuckwit. That we all used to freely use ‘bitch’, ‘prick’, ‘dick’ and ‘cunt’ here means we didn’t have to work for knowledge, learn things or change at all. Nope.
…..Dude.
Seriously?
I used Google, and will provide you this link out of the goodness of my heart. If you’re willing to go to the trouble of typing out comments, you should be fucking willing to type far fewer words into the Google machine.
http://www.shakesville.com/2007/11/on-bitch-and-other-misogynist-language.html
This concludes my interaction with you here.
I love you, cicely. :D
It is almost as if these people who ask about our collective use of the word “dick” as an insult o not read this blog.
Funny how that works.
Jadehawk, if it’s only de facto sexist when used as an insult then it’s not really de facto sexist; it’s just sexist sometimes. My question is is cunt like that, only sexist in context, or is it always intrinsically sexist.
And thanks to mythbri that actually was a very interesting and useful link. Answered a bunch of my questions. If we cannot interact here anymore than wherelse?
Fuckety fuck fuck! Now we have no water.
Hi Caine,
Just wanted to say sorry about overdoing the Poe on the other thread. I was going to post here to see if I should stop but then I saw lee coye’s comment and figured that it was both hilarious and definitely not something to encourage ever again.
*sigh* and I tried so hard to make it sound utterly ridiculous :(
I hope your water comes back on soon.
No word has an intrinsic meaning, so your question is pointless.
Jon Trollstein:
You gave no context to the video.
Why should we want to watch it?
Is it funny?
Is it stupid?
Is it exciting?
Is it scary?
You tell us nothing about *why* we should watch it, yet you apparently think it is a good idea to throw it in. As if you expect that we’re going to sit through it?
Wow.
Have A Balloon, no worries!
Thanks. I’m not holding out hope. Last time our water went, it was on and off for almost two damn months. (Town water main, *teeny tiny* town). Supposedly, someone is working on it, but I’ll be surprised if I can take a shower in the morning.
OOooh! I’d love a lavender-coloured pterodactyl-shaped hat with a matching brooch for my lavender-coloured wrap. =^_^=
*Finds crochet hook and searches yarn stash*
carlie: :D
–
Caine: Do you have well water, or piped in? If well water, maybe your recent Fun With Powerloss hass messed up the pump in some way?
–
Apologies should probably also go to mandrellian and Sophia, Michelin-starred General of the First Mediterranean Iron Chef Batallion, since they put energy into two brilliant anti-troll answers that ended up slightly mis-directed, and, er, to Pterryx for “Ms. Pterryx” and Caine for “Sir”.
Having said that, mocking these people by parody is strangely addictive…
Oh Caine, that’s not at all nice! Is this something to do with the power outages? Town water pump not working properly (airlocked?)?
Ooooor, possibly the town’s water main has a malfunctioning pump?
–
Mr Pump Has Been Called Away For Other Urgent Tasks.
Cicely, town water, piped in. We heard noise about possible ice crystals, yada, yada, yada. The town water main burst about two years ago, and it wasn’t ever properly fixed, so I’m not expecting miracles here, especially as our mayor is in Michigan at the moment.
Pump #19?
Lofty:
Ha! My town for a Vetinari. Or a Mr. Pump.
Instinctual? TROLOLOLOLOL
Seriously consciousness?!?
Ok, let’s try this again. Saying a word is de facto (intrinsically) sexist means it is sexist even divorced of any context. Can you wrap your intrinsically tiny mind around that?
thisislame:
You have got to be kidding me.
You want other people to do your homework for you?
There are some commenters who might do so…when asked.
But to make demands? Wow. You have guts.
Guts? Why is that? What am I risking by asking?
Someone saying no and then calling me a bad name?
Plus I said please :)
Well it took no time at all before you dropped the charade of the naive genuinely curious innocent to full on insult-flinging, sense-denying, trolling. I’m glad you came out though, it’s always a pain when someone who’s JAQing off keeps up the masquerade of just being genuinely curious about incredibly obvious shit! Honest!
Honestly I’ve never quite figured out the appeal of this kind of trolling, why would you come in under a guise of merely being curious? Does a troll who is “Just Asking Questions” seriously think they’ll somehow get all those mean bitches who are angry about gendered, sexist insults to spontaneously do a 180 if you just get them to Socratically think through their stupid positions about how splash damage is bad?
Tony:
*snorts* No they don’t. It hardly takes guts to be an asshole of a troll.
Oh! He said please and used a smiley face! He must be for real guys and gals :)
No, fuck you thisislame. If you are just seriously naive (and you aren’t) then we STILL would not owe you a fucking thing. Your question has been answered several times and you’re still going on about how someone needs to feed you knowledge? That’s simultaneously impolite and idiotic. But then again since you’re trolling I’d say impolite and idiotic is about the sum of it.
thisislame:
Where I come from when someone calls another person an “ass”, it’s because they’re “being an ass”. Not sure why the need to substitute a woman’s body part, unless you’re specifically looking to insult someone using a female body part.
funny how i get insulted at each post but when i make one insulting comment (deserved or not) the troll sirens star ringing. this is thunder dome isn’t it? still noone has answered my question which i am still curious about.
thisislame: Words get their meaning (as in become more than noise) with context. Period. There is NO such thing as a word without context.
thisislame:
You waltzed in here setting the terms by which we are supposed to address you. That’s arrogant and gutsy, IMO.
Also, thisislame, we’ve answered you again and again. READ MOR.
thisislame try again.
Posts 262 through 265 all explained to you why gendered language is bad. You were called a troll because you are acting like a troll. You were being insulted because you are acting like a troll and because you keep asking for people to answer your questions which have already been answered.
Yep. BTW, you forgot the “razor” part.
People don’t use those words the same way at all, just like they wouldn’t say “practically speaking, for all intents and purposes…” is the same thing as “no matter what, this is fundamental to the thing itself.”
There are no uses of a word “divorced of any context,” as if their essences float about in the ether with their “intrinsic meanings.” Using a word means that there’s a context, so what’s the kind of context you want to know about in your question?
I did, and I responded directly to your loaded question by saying what was wrong with it. Asking the question you did presupposes a whole fucking lot of things (setting aside issues with sexism itself) which you have no reason to do: it only helps to confuse things rather than clarify them. That was my ‘polite’ way of saying it, despite being in the Thunderdome. Can you wrap your mind around that?
consciousness razor @ 313:
Yes. Meanings of words are what humans decide they are; they are neither intrinsic nor absolute. “Cunt”, right now, is universally recognised in the Anglophone world as an insult when applied to a person. The fact that it refers to a vagina is reducing the target of the insult to a part of a woman historically demonised, and to which women are routinely reduced themselves.
It’s a short form of saying “You are that part of a woman’s body to which women themselves are routinely reduced; you are therefore worth less than a woman and you are therefore worth less than me.” That is dehumanising, “othering” and sexist.
When using the word to describe the vagina, you’re essentially insulting a vagina, denigrating it and disembodying it from the human it is part of. It’s not a universal insult like “arsehole”, it’s specifically gendered and reductive. That is partially why it’s deemed offensive (I’m sure there’s stuff I’ve overlooked or am completely ignorant of).
Obviously, not everyone takes the same level offence to that or any other word, and I know in many social contexts (e.g. your group of familiars) it might be acceptable to drop the c-bomb and other bigoted insults (and Squid knows I have thoughtlessly done myself – a bad habit I must kick, especially considering Ms Junior Mandrellian is approaching the Age Of Repeat Everything Daddy Says). However it’s obviously best avoided in unfamiliar social contexts because even if you personally think it’s fine (which you shouldn’t, but anyway), most other people don’t. Being a social animal is all about compromise and avoiding saying “cunt” in public – or at all (not to mention making an effort to understand why it’s offensive) – is a small price to pay for ease of coexistence.
and thisislame is a whiner too?
::Gosh, who would have thought the demanding ass would complain about being called mean names?::
Especially considering some trolls leave malware links pretending to be video links? Where it its BRAINZZZ????
Have A Balloon:
When I read one of your wonderful comments in that thread, it was at the end of 16 hour day and as tired as I was (and I also have little experience with Poe’s to be honest), my initial thought was “WTF, have we lost another one?” I did a double take, having recalled reading posts by you in the past that were quite enjoyable. I opted not to respond, because I thought maybe in my exhaustion I had misinterpreted the comment. I’m glad I did.
But don’t we realize that, as the laughing stock of the Interwebs, it’s our job… nay… our DUTY to explain every little nuance of basic human decency to shitheads who won’t even bother to listen?
/sarcasm
mandrellian, beautiful answer that makes a load of sense. What i was looking for! Shit, if I got this answer to begin with i would’ve left you fuckers alone. wasn’t meaning to troll but when you immediately (after the very first fucking post) get treating as one it’s hard not to. I kept my cool as long as possible. apologies to whomever it was I decided to direct my insult against.
This was definitely a fun first experience commenting here. build you a backbone or lose it entirely.
thisislame: WE. EXPLAINED. IT. REPEATEDLY. TO. YOU.
But hey, it had to be in juuuuuust the right words, didn’t it? And hey, the word Mandrellian could be masculine, couldn’t it?
What you need to comment here is the ability and desire to educate yourself. What you did is pick a fight with a series of people while fapping furiously to the idea that you were being picked on.
Jesus fucking Christ, you lying little shit.
Or perhaps you should try to… oh jeez, I dunno… not come off like a huge douchecanoe next time?
My, I’m punchy today.
BTW, my post was aimed at thisisponderous, which I shoulda made clearer.
O.o
I *heart* cities, even if they are full of people. Because that’s just not awesome at all.
Dammit! I want to watch “It’s a hat, a brooch, a pterodactyl!” but I still can’t get flashplayer to work on my new laptop.
HEEEEEEeeeeeeellllllllpppppppp!!!!!!!
“You fuckers”, thisislame? C’mon, really.
The Horde have itchy trigger fingers, especially lately as there’s been a rash of unapologetic sexist trolls acting all obtuse and “just asking questions” (aka “JAQing off”). Unfortunately you and your question sorta resembled one of those instances. Cut the beserkers some slack (I in fact beserked on someone on another thread just today and they were only Poe’ing, damn them to Hades).
But hey, as long as you got the idea that calling people cunts isn’t fucking nice. And if you really did have fun, we all get to award ourselves cookies!
thisislame:
why are you so fucking stuck on this idea that people have to be so nice to you, when you so arrogantly stormed in here demanding to be spoodfed information? You can be a rude ass, but it’s not ok if we respond to you in the same manner?
Balloony:
All is forgiven … and well played.
(I hope you appreciate that I tried to match your epic pom-Poe-sity in my beserk-response :))
Tony
Yes, I was trying to drop lots of hints that it was parody, like “Meyers” and “I’m being respectful and polite” and “I am threatening to leave forever unless you listen to me because I’m so disappointed in you!” but Poe’s law still held. I felt quite bad when some of the regulars took it seriously because it would be really upsetting stuff to read if you didn’t know it was a joke. Then LEE COYE took it seriously which, while hilarious, was also a double take because I literally accused you all of being literally exactly the same as the Nazis and claimed that I was a lumberjack and…yeah, time to stop…
Oh, and thisisableist? If you have genuinely got it now (even though you only deigned to notice one of many comments attempting to educate you) PLEASE CHANGE YOUR FUCKING ‘NYM!!!
*Grumble*
Have a Balloon:
As soon as I saw that Lee Coye had fallen as hard for your Poe as I had, all my embarrassment evaporated :)
It’s one thing to go all Don Quixote on someone pretending very convincingly to be an ass; another entirely to appreciate their apparent support :D
Thanks Mandrellian, I did have fun and wasn’t meaning to jaq off. I was not ready for the immediate hostility and became very defensive… I try to ignore the insults which are still coming apparently. Maybe they aren’t happy with the fact that their snotty answers weren’t good enough for me/didn’t convince me?
And ‘you fuckers’ was meant in jest… though I know that is difficult to come across in text.
3 cookies to you!
Jadehawk:
Yeah, there’s a lot to be said for cities, in spite of all the peoples.
no problem with doing that… I was expressing my frustration with choosing one since I could only use lowercase letter or numbers.
let’s see if it worked…
That is the problem. Each of those things have been said repeatedly by trolls. And you are a newbie. It is easy for people who are not familiar to mistake you for a troll because trolls say toss things regularly.
Buy, hey, you can always claim lee coye as an ally. Perhaps you can share cake.
thisis[questionable taste in monikers]
Nothing really comes across well in text unless you take pains to make it as clear as possible what you mean. Remember that if you come back – and if you do, do change that username. “Lame” might seem like a pretty mild insult but it’s still ableist.
That’s exactly when Smoggy Batzrubble would’ve started chronicling his latest sexual exploits in lurid detail. Well, pretty much all of involved sexual exploits from beginning to end, with some theocratic delusions sprinkled about, but you know what I mean.
*sigh*
I miss old Smoggy.
Well, it appears my comment at 360 should be addressed to “Spiral1123”.
Jolly good, tally ho and such-like.
i am unable to change the username but can change my nickname so at least it will display differently.
Any cake that would have lee coye as a member…
Wait, I don’t think I’m doing this right.
Any cake that would willingly eat lee coye…
No.
Any coye that would have cake as a member…
Crap.
The cake is a lie.
How about any cake that would choke lee coye…
Have a Balloon: Oh, I realized you were still Poe-ing and that was beautifully played, well done. That said I really don’t want to be assigned a gender even in jest, because gender assignments are incredibly freakin’ sticky – witness Nerd and Louis getting it wrong in the very same thread. Most regulars latch onto pronoun assignments without even realizing they’re doing it, like everyone. So yeah, no hard feelings, but *public service announcement* let’s not play at assigning binary genders to nonbinary folks. /PSA
oh, and Spiral, thanks for changing your display name.
Yes, it’s worth emphasising that we have a fair number of people here who prefer to remain gender neutral, and unless it’s obvious or stated what someone’s preference happens to be, best to remain neutral. ( Now Zapp’s in my brain again…)
Ha, that was the easiest thing I’ve done all night ;)
Janine: why would you waste perfectly good cake ?
Who said it had to be a good cake?
Janine:
Could be a pisscake.
Urinal cake?
And why the fuck do they call those things cake? WHY? Bastards.
Yes, I assumed that even lee coye/patrickdoyle would have taken one look at my comments and thought, oh, ha ha, very funny, taking the piss, pretending to be an absolute douche. Rather than “hey! I agree!” I think maybe I should have done what consciousness razor suggested, just to make it REALLY obvious.
I’ve posted here a couple of times before, I didn’t want to jump straight in as a poe because that would have not ended well, but I stayed mostly in the Lounge because I was so scared of being jumped on! :)
But then everyone was friendly :o
…even lee coye :s
So yes, I guess for a lot of people they would not have recognised my name. Fortunately my time just reading the blog (for OVER 70 YEARS) meant I could avoid the apparently common trap of freaking out in response to the “you went a bit far” with “OMG HOW DARE YOU THOUGHT POLICE I’M ON YOUR SIDE”. Partly also because in the persona of Mr Michael Mansname nobody would have noticed the difference.
That rhymes with “consommé,” right?
Have a Balloon
I thought your comments were hilarious.
—
thisislame/Spiral1123
You are very boring.
and I haven’t even looked at the thread that spawned you
consciousness razor
Yes, yes it does!
chigau
Thanks :)
Spiral1123 turned up on the Noelplum thread, I think after I threw in the standard “but we don’t use cunt as a gendered slur in England!”
Esteleth, you are so right. Guyland is profoundly depressing.
X-posted
Downer of the week: North Korea has apparently detonated a nuclear weapon in an underground test.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21421841
Thank you, Spiral1123, for changing your display name (if I can manage to do it, anyone should be capable!).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DLC: shit.
And there I was, feeling so happy with the news coming out of the Vatican*.
I suppose it’s too much to ask the Fates that they should just give us good news for a day or two?
*Interpol will be turning up on his doorstep on the First of March, yes? If not, then they’d better turn up on the Ides!
Two Popes!
One Mitre!
You won’t believe your eyes!
Caine:
Douchecake?
@ chigau
Such never lasts for long here.
Pope Palpatine retires, good news.
North Korea… The possibility of a nuclear arms use depends upon the least stable nation-state or group leader to own one. Depressing.
But is North Korea really all that unstable? I mean, they’re ruled by the third generation of a family dynasty. It’s not like they have regular revolutions or anything. The transfer of power seems to have gone fairly smoothly. Regarding Kim Jong-un himself I have no idea what his temperament is. Does anybody know much about this?
Also, I’m not certain how dangerous they really are. Yes, they’ve got nukes and are developing their missile capabilities, but if I were in their situation, I would too. Nukes means a measure of safety. It doesn’t necessarily follow that they’re going to be aggressive.
There are certainly many problems with North Korea and its leadership, but I’m not sure if instability is one of them. I guess what I’m getting at is, are they really crazy enough to try anything?
OMG you guyz, you can’t say words have nasty cultural connotations because of a cultural context where they have been regularly used as words to wound without addressing the specific context of a single person’s usage of the word.
I mean, like my nym right now. Obviously it means that I am physically paralyzed and am talking about my tragic situation instead of using this word as a shorthand for “worthless and disregardable” in a cultural context in which disabled people are not only mistreated on a regular basis, but their condition is used regularly as an unrelated slur reinforcing a cultural notion that people like them and any who can be likened to them are beneath notice and less important than able-bodied people.
Yes, thisistrolling, it turns out that even if you try to use a word in an unrelated context, indeed with almost any context, the history and cultural baggage will still come with it. And thus a comment that wants to use these loaded words has to acknowledge that greater context above and beyond the direct context of the sentence or the “intended usage” of the speaker.
Which is sort of the point of reclamation, acknowledging the existing context and trying to build new cultural contexts (and this part is important) through direct action on the part of the people most affected by the term in order to try and rob it of its cultural power to wound and thus regain a sense of agency.
You can’t reclaim those words on their behalf or disregard a word’s recent history just because you don’t want to be viewed as the sort of asshole who regularly uses words in their contexts as weapons to wound or belittle groups of people just because you, well, are.
North Korea is a difficult to call situation. Is Kim really an absolute ruler or does he just front a junta ? How far away from collapse are they, and what will happen if the North Koreans start feeling desperate ?
What if they try nuclear blackmail on the ROK and the ROK call their bluff? To add to that, the DPRK are notoriously difficult to negotiate with. IMO we need to start preparing to talk and keep talking until we bore them into some kind of compromise. I personally do not want another war in the Korean Peninsula. But then I don’t think anyone among the world of the rational does.
Janine : Two Popes Enter, one Pope leaves!
From the previous incarnation of Thunderdome, where the gazillionth discussion of using cunt took place:
Bradley:
Caine:
From the introduction of Misogyny: The World’s Oldest Prejudice by Jack Holland:
‘Cunt’ is the pinnacle of utter contempt. It’s an expression of profound misogyny, given the thousands of years women have been held in contempt and often reduced in status to nothing more than a trash receptacle, a place for any man to dump his semen and move on. Consider what you are saying when you let loose with a “you silly cunt” aimed at one of your friends or similar. You may have the feeling that it’s okay to use the word towards men, in a friendly sense in the UK, however, that doesn’t remove the rage and contempt in it when it’s snarled at a woman, does it?
Why is it alright to call someone an objectified, despised body part? What are you really saying about that person? If the answer is “well, I don’t think about it, it’s just a word”, then you should do some thinking and reading.
On the Friday before last Monkey, when I was haranguing the priest from my hospital bed, I suggested a list of minimum demands that the Catholic Church should meet, predicting its imminent demise if they weren’t met.
The first of my demands was the resignation of the Pope.
Step one accomplished already, in less than two months. =^_^=
Unfortunately, it isn’t likely that they’re going to follow up with my other suggestions from my rant!
Now they just have to fail to replace the Pope; retire all the current cardinals and abolish all levels of church hierarchy; hand over to the secular authorities everyone involved in the physical, mental and sexual abuse of minors and other vulnerable people, and all those who were involved in the hushing-up of the same in any capacity; re-allow people to declare themselves no longer church members and stop using the inflated figures caused by the abolition of self-excommunication to throw their weight around in the secular world; withdraw opposition to the laity using any reproductive strategies they damn well please; withdraw opposition to marriage equality; declare the absolute, non-qualified, equality of all people regardless of age, sex, gender, gender-expression, sexuality, ability, race, religious affiliation (if any) etc.; return all looted treasures to their country of origin; sell all other assets (hospitals, schools, orphanages and similar should be handed over to state control in lieu of taxes) and distribute the proceeds amongst the poorest of the poor, regardless of religion; return the church to a grass-roots movement without a clergy, where the congregations are small and meet in one anothers’ houses with the members taking turns to hold mass. No leaders, no priests. All equal, all taking turns.
The de-centralisation and resultant fracturing of the RCC could be the best thing to happen to the world since the reformation. No longer would a huge amount of power be concentrated in a single Christian denomination. No more top-down pronouncements. Catholics would have to start thinking for themselves what their faith means in a modern world. How to be Christ-like without following strict orders from an out-of-touch hierarchy (as many do already, of course). And, who knows? They may come to the same conclusion that many of us have come to: that the supernatural claims are bunk, and that it is possible to be a good person and have a beneficial impact on the world without following any religion at all.
@ Previous thunderdome’s # 808. Rev. BigDumbChimp – 8th of February 2013 at 6:50 am :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2013/02/04/thunderdome-18/comment-page-2/#comment-556376
No, please, go on, do explain.
Are you saying there’s something wrong with coming up with new more positive terminology or something? How then do you explain why we’re now using African American nstead of the older terms?
That word “racism” you keep using. I do not think it means what you think it does. / Inigo Montoya. (& me.)
@737. Chris Clarke :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2013/02/04/thunderdome-18/comment-page-2/#comment-556270
Thanks for that – no worries & glad you appreciated those links.
@781. strange gods before me ॐ :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2013/02/04/thunderdome-18/comment-page-2/#comment-556334
You’ve had my answers to that already here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2012/12/15/thunderdome-12/comment-page-1/#comment-516692
& here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2013/01/26/thunderdome-16/comment-page-2/#comment-548691
& I’ve also stated here what my actual current views are, as opposed to the strawperson caricature that some who hate me have misrepresented them as being here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2013/01/20/thunderdome-15/comment-page-1/#comment-543071
SGBM : you are cherry picking ancient statements made many years ago on another blog when I was a different person and which I have long since dis-owned and rejected as opposed to the many more numerous and recent statements contradicting them as noted with, for example, the last link.
I’m pretty sure you would have said things in the past that, in hindsight and after reflection, you now wish you hadn’t said. It would therefore be wrong to hold those past statements against you because you’ve rejected those statements and grown and learnt. Same applies here to me.
SGBM you have also admitted here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2013/01/26/thunderdome-16/comment-page-2/#comment-548853
(comment #771. 29th January 2013 at 8:20 am) that you are asking those questions mainly for the purpose of seeking ammunition to use in some future argument you’ve already devised against me and are thus not sincerely seeking answers but are rather arguing in bad faith.
Strange gods before me ॐ, what you are doing here is misrepresenting me and my views, bad faith arguing, spamming and cyber-bullying and you are being unfair, intellectually dishonest and factually wrong. Please stop it.
PS. No, I am not being bullied off this blog by a few fellow commenters who happen to dislike or and disagree with me. I’ve made that quite clear here :
https://proxy.freethought.online/pharyngula/2013/01/26/thunderdome-16/comment-page-2/#comment-548685
Those who hate me here have equally made their feelings towards me known. If they wish to ignore me in the future that’s their choice, if I wish to ignore them that’s mine. If they keep making things nasty (&/or boring) for other readers here, well that’s their choice too. I suggest they let PZ and Chris Clarke run this blog as they choose just as PZ and Chris Clarke (& I) would happily let them run their blogs as they choose.
StevoR:
Because this is summer, exposure to solar UV has made me melanin enriched.
(Have I become a black person?)
Yeah, nothing wrong about privileged people inventing pet-names for underprivileged people and sticking labels onto them whether they like it or not. Nothing racist to be seen here, move on people.
You know, after your recent whine over at the other thread, you could just demonstrate that you’re not fucking racist and say something like “Damn, yes, that was totally inappropriate. I apologize.”
But I guess you’ll double down again and whitesplain how that was totally not racist because you said so.
All you’re doing is trying to find a way to pass your racism by people. Hey, didn’t work, fuckwit! As I said earlier, in regard to your “melanin-enriched” garbage, you’re such a racist you just can’t manage to describe or talk about people as people. You just have to give in to your deep need to stereotype and pigeonhole, which screams “I’m a racist fuckstick!” all over the place.
Of course, as I said previously, perhaps I’m wrong, and you’ll start referring to yourself and other western white people (to you, the only actual humans) as melanin-deficient.
Your thoughts, your words are garbage, StevoRacist. Stinking, rancid garbage.
IMNSHO, StevoR is not a troll.
(Technically)
—
I even have a bit of a soft spot for him; I have few expectations, but don’t think he’s truly hopeless.
John:
I used to share that opinion. After his recent displays and the nym change, I no longer think that. I think he’s going to troll here out of spite. *shrug*
[And now, for something completely different]
In the news: Soft drink addiction leads to woman’s death
Croaker Cola!
<groan>
Wow. That’s a lot of anything to be drinking every day.
Yup, the victim is hardly likely to have a balanced diet, too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
Gee, I just got a stupid comment on my blog from someone out of Victoria in Australia. The things that make you go hmmm.
One Thetar? You do attract some horrible people while being right on the internet..
Lofty:
Yes. Do you know who that is? Honestly, I’m right here, if they have something to say, say it here.
Sadly no, but it could be any one of a million MRA types who thinks he’s clever to find you (yeah I know, your nym is linked to your blog) and prefers to shame you on your home turf. I suspect he’s already in the Dungeon and can’t post here..
Caine
Wow, now you have been thoroughly chastized.
Bad girl!
Don’t do that again, and by “that” I mean “existing”.
Ehm, I was talking about that comment on your blog…
*erk*
My brother-in-law will be moving in with us to avoid homelessness. My mother-in-law and her best friend already live with us for the same reason.
I crave solitude. This is going to be a bit of a clusterfuck. I’m going to be spending a lot more time in the garage.
Disclaimer: as freely as a person can choose anything, my wife and have chosen this, so this is just complaining.
The thing that bugs me the most about crap like “melanin enriched” is that, once again, it assumes White as the default condition. White is the norm – if the group of people you’re referring to are all White you can just say “people” – any and everything else requires a qualifier. The whole thing reeks of paternalism and privilege.
Yes. Aside from that being a racist assumption, it also fails on genetics and population percentage. The genes responsible for European pale skin are relatively recent additions (“whiteness” spread through Europe between 12,000 and 6,000 years ago) and they’re a pretty small minority when compared to the global population.
That’s one of the things that often annoys me about reconstructions of early modern humans, which almost always have white skin in the west. Meanwhile, the earlier human species tend to be a generic light brown with dark hair*. It ties ideas of modernity–and what we consider human itself–to skin color, despite the fact that 12,000 years ago none of our ancestors were white and all of them were physically modern humans. “White” isn’t the norm for humanity and never was. Only isolation and ethnocentrism has allowed certain populations to believe it is.
*The exception to this is the more “sympathetic” reconstructions of Neandertals in recent years. When a reconstruction is made that is supposed to emphasize their similarities to us, the fact that some of them had light coloring is suddenly very important. The reconstructions where the differences are being emphasized are usually darker.
*lightbulb*
*another lightbulb moment here too*
I see StevoR still just doesn’t get it.
Let’s see:
1. The assumption that some groups need “more positive” terminology, beyond the term “person”.
2. The assumption that he, lone white guy, is entitled to invent such terminology.
3. The assumption that his terminology is actually “positive”.
4. The complete ignorance of the history pertaining to why the term “African American” became preferred.
5. The refusal to accept correction when the problem is pointed out to him, assuming he used the term originally in ignorance.
No. Not racist at all!
*barf*
Caine:
Have you gotten to the part where Kimmel discusses the
sexrape of women on college campuses after being deliberately gotten drunk/drugged and the results of a survey he did when he showed stats on this to 40-something college grads? Specifically, the, uh, imbalance in responses of men and women?Oh, and how the #1 force pushing back against colleges putting in firm rules regarding alcohol, drugs and partying in relation to sex is alumni complaining about “banning fun”?
“Profoundly depressing” ain’t half of it.
This. And also it’s a silly framing. I am clearly melanin deficient, not default or normal or ideal. Humans are supposed to be able to go outside for more than ten minutes at a time without searing pain and for more than sixty minutes without their skin spontaneously peeling off.
AE – eek indeed! Is there a nearby library with nooks and crannies you can also escape to when needed?
Caine:
Havelock will make any town a city in no time flat.
I know that comment was some time ago, but I have to go out of my way for Pratchett.
Amphiox
Eh, the story took place in Australia, and Mr Fernandez is from Malaysia, so ‘African American’ would be wildly inaccurate, being that he’s not American nor of African ancestry.
Giliell:
Yep, I am ever so toxic. That’s me. Heh.
Esteleth:
I’m just now getting to that.
Holy shit, you aren’t kidding. I think if I were a parent, I’d be hiding in a closet.
Ah shoot, here it is Darwin Day and I have to go run errands in town. *sulks*
What was that about coye members????
–
Vatican Deathmatch!!!!
–
Which suggests that said alumni have fond memories of their own
partyingraping days.:(
–
Cicely:
More or less, yes.
Also, (in reference to Kimmel bringing stats to 40-somethings) they are grumbly about how current college have more better rapey options and wish that they could be 19 again.
Whom does this remind me of?…
Giliell:
I HAVE NO IDEA.
ISN’T THAT FASCINATING? HOW THAT BEARS NO SIMILARITY TO ANYONE ELSE?!
I could swear I caught just the barest whiff of sarcasm, somewhere hereabouts….
–
*turns on fan*
Sorry ’bout that. Had beans for lunch.
Unfortunately, as depressing as it is, Guyland sure as hell makes a fucktonne of sense when it comes to slymepit behaviour though. Describes it to a T.
Caine, how about the overlap of membership between the pit and MRA groups like AFvM?
Haven’t seen this mentioned here, worth a look:
WTF, Evolution?
Janine:
It follows, in much the same way Esteleth was highlighting, about the older men encouraging the younger ones in such behaviour.
sudoma, to what does your link refer and why do you consider it’s worth taking a look?
For the benefit of those who have not read Guyland, I’ll explain what happened when Kimmel presented stats on how male undergraduates drug/give extra-strong drinks to/coerce female undergraduates in order to
have sex withrape them to men and women who (statistically speaking) are their parents:The response of the women was (1) to be horrified and (2) express feelings of sympathy for the young women.
The response of the men was to express frustration that things weren’t like that when THEY were undergraduates. And wish that they were 19 again.
Kimmel does qualify this and say that these responses were not universal, but that there were the two dominant responses.
Sudoma’s link is a jokey tumblr about bizarre looking animals… the usual random. (Still good net hygiene to provide a brief description though.)
Sweet fucking Jesus. That is horrifying.
…and I see this book is available for the Nook, so I guess I know what I’m reading tonight.
Who Said It?
Ted Nugent Or Charles Manson?
Draft Ted Nugent
So just thought I’d pop over and say that I’ve left a comment on concordance’s channel asking him to make a video explicitly stating his opinion on the abusive behavior of the people from the SP.
I have no problem with him wanting to debate the merits of freezes peach, he’s wrong but that’s beside the point, but I DO take issue with him and other commentators saying ‘PZ is bad for banning people.’ while not condemning the actions of a group that is straight out abusive.
I’ve been subscribed to his channel for a long time now and if he isn’t willing to do that then I’ll remove my subscription. I can always manually check for new videos that are science focused rather than bullshit focused.
MM:
I have it on my nook, and I’ve been doing a lot of highlighting and note taking, but take Esteleth (and me) at our word – it is profoundly depressing. It does highlight just how much work needs to be done in regard to cultural sexism – about 95% of it involves dismantling the toxicity of masculinity, the concept of being a man. This shit is so deep rooted and so awful, Gah.
I think it’s an important book to read, especially important for anyone who has children.
By way of Amphiox’s #416 (and “thanks” to SteveoR’s racist shit), I decided to explore the origin of the term ‘African-American’.
[emphasis mine]
I rather like the idea in bold. Seems like a conscious effort to not define a minority group by their race (especially when said race was/is discriminated upon because of the color of their skin).
Speaking of books, Mister has now started Manhood in America and is finding it fascinating.
Hmmm, I see *someone* has tweaked their nym… :)
Tony:
After being informed of the Brigade of bitches here, I could not resist.
There’s a Brigade of Bitches here?
Why do I always miss the memo?
I’ve had some thoughts tumbling about, inspired by the goings-on here at Pharyngula (I wish more people who complain about “rudeness” would take advantage of the ability of the comments here to stimulate thought, whether or not you agree with the comments themselves). Two things:
I have a friend on Facebook who posted this yesterday, which I’ll repeat verbatim with a TRIGGER WARNING that it contains language of rape culture, albeit in an “imaginative” way:
I and several others (male and female) commented on this status, telling him how creepy it was that drugging and kidnapping could be okay in ANY context. Several others leapt to his defense, saying that they would love to be roofied and transported unconscious to Disneyland.
This really drove home to me the idea that rape culture is all about entitlement, and with that comes a sense of ownership. Even in this case of “benevolent” sexism, the woman (sorry, “girl”) in this situation has no say in the matter, even if the end result is “positive”. And somehow, this sense is considered “kind”.
I’m not sure if I even need to make this clear, but this friend on Facebook is most definitely a Nice Guy. His response to the people who said they wouldn’t mind being roofied to Disneyland was “I love how some people understand me.”
…
The second thought I had is more of a memory that was jogged by discussion on the “I am asked a question about commenting” thread. Specifically, the talk about “tokenism” making objects of the people who are supposed to be representative of the “Other”.
When I was in college, I went on a school trip to a conference related to my field of study with several other students. We had with us a few faculty members, one of who was black. One of my friends and fellow students kept referring to this faculty member (with whom he had a good and cordial relationship), as the “token black guy.”
When we boarded the plane and were waiting to take off, my friend used (AGAIN) the term “token black guy.” A black woman who was sitting in the seat in front of him turned around.
“Excuse me,” she said, politely. “My name is ______. What’s yours?”
“Scott,” my friend replied.
“Scott, it’s nice to meet you,” she said warmly. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I felt like I needed to let you know that what you said really bothered me.”
My friend was instantly embarrassed. “It’s kind of an inside joke – ”
“I’m sure it is,” the woman said. “But I’m also sure this gentleman has a legitimate right to be here, so he’s not really a ‘token’, is he?”
My friend tried again. “No, of course not, but it was a joke – ”
“Yes, I know. It doesn’t come off that way in public, though. Thanks for your time, and have a good flight.” The woman turned back around in her seat, and that was the end of it.
I was struck then by how well she handled the situation. I was struck again reading the discussion in the thread I mentioned above that the black faculty member (who is a fantastic, good-natured guy) said nothing in Scott’s defense in this situation, even though he was perfectly able to.
Just another reminder about how people with privilege can wield it like drunk, bumbling elephants. And a simple “Hey, don’t do that” should not be such a BIG FUCKING DEAL.
…
Um, The End.
Esteleth, you can find it in the second paragraph..
Tony:
What is your preference, when it comes to Black or African-American or POC? Or do you like “melanin-enriched”? <ducks>
That part was in reference to StevoR’s other post, the one where he (once again) doubles down on his ignorance, and in which he himself brings up African American as an example.
And indeed, as always, it is that SECOND post, that doubling down, that confirms the racism. The first post could be written off (and forgiven on a first offence) as unrecognized privilege and other sorts of ignorance. But the refusal to admit error, to apologize, to obstinate insisting that no, there was nothing at all wrong in any way with the words he original chose, THAT is where the racism is revealed.
Esteleth:
That’s what I wanted to know! We’re about swimming in Heartless Bitches here, but no one told me about the brigade.
Mythbri, I am hoping that the friend is now a former friend.
Indeed.
But why I consider the most pertinent in your citation is issue of agency. It was the people in question who, as a community, chose the term, brought it into use, popularized it, and both directly and indirectly iin the arena of popular usage, debated amongst themselves whether and how to use it.
Not some random white Australian dude arbitrarily decided for himself what is and is not proper an appellation to use to call someone ELSE.
@Janine
Do you mean the first one, or the second one? ;)
The Facebook friend that I mentioned has been un-friended.
The college friend in the second story became “not my friend” when we got into a heated argument about abortion, where he would not budge on his idea that men should be able to prevent their wives/girlfriends/sexual partners from having an abortion if he didn’t want them to. We couldn’t come to any kind of agreement on this, obviously, and the discussion hurt the rest of our friendship.
So no, I’m not friends with either of them any more.
Great green biodegradable Christ in hot pants. I’ll be over there —-> trying to locate my jaw.
…
What? What the fuck?! And this guy thought that this status update was good? In any stretch of the imagination? “Hey, I drugged you and dropped you off in the parking lot of a theme park, because I’m a good guy.” Not seeing how this follows.
Fuck. I mean that is just creepy and stupid. I know he didn’t do this. This sounds like an asshole who would defend this crap with the joking defense. Not that it is funny. Or anything.
I really don’t know what to make of this.
mythbri,
Even I can tell that is unambiguously creepy — a power fantasy.
What it would tell the “girl” is that she is powerless and safe only at the mercy of others; also, the obvious concern upon regaining consciousness would be to wonder what was done to her while she was unconscious.
Mythbri, the first one. That is absolutely terrifying. I do not care that his intention is “kind”. He is taking away that woman’s (NOT GIRL!) agency. If he was truly being kind, he would give that gift while she was conscience and in control.
And that second one, yeah, that issue is also a deal breaker.
Caine:
Growing up my parents always identified as black. So did my sister and I. As I got older, I started identifying as African American (not sure why). Today, I go with POC.
Yeah, I can tell this is a book I’m going to take extensive notes on.
mythbri:
That FB friend is an utter douchebag. Drugging someone and taking them *anywhere* is not, will not, cannot be fun (in my book, anyways). Drugging a woman, and taking her anywhere is even worse (the treatment of women by men as being objects…things to be used or acquired makes it worse than if a woman drugged a man).
Tony, ex-friend (cf. #455).
@Janine
I know. His defense, what there was of it, is that this was supposed to be a quirky, off-the-wall, “re-imagining” of something bad into something good.
I didn’t tell him that I know for a fact that he and I both know women who have been raped. I didn’t tell him that one of those women in particular could have been badly triggered by what he’d said. I didn’t tell him about the underground warnings that we women gave each other in college (this guy was also a “friend” from college) about which guys would over-pour drinks, which guys got “handsy” when they were drunk, which guys should just never be spoken to ever again.
I haven’t yet come up with a good way to tell all of that to someone who has literally never thought of things in that way before.
In his mind, it was an abstraction. A hypothetical situation.
For a lot of other people, it is their reality. I can’t adequately communicate to people how those worlds are the same one.
I would not say that. It is a violation of a person’s agency, no matter the gender of the person being drugged.
mythbri:
A part of this that strikes me is the fact that “inside jokes” are for INSIDE. As in “inside the circle of friends” or “inside your house” and so on. Something that I’d say to my family or friends may not be suitable for mass consumption, and would likely seem insulting to an outsider when it may in fact be a term of endearment. Plus lots of racial slurs referring to the racial group I belong to, and sometimes towards my friends who are other races. That used to happen a lot, in a sarcastic sort of “come on, you know that’s what a white racist would say if he was sitting and watching us!” kind of way.
Which of course brings us around to punching up versus punching down, and power differentials. Privileged college friend takes black faculty member’s silence as consent and even approval. Black faculty member understands that not putting up with privileged college student’s casual racism may be more trouble than it is worse, especially if they know that there’s a history at that school of “uppity” black faculty being slapped down as “reverse racists” or “troublemakers” for complaining about racist students.
Mythbri, I have never been roofied and raped but I would be furious if anyone pulled that hypothetical scenario to me. As much as I try to avoid this, I would bring charges against that person.
And warn everyone around that person just what he is capable of doing.
John:
In. A. Nutshell. Women already deal with enough reminders on that score, to have something like that done would be terrifying. I’m at a loss as to how anyone could view such an act as one of kindness.
@Improbable Joe
Yes, that was my realization as well. Thinking back on it, being a black faculty member at a state university with a very small population of people of color, and with plenty of privileged white kids still trying to figure shit out, I’m amazed at the patience he must have had. I lament my lack of understanding that prevented me from addressing some of the things I recognize only now, looking back on them.
…
@Caine
I couldn’t understand it, either. And it says something about how entrenched we are in a rape culture that I’m happy that at least I wasn’t the only one who protested.
It only seems like yesterday Jen McCreight posted this: The “Justifications for Saying ‘Cunt’” bingo card.
Really, the stand on gendered slurs is not that hard to understand, and people have been talking about it for a really long time; there’s something like a dozen threads on Ophelia Benson’s blog I could cite. Oh wait, I don’t have because someone else has done it for me!
The following threads are from the ur-blog, http://www.butterfliesandwheels.org — just add these paths to the base URL:
/2009/the-epithet-question/
/2009/knowing-what-words-mean/
/2009/here-kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty/
/2009/empty-signs/
/2010/epithets/
/2011/what-was-that-we-were-saying-about-sexist-epithets-five-years-ago/
/2011/crazy-american-bitches/
/2011/invitation-to-a-dialogue/
/2011/the-nuanced-discussion/
And since the move to FTB:
freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2011/09/what-misogynists-call-outspoken-women/
freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/01/misogyny-what-misogyny/
freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/02/that-would-come-in-handy/
freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/03/man-boobz-v-reddit/
freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/03/i-get-email/
Probably more I could cite without trying too hard to search. And that’s only Ophelia’s blog.
Janine:
I was thinking both situations are horrible, but for a guy to do it to a woman, given the way women have been treated by men historically, it turns the dial to 11.
On using the c-word
“Cunt” is wrong for 2 reasons. First, because there is a long and ugly history in Western culture (Britain & US alike) of objectifying women–of collapsing them down into a body part. So, to refer to a woman as a specifically-female body part props up the objectification of women as ‘female parts’ only.
Second, the implication of calling someone a ‘cunt’ as a slur is that a ‘cunt’ is a bad, dirty, gross thing to be. Which implies that it’s a bad, dirty, gross thing to have. And again, there is a long history in Western culture of treating women’s vaginas like they are gross, bad, dirty and shameful (as well as hysterical, emotional, ect.) So again, using the word in this way carries a lot of cultural baggage that is NOT simply US-centric, but Western-centric.
On sexist insults in general
In general–if a word has a history of being used to shame, control, denigrate etc a marginalized or disempowered group, then its a good idea not to use that word because it has too much cultural baggage. Its simply too loaded. Even if YOU don’t mean it that way, there are plenty of people who DO mean it that way. The meaning hasn’t changed to such an extent that the other, marginalizing meaning doesn’t still exist, and isn’t still actively used. Using these words at the least aids in keeping the sexist connotation alive. It gives aid to sexists who use the word in that way. And, at most, it actively causes people to frame marginalized groups in certain ways.
Let me give an example. Using the word “collateral damage” instead of “civilian casualties” changes how many people feel about war because it obscures the fact that civilians are dying. I think that, in this same way, using sexist words inures people to sexist ideas. Using “mankind” to refer to humankind implies that “man” is the default and “woman” is the weird Other. So too ESPN have sections for “basketball” and “women’s basketball,” as if men playing basketball is the default. Calling a woman a “bitch” -even when referring to one specific woman- buys into sexist ideas like “women should be quiet and submissive” and “women who are aggressive are masculine.” This social baggage exists, regardless of intention.
Numerous studies have shown that sexist insults, even when used towards only one person, affect the group as a whole. These terms create splash damage. There’s lots of info on this out there. Words cannot be divorced from systems of meaning.
Finally, if the goal is to communicate with me as a woman in skepticism, and I say, “Hey, that word is really offensive to me. It carries a lot of sexist cultural baggage and buys into an apparatus of sexist thought that is still very much in use today. Can we not use it?”– is being able to use the word regardless really the hill you want to die on?
WTF! This literally nauseated me.
I think in current racism-study circles, black people are called “Black” and “people of color” refer to all non-white people as a whole. Also, Native Americans are typically referred to by tribal name or as “Indian,” but sometimes First Peoples (though this is used more in Canada than the US).
If you guys want to read something that will rage you, check on Tim Wise’s email exchange with the ultra-rightwing racism apologist A.R. Ward: http://www.timwise.org/2013/02/ongoing-debate-with-conservative-blogger-a-r-ward-on-race-and-racism-in-america/
Its a long read, but a good one.
Hekuni,
FOR REAL! Totally creepy and weird.
Esteleth
What the entire fuck? That’s appalling. I don’t even have words.
mythbri#448
So’s that. (The first one; the second story the guy was being an obnoxious twerp, but it’s nothing like that shit from FB.) I cannot see of how that could conceivably sound like a good idea. Any idea that starts with drugging someone unconscious, and doesn’t involve them having gone to a hospital for surgery first, is an intrinsically bad one, and this is something that really should be obvious (to someone who actually views those on the receiving end of the drugs as people, anyway, which is exactly the problem here.)
Caine
Love the new ‘nym, although technically, it should be ‘garces.’ I actually wasn’t familiar with the derogatory usage of the word, as I’d previously only encountered it as the feminine form a ‘gars’ (Gals and guys, respectively; garce meaning bitch is a usage I hadn’t seen before; this is what I get for only reading French fiction from a century or so ago.)
Amphiox
I must have missed that one; I tend to kind of skim his posts.
Cyranothe2nd:
Yeah, I prefer Indian. A whole lot of NDNs just eyeroll when they hear “Native American”. Not our term.
Dalillama:
Thank you, fixed.
If I were to change my nym to Carlin’s 7 dirty words (spelled out, obvs) how do you think that would sit?
Hmm.
Wait, one of them is “cunt,” right?
*rethinks this*
Esteleth:
Put them all together and put them in the Internet Anagram Server.
Cyranothe2nd:
Yeah, that goes back to what Amphiox said upthread about African American being an example of agency. Native American isn’t from Indian agency.
I have a job interview tomorrow at a small college over on the island. I’m really hopeful that I get it, but worried about the travel time (ferry rides SUCK) and about the hours interfering with the one class I’ve already agreed to teach at my current college….
By “the island” I mean an island in the Puget Sound that I would have to travel to by ferry…
Internet Anagram Server cannot handle that many letters! :( :(
However, just shit piss fuck cunt gives me Ficus Putsch Knits.
Catchy!
Esteleth:
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Nice!
Now, I’m trying to figure out what a ficus putsch looks like so that I could knit it. :/
Esteleth:
A bunch of ficus plants in a beer hall plotting their revolt?
In stylish pots, too. Everyone knows fascist ficii are stylish
Hi Mythbri,
Yeah. The triggering quote about drugging/kidnapping is clearly and unmistakeably sexual objectification, and rape culture intervenes for many people to defend it. Caroline Heldman speaks of the relation of ‘object’ and ‘subject’ in her recent TEDx talk and gives plenty of examples of objectification in her blog on media images; the particular type of objectification at work here is:
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, citing Martha Nussbaum, 1995, “Objectification”, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 24(4): 249–291, page 257.
I think the anecdote treats the woman involved as a passive object with no say in the matter, in every single one of those senses. So, not such a Nice Guy (quelle surprise).
Esteleth:
Oh, absolutely. That’s a must.
Well, since everyone else is doing it…
I have popcorn on stand by for strange gods’ response to SteveoR…(bless his lil’ racist heart, he thinks sgbm is bullying him)
The citation for my new sobriquet.
Oh, damn and blast!
Tony–link?
Tony:
Hee. I like it.
Xanthe:
A chick or a cunt? These are the options these days, like ‘gay or a guy’?
There are some very interesting anagrams of chickorcunt.
Cyranothe2nd:
SteveoR’s response to and whine at SG is upthread @394 (it is difficult doing links on my phone).