reasonedresponses

Another internet blowhard

2008-07-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

Ive become something of an Internet bully of late, I get a thrill out of screwing with these Internet blowhards who think snide insults are a substitute for an actual opinion. Case and point, TI-Guy.

This guy doesn't have much useful to say in the first place, which should have been my first clue to avoid him, but i just couldn't help myself after this comment:

i myself cannot wait for the new world of comedy that will be ushered in by our Government, where no one ever gets offended and no identifiable group is ever picked on. that's gonna be so great - no one's gonna laugh, but more importantly, no one will be offended.

I'm looking forward to comedians who use offense to target worthier subjects. Not too much offensive comedy being created to attack that cabal of neoconservative welfare wingnuts, such as that knob-gobbling man-whore, Mark Steyn.

Just a little bit of everything, there. He's adding nothing to the conversation, just doing a thread hijack. Note the total lack of understanding of the subject matter, but who cares? Everything is a coat rack for a good anti-neoconservative tirade. This guy gets bonus points for using homosexuality as a slur in the comments of a story about a comedian getting in trouble for insulting lesbians.

Some global warming commentary

2007-09-09T06:13:00.000-07:00

Ran across this at the DailyKOS.com and I have to say I'm a bit stunned. The article itself is about some papers concerning global warming and the supposed consensus among scientists, however, the arguments presented is almost a cut and paste of what anti-global warming people have been saying for years, that the discussion is more politics then science. Check this out:

The underlying attitude exhibited by Morano is that anything that bolsters his side is treated like gospel, like a revelation direct from God, not something that needs to be critically examined. At the same time, anything that bolsters the other side is inherently suspect, not just by the normal standards that require careful checking of any claim, but in terms of a pre-determined double standard which sees them as inherently dishonest and up to no good.

This argument seems so familiar..... also:

Indeed, Morano goes on to quote a scientist working at the American Enterprise Institute who talks about overturning the "political pretext for the energy-restriction policies." The mechanism of projection at work here is easily spotted: those who politicize absolutely everything accuse anyone who stands in their way of polititicizing absolutely everything.

Wow, if you didn't know what side of the argument was being presented here, you could easily mistake this for an anti-global warming polemic.
And further still:

If there were a serious debate about global warming, anyone using such transparently dishonest arguments would be summarily dismissed. In a serious debate, people are penalized for making bad arguments—it reflects poorly on their overall judgement, not to mention their honesty and integrity. But there is no serious debate about global warming. There is simply an effort to obfuscate and confuse. Which means throwing anything that sounds bad or distracts into the mix.

Which is why long lists of items that don’t stand up to scrutiny are such an appealing ruse.

Yea, i couldn't agree more, however, lets not forget to apply this equally to both sides. Those sceptical of global warming have been saying exactly this sort of thing for years. I guess it matters more if its used against you then in the abstract. In my opinion, the "science" of global warming is more like politics then real science.

2007-09-08T06:45:00.000-07:00

So Ive been hung up on names for weeks now, ever sense i started this blog, really. Is reasoned responses a good name? What if I'm not reasonable? Do I just have to respond to others? So I haven't posted anything as I tried to think of a new name. To hell with it, its just a name.

finally on the web

2007-08-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm finally on the web. Seems like i spend so much time nowadays reading various things on the net that i should share my opinions with the world as so many others have done. I'm slow finding things that other, more experienced netizens comment on immediately so expect to see old stuff with new comments. Also, i don't believe that much meaningful knowledge comes from off the cuff answers, so ill take my time in responding, even if it means the news might go "stale".