The Deluge of Absurdity, Ignorance, and Bad Posts

[Antonio the Sixth]

Citing your damn sources is really not that hard.

I quoted it to express approval, not as "this belongs in the deluge" quoting. Sorry for the confusion.

No, I wasn't confused; I was agreeing with you (and by extension myself). Very vehemently. I'm sorry for the confusion on that point!

Oops, my bad.

[opebo]

Citing your damn sources is really not that hard.

No.  But the idea that you can 'say anything new' seems to me absurd.  Completely derivative is the only possibility for academic work.

What I used to do as a student was sit down, write a ten page paper in about one hour, from notions in my head, and then stick in 'citations' randomly throughout, crediting sources with things they hadn't said at all. 

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Citing your damn sources is really not that hard.

No.  But the idea that you can 'say anything new' seems to me absurd.  Completely derivative is the only possibility for academic work.

This is also true in many cases, but I would submit that thoroughly cited and sourced unoriginality is a rewarding art to get right, and not all that difficult if one knows what one is about.

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I see. That's lazy and dishonest, but actually far better than some people I could mention.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

My respect for opebo has become even higher.

[Paul Kemp]

Naso learns new words:

I would have called the police too

That's because you are untenable.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Moving to the center on social issues won't help the GOP. It'll just send their white working class voters into the hands of the Democrats, who actually would do a better job representing them anyway, at least on pocketbook issues. If the Republicans want to make themselves electable and make inroads with minorities, they don't need to move to the left on social issues. Rather, they need to stop being the elected patrons of plutocratic privilege.

Of course that will never happen. The Republicans have been in plutocracy's grip since 1876, and every time they nominate a reformer (T.R., Ike) they ultimately get outmaneuvered by the bone-headed business elites that want to drag the country back into the Gilded Age. If by some miracle the GOP could move to the center on economics, or even the center-left, they'd have a good shot at rebuilding themselves as a mass party, conservative social positions or not.

Correct, and this, coupled with the possibility that the Democratic party could someday move left due to the browns makes me anticipate some form of (further) anti-democratic alteration of the State - as our own pbrower has often predicted.

I'd say that's more likely than most people assume. The wealthy aren't just going to allow the Democrats to waltz in and start redistributing their piles of cash. We're already seeing the champions of cheap labor mobilize to deny the poor the vote again in the South and the periphery regions they control by implementing Voter ID and trying to change the rules that govern the electoral college to make it even less representative than it already is.

That, and they already own the courts. That much is obvious. The United States Constitution is the greatest ally the plutocrats have, as it breaks up and divides power without democratizing it. And they own the media and the universities, contrary to conservative ballyhooing about the "left" owning the media and the academy.

There are a lot of ways that the plutocrats can conspire to limit the impending Democratic majority. They've already gerrymandered the House to be their's for at least until 2020. They're deliberately sabotaging the economy in hopes of taking the Senate in 2014. Should they gain control of the White House in 2016, they'll be ripe to prevent that Democratic majority from ever emerging by passing such awful things like a national right-to-work bill, national voter ID, means-testing everything, and expanding the influence of globalization in the American economy.

tl;dr -  Don't get cocky, Democrats. Even with the public scared sh**tless at the moment by the GOP doesn't mean that the GOP will become completely unelectable and unable to win, even while remaining on the far-right. They'll just do as they always have - change the rules to continue the domination of American society by a plutocratic elite.

[opebo]

Ben the right-winger.  Why is your avatar red, Ben?

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Ben the right-winger.  Why is your avatar red, Ben?

You of all people should know that the Democratic Party ranges from moderately leftist to center-right, right?

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Wrong thread, Ben.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Ben the right-winger.  Why is your avatar red, Ben?

I'm no right-winger, Opebo.  I just find class warfare posts hyperbolic and absurd.

[opebo]

Ben the right-winger.  Why is your avatar red, Ben?

You of all people should know that the Democratic Party ranges from moderately leftist to center-right, right?

Yeah, I know - in the real world, but it just seems strange that one would choose an avatar on here that way.  Especially since he didn't bother to try to dispute the post in the original thread, but instead reposted it here solely because he saw my reposting of it in the 'Good Post Gallery'.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

instead reposted it here solely because he saw my reposting of it in the 'Good Post Gallery'.

I didn't actually read the original thread.  Surely one isn't expected to respond to every post they dislike on the entire forum?

[opebo]

instead reposted it here solely because he saw my reposting of it in the 'Good Post Gallery'.

I didn't actually read the original thread.  Surely one isn't expected to respond to every post they dislike on the entire forum?

I should think if you dislike it strongly enough to post it in the absurdity/bad post thread you could bother to tell us why - in the appropriate thread.

[Lief 🗽]

All of Inks' posts bullying and harassing Bushie belong here but I can't quote from closed threads.

[Paul Kemp]

All of Inks' posts bullying and harassing Bushie belong here but I can't quote from closed threads.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Ben the right-winger.  Why is your avatar red, Ben?

You of all people should know that the Democratic Party ranges from moderately leftist to center-right, right?

The post though is about what he expects the Republicans to do to try to retain power, so for any partisan Democrat to attack it is kind of absurd. It's basically Ben trying to score Moderate Hero points, similar to his defense of the results of the 2000 election.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Context*

I'm going to go against the grain and say Freedom Fighter.  He provides a old-fashioned, old school conservative approach, which is not necessarily a bad thing and is something this forum badly needs.  I sincerely hope he is not a sock or a troll.  He needs to stick around.

* = might induce vomitting

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

5 Best (no particular order):

Reagan (defeated USSR)

Jefferson (wrote Declaration, L. Purchase)

Washington (set an excellent example with retirement after two terms)

Lincoln (kept the Union together, freed the slaves)

T.R. (one of the more brilliant men ever to lead the country, the quintessential American)


5 Worst (no particular order):

LBJ (Great Society disaster, Vietnam quagmire)

Nixon (Watergate, price and wage controls, too soft on USSR)

Clinton (did nothing to respond to terrorist attacks, lied under oath, eight scandal filled years)

Carter (the second most incompetent president of all time)

Kennedy (the most incompetent president of all time)

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Everything krazen has posted in this thread or is likely to post is unbelievably terrible.

[Хahar 🤔]

It's not uncommon for benconstine to make posts about how unreasonable some idea is in order to show that he's really a moderate. The Forum Community empty-quote threads (like this one) are especially useful for that purpose since they don't require any real work in order to make the desired point.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Everything krazen has posted in this thread or is likely to post is unbelievably terrible.

Fixed.

It's worth it, though, just to see your awesome responses to his bullsh*t.

[patrick1]

Everything krazen has posted in this thread or is likely to post is unbelievably terrible.

Fixed.

It's worth it, though, just to see your awesome responses to his bullsh*t.

I wouldn't use awesome. Verbose and well phrased, sure.  However,  Nathan still lost his cool and jumped in the mud. Krazen has been successful in his trolling. 

[Antonio the Sixth]

I don't see anything wrong with insulting people who deserve it.

[patrick1]

I don't see anything wrong with insulting people who deserve it.

Couple problems: everyone has their own conception of who deserves it and insults inherently solve nothing. The insults only makes you temporarily feel better but then superior.  Once you dehumanize your opponent the next steps become easier. IMHO, you have to try to treat everyone with respect and dignity. Most fail this call. I certainly do.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I don't see anything wrong with insulting people who deserve it.

Couple problems: everyone has their own conception of who deserves it and insults inherently solve nothing. The insults only makes you temporarily feel better but then superior.  Once you dehumanize your opponent the next steps become easier. IMHO, you have to try to treat everyone with respect and dignity. Most fail this call. I certainly do.

Come on, it's Krazen we're talking about.