The Seriously? Theatre of Absurdity, Ignorance, and Bad Posts V

[memphis]

I'd rather turn out like Camden than Jacksonville.

[memphis]

Referring to the Dixiecrats

The people who ruled the South were economic progressives

[memphis]

I guess from the Panhandle you are faster in somewhat acceptable places, while in NW Arkansas, you are surrounded by what? Kansas? Oklahoma? Duh.

What are the "acceptable places" near the panhandle? Alabama? Mississippi?

Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans...
Acceptable was probably too much

All of those places are very far from the Panhandle. Google Map them. You may be surprised by how far.

New Orleans isn't all that far from the panhandle.  It's maybe 2-3 hours from Pensacola and is on the Gulf Coast itself.

[memphis]

New Orleans is 3 hours from Pensacola?

If you get zero traffic the entire way. And it's not on the gulf. And it isn't like a 3 hour trip is nearby anyway.

[memphis]

Scientific facts are not hard and fast rules

[memphis]

Scientific facts are not hard and fast rules

That is actually one of the most intelligent things I have ever seen Bushie post, and it indicates that at least one poster here understands how scientific knowledge works.  Scientific knowledge is testable and tentative.  It is a great frustration among scientists everywhere that the public understands the dogma of science so little.  The fact that at least one non-scientist on this forum understands this is refreshing.  At least to me it is.

Facts are data.  Data are observations.  Observations are not rules.  Rules are laws, empirically-determined and reproducible.  The conclusions drawn from those observations--observables, data, and facts--and the models which are built upon those analyses, are always subject to future debate.  Understanding this is central to understanding how scientific knowledge is established.  (And how it is overturned, which happens frequently.)

I've never posted in this particular thread, but memphis' inclusion of Bushie's insightful post definitely merits comment.  I'm not picking on memphis in particular, because I think his misgivings are common.  We need to do a much better job at explaining how scientific facts are collected and how scientific knowledge is established.  Bushie seems to have paid attention to his instructors at least once.

Within the context of where the quote came from, it is, indeed, an absurd, ignorant statement.

[memphis]

we banded together and did more for Katrina than the Government itself did.

[memphis]

I've said a few times now that regardless of what one thinks about the way Mormons tend to get involved in politics--in terms of policy, in terms of strategy, whatever--the fact that they do have a strong tradition of dynamic, on-the-ground political involvement, and in most cases seem sincere and idealistic about it, is itself worthy of admiration. The same is true of black churches.

There is nothing admirable about religion muscling its way into our civic institutions. It's a very problematic thing, especially coming from "sincere and idealistic" people.

[memphis]

this idea that a lot of liberals have that people should somehow check their beliefs at the door when engaging in policy discussions or should avoid making use of the institutions that represent their beliefs for political mobilization is distinctly, uh, odd.

[memphis]

I'm probably more left wing than TNF.  He's just more aggressive and vengeful about it.  Punish the elites.

Why punish them? We the people have given them and allowed them, with our explicit permission, to keep that power and money and to use it to seek more.

When we realize collectively that this doesn't work and it is inherently wrong and must be changed...there need be no punishment.  The enablers have been punished enough and the newly demoneyed and powerless former elites deserve mercy.

The long view of history has been nothing but offenses and retaliations.  We have to break that cycle or we'll just continue on forgetting past lessons learned and tempt ourselves into relearning them.

#MinnesotaNiceTrueLeftist

[memphis]

In purely humanitarian terms, the long-term outcome of the Iraq War looks better at this point than either the continuing disintegration of the Baathist state (or, worse, its revival) would have been.