Comments on: My headache

By: george.w

george.w — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 17:46:52 +0000

A case ‘o scurvy holds back none ‘o my appreciation for yer makin’ the religious dogma walk the plank, mate! High seas!

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By: jthibeault

jthibeault — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:14:45 +0000

Thank you kindly Chris! I’m glad this post got a wider audience by virtue of being included in Elitist Bastards. (Welcome, ye scurvy dogs!)

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By: Chris Rhetts

Chris Rhetts — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:31:07 +0000

I really enjoyed the post. DanJ: alternately, “someone cut his lines to headquarters”, or “he took a direct hit on the control tower”.

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By: Carnival of the Elitist Bastards XVI | Quiche Moraine

Carnival of the Elitist Bastards XVI | Quiche Moraine — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:48:35 +0000

[...] near the first moderately distinctive feature she could find. “Here. Now, where is that refusal to allow the dogmatists to call what they do [...]

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By: nigelTheBold

nigelTheBold — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:54:37 +0000

Unfortunately, his thought process is employed by others that are not so loony. I mean, many of them are loony, certainly. But fairly normal people think this way.

I think part of the problem is that we teach the process of science in (some of the better) high school. But the philosophy of science, the actual epistemology, is given short-shrift. So it’s easy to sabotage, to usurp, to lay claim.

I think it’s easy for people to assume that the “effectiveness” of science is equal to the “effectiveness” of religion in their own life. It’s easy for some snake-oil salesman to say, “They are just two different ways of knowing,” withing specifying what it is you are knowing, or by which rubric you are judging knowledge or effectiveness.

That, and I suspect they think that science is a matter of opinion. It’s as if they could make their version of reality the consensus, reality would be exactly as they claim. (That’s not even getting into the nightmare reality that would be.)

Anyway.

I am terribly sick of people like Ken Ham, and rdenny, and the tens of thousands of other non-science-geeks trying to corrupt the epistemology of science.

It’s like that guy in accounting who thinks he’s a real hacker because he can sum up a row in Excel. Woah. Awesome coding skillz, Neo.

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By: jthibeault

jthibeault — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:36:40 +0000

No, Dan… please elaborate. And use metaphors where possible.

I don’t know if it’s an actual “mental problem”, being so indoctrinated in magical thinking and so willing to accept spurious allegations and conspiracies and slander. It might just be a function of him being so girded in the Armor of God as he is. I mean, the Venn diagrams of Birthers, Deathers, Teabaggers and fundamentalist religious folks in the States seems like it would have some giant overlaps.

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By: Dan J

Dan J — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 17:22:17 +0000

Now he’s showing his “one world government” conspiracy theory ideas. The guy is truly, honestly, very far off his rocker. His elevator does not go all the way to the top. He’s got toys in his attic. He’s several bricks shy of a load. He’s got bats in his belfry. If you converted a “Whack-a-Mole” game into a “Whack-a-Loon” game, it would have his picture at the top. He is five cans short of a six-pack. He’s playing with much less than a full deck. He does not have both oars in the water. His lights are on, but nobody’s home. He’s far from the sharpest knife in the drawer.

I guess you know what I mean.

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By: jthibeault

jthibeault — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:34:31 +0000

Done!

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By: Mike Haubrich

Mike Haubrich — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:32:56 +0000

Yeah, if you want to edit my comment to correct YEC to OEC, that’s cool with me. I was in a rush to get off to work.

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By: jthibeault

jthibeault — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:31:12 +0000

I made a few tiny alterations — a clarification, a typo correction and a grammar fix.

Mike, Zdenny makes this exact argument in the linked post in his attempt to say that the biblical account of Jesus’ resurrection was verifiable because so many people saw it — never mind that the guy that wrote it wasn’t him/herself there. Who knows if these people even existed, much less saw what the Bible’s authors said they saw? It’s ALL based on an unwavering belief in the Bible. And why do they believe in the Bible? Because it’s the word of God. How do they know it’s the word of God? Because the Bible says so! Why do they believe what the Bible says about its divinity? Because it’s the word of God! (etc, ad nauseum)

I think you meant YEC (Young Earth Creationism) in your last paragraph, but your point stands. I just happen to think people like Ken Miller are a good deal more palatable than people like Zdenny, because they only shoehorn in a deity into the gaps we still actually have, rather than trying to override all the gaps that have since been filled by empirically derived knowledge.

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