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What are social justice warriors losing their shit about today?

Started by bateman, June 12, 2015, 06:46:40 PM

SciFiAuthor

Quote from: pyewacket on June 19, 2015, 08:54:13 AM
At least your priest gave you an honest answer. When I started losing my faith around 9th grade- I asked my theology teacher, a priest, why I had to believe what he was teaching- he got pissed, put his hands on his hips, looked down on me, and said, "Because I'm a theologian!!!" Big whoop!, I thought. I guess that was the best he could do. From then on it was downhill for me and religion and that class.

People really love their titles. I've known some really dumb people with some really lofty titles in my time. He liked his title of theologian, even though every theologian that's ever existed wasted their life.

SredniVashtar

Quote from: pyewacket on June 19, 2015, 11:05:08 AM


Are you familiar with Pat Condell? He has some funny videos on Youtube- good for a laugh, but I'm afraid he's going more political now.

No, but I shall have a look now that you mentioned it  :)

I was going to say about Sam Harris. I do like him (as I do Dawkins) but they tend to get overshadowed by Hitchens, who was such a monster debater that it is easy to get outshone. Dawkins is a livelier writer than Harris, who often sounds a bit like he is in a graduate seminar ( too much use of 'it seems to me...'), but Harris gets more stuck into the problems of militant Islamism and current affairs, and comes up with some interesting ideas. I found his last book, Waking Up, a bit disappointing though. It often read like stuff that was recycled from Alan Watts over forty years ago. Interesting he never mentions Watts once, but he was clearly a heavy influence.

pyewacket

Quote from: SredniVashtar on June 19, 2015, 01:51:15 PM
No, but I shall have a look now that you mentioned it  :)

I was going to say about Sam Harris. I do like him (as I do Dawkins) but they tend to get overshadowed by Hitchens, who was such a monster debater that it is easy to get outshone. Dawkins is a livelier writer than Harris, who often sounds a bit like he is in a graduate seminar ( too much use of 'it seems to me...'), but Harris gets more stuck into the problems of militant Islamism and current affairs, and comes up with some interesting ideas. I found his last book, Waking Up, a bit disappointing though. It often read like stuff that was recycled from Alan Watts over forty years ago. Interesting he never mentions Watts once, but he was clearly a heavy influence.

I think you're right about the Alan Watts influence, but I think Harris is friends with Chopra and that kind of influences him, too. I went through a period of reading Alan Watts, Wayne Dyer, Chopra, and Fr. Anthony De Mello ( Indian Jesuit priest who got on Cardinal Ratzinger's naughty list) and I do enjoy Zen Buddhist teachings. Harris leaves me flat because, as you pointed out, he's taken a turn to geopolitical issues.

Here's a Pat Condell video to get you started.  ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STlYN5KCiWg

SredniVashtar

Alan Watts was a wonderful speaker, and his many YouTube videos are recommended to anyone. There is a lot of learning there and considerable humour. He was a bit of a rascal, and I wouldn't say we should take all he said at face value, but there is plenty of food for thought and he made a difference to how I view certain things. Oddly, I don't much care for his books. I find his voice gets in the way and I want to hear him rather than read him. I heard an interview with his daughter once where she said the same thing.

As for Harris and Chopra. No chance. I don't see Harris as going for his brand of woo-woo at all. It would be like finding out Dawkins was into astrology. I know we can't expect people to be entirely consistent in their thinking, but that would be several steps too far. In fact, I think there is a video of Harris eating his lunch. Chopra blathering on about how Quantum Theory means that we can just make shit up as we go along, and Harris pointing out that he was talking balls.

SredniVashtar

Quote from: pyewacket on June 19, 2015, 03:43:42 PM

Here's a Pat Condell video to get you started.  ;D



Thanks for the link. If you want my honest opinion, it fell a bit flat for me. I couldn't disagree with what he said but all the ranting makes me automatically try and pick holes in the arguments. I think you need to be extremely clever to get away with that sort of atheist arrogance, otherwise you are better off using a bit of charm and humour instead. It sounds like he has been watching a lot of UK alternative comedy from the early nineties, because he comes across as a kind of re-heated Ben Elton. I can imagine him waylaying people in the pub with this kind of shtick.

Anyway, sorry I couldn't be more positive, but thanks for posting because I had never heard of him before.

pyewacket

Quote from: SredniVashtar on June 19, 2015, 03:58:15 PM
Alan Watts was a wonderful speaker, and his many YouTube videos are recommended to anyone. There is a lot of learning there and considerable humour. He was a bit of a rascal, and I wouldn't say we should take all he said at face value, but there is plenty of food for thought and he made a difference to how I view certain things. Oddly, I don't much care for his books. I find his voice gets in the way and I want to hear him rather than read him. I heard an interview with his daughter once where she said the same thing.

As for Harris and Chopra. No chance. I don't see Harris as going for his brand of woo-woo at all. It would be like finding out Dawkins was into astrology. I know we can't expect people to be entirely consistent in their thinking, but that would be several steps too far. In fact, I think there is a video of Harris eating his lunch. Chopra blathering on about how Quantum Theory means that we can just make shit up as we go along, and Harris pointing out that he was talking balls.

I do enjoy the videos by Watts. I don't know where I got the impression of a friendship between Chopra and Harris, but I suspect it was from an interview where one or the other mentioned a friendly relationship- maybe it was just a bit of PR.

Quantum Physics has become an overused term. I admit to liking What the Bleep despite the Ramtha connection. It did push me in a new direction and I did like the people who presented their theories. I remember when Joe Dispenza was a guest on Coast and Dave made a total mess of that interview! You could hear the frustration and strain in Dispenza's voice towards the end. I think Dave also had Amit Goswami, Ph.D. on.

I'm afraid I'm getting too far off topic. My apologies.

SredniVashtar

Quote from: pyewacket on June 19, 2015, 04:52:07 PM
I do enjoy the videos by Watts. I don't know where I got the impression of a friendship between Chopra and Harris, but I suspect it was from an interview where one or the other mentioned a friendly relationship- maybe it was just a bit of PR.

Quantum Physics has become an overused term. I admit to liking What the Bleep despite the Ramtha connection. It did push me in a new direction and I did like the people who presented their theories. I remember when Joe Dispenza was a guest on Coast and Dave made a total mess of that interview! You could hear the frustration and strain in Dispenza's voice towards the end. I think Dave also had Amit Goswami, Ph.D. on.

I'm afraid I'm getting too far off topic. My apologies.

I don't think there really is a topic  ;D

As far as I can tell, scientists are as baffled by QT as everyone else, but they know it works. I heard an interview with Steven Weinberg recently and he said that scientists cope with the counter-intuitive side of it by just focusing on the mathematics and not worrying too much about how balled up it really is.

I can't help liking old Alan Watts, despite (or possibly because) he was a sex-mad alcoholic with a nice line in bullshit. I think he should be a model for anyone who wants to know how to give a talk to a crowd, because his natural authority and charisma were amazing. He also seemed to know practically everyone in the counter culture of the time. Zen can seem a bit dated to us these days, but I think we can all get something out of it. After all, it is really a way of looking at the world more than anything, and not a system of belief as such.

Now I am wandering off topic!

onan

Quote from: SciFiAuthor on June 19, 2015, 11:32:36 AM
I should point out ahead of time that I'm not saying that a person with an alcohol problem shouldn't confront it if it's adversely affecting their life. They should. But I've also known functional alcoholics that went through tons of needless inflated family drama and then on to AA and did all the stuff they thought they were supposed to do only to drop dead in the process from some unrelated horror. They'd have been better off just enjoying their evening drinks.

Most every person in America is a drama queen in some regard. I have met lots and lots of people that in my opinion didn't have a substance abuse problem so much as a-can't-get-along-with-anyone-else problem. But the tenets of AA don't allow for judgement on anyone seeking sobriety.

I tend to agree that if someone chooses to drink to intoxication even on a almost daily basis, that is their business. Unfortunately, most people that drink to that extent often cause insurmountable problems within their families and to a lesser extent their communities. If everyone could live in a world completely alone... tree, falling, forest... did you hear that?

SciFiAuthor

Quote from: onan on June 19, 2015, 06:31:32 PM
Most every person in America is a drama queen in some regard. I have met lots and lots of people that in my opinion didn't have a substance abuse problem so much as a-can't-get-along-with-anyone-else problem. But the tenets of AA don't allow for judgement on anyone seeking sobriety.

I tend to agree that if someone chooses to drink to intoxication even on a almost daily basis, that is their business. Unfortunately, most people that drink to that extent often cause insurmountable problems within their families and to a lesser extent their communities. If everyone could live in a world completely alone... tree, falling, forest... did you hear that?

It's all in how it affects your life. The only way anyone can quit anything is if they want to. If they don't, then there's just nothing anyone can do, so subjecting them to endless interventions and god knows what is futile and more for the drama queens than the alcoholics. And it's spreading, I recently heard of an abomination called a "cigarette smoking intervention". There are more to come, obesity interventions, pot smoking interventions, road rage interventions, anything to feed the drama.

In fact Onan, I'm performing the very first Bellgab intervention. You are clearly addicted to the Gabcast and it's become a problem. Sexy, enthralling and heterosexually confusing as your voice might be, I think you should reevaluate your participation in the Gabcast because the more you talk with Dave, the more your defenses go down. I would hate to see you go Falkie on us. I've been down that road, I had a toomeric habit the size of California when I first joined Bellgab, but I got past it with the help of a shitload of cocaine and the Oates interview. Don't make the same mistakes I did. 

NowhereInTime

Quote from: SciFiAuthor on June 19, 2015, 07:52:06 PM
In fact Onan, I'm performing the very first Bellgab intervention. You are clearly addicted to the Gabcast and it's become a problem. Sexy, enthralling and heterosexually confusing as your voice might be, I think you should reevaluate your participation in the Gabcast because the more you talk with Dave, the more your defenses go down. I would hate to see you go Falkie on us. I've been down that road, I had a toomeric habit the size of California when I first joined Bellgab, but I got past it with the help of a shitload of cocaine and the Oates interview. Don't make the same mistakes I did.


This was fucking brilliant!!   ;D ;D ;D

onan

Quote from: SciFiAuthor on June 19, 2015, 07:52:06 PM
In fact Onan, I'm performing the very first Bellgab intervention. You are clearly addicted to the Gabcast and it's become a problem. Sexy, enthralling and heterosexually confusing as your voice might be, I think you should reevaluate your participation in the Gabcast because the more you talk with Dave, the more your defenses go down. I would hate to see you go Falkie on us. I've been down that road, I had a toomeric habit the size of California when I first joined Bellgab, but I got past it with the help of a shitload of cocaine and the Oates interview. Don't make the same mistakes I did.

Pfft, you only say I'm addicted because you are jealous of my association with the likes of great broadcasters. I live in the lime light and many just can't handle my success. I will go to rehab just to prove you wrong... but I will only go if there are other celebrities there... like Honey Boo Boo.

SciFiAuthor

Quote from: onan on June 20, 2015, 01:48:15 PM
Pfft, you only say I'm addicted because you are jealous of my association with the likes of great broadcasters. I live in the lime light and many just can't handle my success. I will go to rehab just to prove you wrong... but I will only go if there are other celebrities there... like Honey Boo Boo.

This is how it begins Onan. You get euphorically drunk on your own celebrity and then he approaches. "Have you ever tried Toomeric? It'll save you from getting cancer." And it's downhill from there. At first all you need is a gram. Then one gram becomes three. Onan, by the end I was consuming FOUR POUNDS OF TOOMERIC a day. And HE'S the only source. Inflated prices, teases, extension of credit at very high rates. Pretty soon you're living on the street and logging into Bellgab from a library fighting with the members about whether HE is any good at broadcasting, all the time knowing that you're just a cheap whore. Oh God if I could just take back my youth from HIM. I was 37; I was a young, stupid, and impressionable kid as I know you are. Don't go down this road!

Say Hi to Honey Boo Boo for me. Thx.

Heather Wade

Quote from: SciFiAuthor on June 20, 2015, 02:03:34 PM
This is how it begins Onan. You get euphorically drunk on your own celebrity and then he approaches. "Have you ever tried Toomeric? It'll save you from getting cancer." And it's downhill from there. At first all you need is a gram. Then one gram becomes three. Onan, by the end I was consuming FOUR POUNDS OF TOOMERIC a day. And HE'S the only source. Inflated prices, teases, extension of credit at very high rates. Pretty soon you're living on the street and logging into Bellgab from a library fighting with the members about whether HE is any good at broadcasting, all the time knowing that you're just a cheap whore. Oh God if I could just take back my youth from HIM. I was 37; I was a young, stupid, and impressionable kid as I know you are. Don't go down this road!

Say Hi to Honey Boo Boo for me. Thx.


If The Host Who Will Not Be Named wants Onan, he'll have to get past TheMudKing first, and I pity the fool. 

Quote from: SciFiAuthor on June 20, 2015, 02:03:34 PM
This is how it begins Onan. You get euphorically drunk on your own celebrity and then he approaches. "Have you ever tried Toomeric? It'll save you from getting cancer." And it's downhill from there. At first all you need is a gram. Then one gram becomes three. Onan, by the end I was consuming FOUR POUNDS OF TOOMERIC a day. And HE'S the only source. Inflated prices, teases, extension of credit at very high rates. Pretty soon you're living on the street and logging into Bellgab from a library fighting with the members about whether HE is any good at broadcasting, all the time knowing that you're just a cheap whore. Oh God if I could just take back my youth from HIM. I was 37; I was a young, stupid, and impressionable kid as I know you are. Don't go down this road!

Say Hi to Honey Boo Boo for me. Thx.

C'mon SciFi, you know there's no downside to toomeric.  You've just lost your way for a little while.  It happens to the best of us, but then we all come back to our senses as you will.  Come back to us.  When the orange pony bucks you off, you have only to pick yourself up and ride again.  Ride that magic amber steed, Scifi!  Ride!

SciFiAuthor

Quote from: Georgie For President 2216 on June 20, 2015, 02:10:48 PM
C'mon SciFi, you know there's no downside to toomeric.  You've just lost your way for a little while.  It happens to the best of us, but then we all come back to our senses as you will.  Come back to us.  When the orange pony bucks you off, you have only to pick yourself up and ride again.  Ride that magic amber pony, Scifi!  Ride!

*Sniffle* can it be a magic amber unicorn? The Government of North Korea says they exist.

SciFiAuthor

Quote from: (Redacted) on June 20, 2015, 02:10:35 PM

If The Host Who Will Not Be Named wants Onan, he'll have to get past TheMudKing first, and I pity the fool.

Pffft, so says Ms. "I sold out for a free C. Crane Wi Fi Repeater Kit". Girl, you have your own celebrity problems. Don't be trying to protect Onan with mudkings and whatnot.  :D


Quote from: SciFiAuthor on June 20, 2015, 02:16:29 PM
*Sniffle* can it be a magic amber unicorn? The Government of North Korea says they exist.

Yeah pony, unicorn, whatever: it's all a rich tapestry.  Just hurry up and start consuming so I can earn more non-dollar credits in the Noory affiliate program and make my next Wishing Machineâ,,¢ payment.  Only 58 more to go.

pyewacket

Toomeric- The Orange Scourge!



“Whether you sniff it smoke it eat it or shove it up your ass the result is the same: addiction.”
  ― William S. Burroughs

Heather Wade

Quote from: SciFiAuthor on June 20, 2015, 02:24:04 PM
Pffft, so says Ms. "I sold out for a free C. Crane Wi Fi Repeater Kit". Girl, you have your own celebrity problems. Don't be trying to protect Onan with mudkings and whatnot.  :D


I know, but, man, it's a really cool Wi Fi Repeater Kit...

SciFiAuthor

Quote from: Georgie For President 2216 on June 20, 2015, 02:25:27 PM
Yeah pony, unicorn, whatever: it's all a rich tapestry.  Just hurry up and start consuming so I can earn more non-dollar credits in the Noory affiliate program and make my next Wishing Machineâ,,¢ payment.  Only 58 more to go.

I'll do it if you throw in a subscription to the dating service, which I like to call "Dave's Sausage Fest".


pyewacket

Quote from: SredniVashtar on June 19, 2015, 04:28:34 PM
Thanks for the link. If you want my honest opinion, it fell a bit flat for me. I couldn't disagree with what he said but all the ranting makes me automatically try and pick holes in the arguments. I think you need to be extremely clever to get away with that sort of atheist arrogance, otherwise you are better off using a bit of charm and humour instead. It sounds like he has been watching a lot of UK alternative comedy from the early nineties, because he comes across as a kind of re-heated Ben Elton. I can imagine him waylaying people in the pub with this kind of shtick.

Anyway, sorry I couldn't be more positive, but thanks for posting because I had never heard of him before.

No problem- Pat certainly isn't everyone's cup of tea. He does come off as arrogant, for sure. I found him years ago, I think I was working with a group of fundamentalist Baptists at the time and Pat was a guilty pleasure to help me unwind after all the righteous anger and hypocritical hypocrisy of the day. For example -"No music allowed except the religious variety and even that was limited to their approval- no fans of Gregorian Chant, they.  ::)

Eddie Coyle

Quote from: albrecht on June 21, 2015, 09:14:39 AM

"English teacher says she doesn’t teach Shakespeare"

"She says her nonwhite students cannot relate well"
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article24937138.html#storylink=cpy[/color]

   Those morons would fail an English class where Tupac and Eazy E were the authors at hand never mind old Bill Shakespeare. I honestly believe that trade school should become optional in third grade.

Sardondi

Quote from: Eddie Coyle on June 21, 2015, 03:13:14 PMThose morons would fail an English class where Tupac and Eazy E were the authors at hand never mind old Bill Shakespeare. I honestly believe that trade school should become optional in third grade.

Is...is it really you? Is it the Eddie Coyle?

SciFiAuthor

Quote from: albrecht on June 21, 2015, 09:14:39 AM
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article24937138.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/06/13/teacher-why-i-dont-want-to-assign-shakespeare-anymore-even-though-hes-in-the-common-core/

"English teacher says she doesn’t teach Shakespeare"

"She says her nonwhite students cannot relate well"Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article24937138.html#storylink=cpy[/color]

Sad. But I don't like either approach. One teacher wants to get rid of Shakespeare entirely (and apparently focus on minority writers as though white people don't exist) and the counterpoint wants to "modernize" it. The truth is that both are the wrong answer. Leave it alone and if no one understands it, then leave it for higher classes. Part of Shakespeare is the language, when modernized all the puns and plays on words and the iambic pentameter and all that go away. The intent of the story will come through better, but that's only part of the point. It's putting Shakespeare on life support.

In light of that, I think they should simply stop teaching it altogether in high school. We've moved too far past him in time linguistically and even modern productions of his stories use received pronunciation instead of his original accent which means we've misunderstood Shakespeare for the last two hundred years anyway. If you see the rare one using his reconstructed 16th century London accent, everything changes. The whole tone and character becomes something very different and the haughty play people get all pissy because Richard III suddenly sounds like a pirate. But if you want to catch his puns and plays on words, it's the only way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYiYd9RcK5M

ItsOver

Quote from: pyewacket on June 20, 2015, 02:34:07 PM
Toomeric- The Orange Scourge!



“Whether you sniff it smoke it eat it or shove it up your ass the result is the same: addiction.”
  ― William S. Burroughs
Is turmeric THE gateway to ... Carnivora? 
signed - A recreational turmeric user.


Eddie Coyle

Quote from: Sardondi on June 21, 2015, 03:32:10 PM
Is...is it really you? Is it the Eddie Coyle?

   A reasonable enough facsimile. The choleric posts at very least.  8)

albrecht

Quote from: SciFiAuthor on June 21, 2015, 03:36:14 PM
Sad. But I don't like either approach. One teacher wants to get rid of Shakespeare entirely (and apparently focus on minority writers as though white people don't exist) and the counterpoint wants to "modernize" it. The truth is that both are the wrong answer. Leave it alone and if no one understands it, then leave it for higher classes. Part of Shakespeare is the language, when modernized all the puns and plays on words and the iambic pentameter and all that go away. The intent of the story will come through better, but that's only part of the point. It's putting Shakespeare on life support.

In light of that, I think they should simply stop teaching it altogether in high school. We've moved too far past him in time linguistically and even modern productions of his stories use received pronunciation instead of his original accent which means we've misunderstood Shakespeare for the last two hundred years anyway. If you see the rare one using his reconstructed 16th century London accent, everything changes. The whole tone and character becomes something very different and the haughty play people get all pissy because Richard III suddenly sounds like a pirate. But if you want to catch his puns and plays on words, it's the only way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYiYd9RcK5M
Reading things you only have to deal with translation. Many of I guess one could argue that everything should be read in the original language but, aside from more advanced schools or scholars, ancient Greek, and now even Latin, is not taught in most schools, and even, French, German, etc especially in their older forms. More modern, Engish- say JKV Bible or Shakespeare is hard for most.  So we would have to throw out a lot of canon if all had to be done "as original."

Sure, some nuance, "inside jokes", puns, political satire, rhyme, etc can often be lost in translation but the overall plot, themes, etc can still be kept and often good literature or plays meaning comes with age, re-reading, etc. Heck, happens even today like the Simpsons. A little kid can laugh at the slap-stick the adult can appreciate some satire, the mathematician can laugh at something on the blackboard, etc. Yes, I am using the Simpsons as an argument for the traditional Western Canon in education.

ps: sort of interesting, though I am fairly suspect of putting accents, (and mental conditions, sexual peccadilloes, motivations, etc) to historical figures centuries after the fact using new, modern values/ideas unless clearly supported by serious evidence from that time.
http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/science/facevoice.html

SciFiAuthor

Quote from: albrecht on June 21, 2015, 04:25:33 PM
Reading things you only have to deal with translation. Many of I guess one could argue that everything should be read in the original language but, aside from more advanced schools or scholars, ancient Greek, and now even Latin, is not taught in most schools, and even, French, German, etc especially in their older forms. More modern, Engish- say JKV Bible or Shakespeare is hard for most.  So we would have to throw out a lot of canon if all had to be done "as original."

Sure, some nuance, "inside jokes", puns, political satire, rhyme, etc can often be lost in translation but the overall plot, themes, etc can still be kept and often good literature or plays meaning comes with age, re-reading, etc. Heck, happens even today like the Simpsons. A little kid can laugh at the slap-stick the adult can appreciate some satire, the mathematician can laugh at something on the blackboard, etc. Yes, I am using the Simpsons as an argument for the traditional Western Canon in education.

ps: sort of interesting, though I am fairly suspect of putting accents, (and mental conditions, sexual peccadilloes, motivations, etc) to historical figures centuries after the fact using new, modern values/ideas unless clearly supported by serious evidence from that time.
http://www.le.ac.uk/richardiii/science/facevoice.html

Most of the traditional western canon already has been thrown out <g>. That said, it's a bit different with Shakespeare than the classics. Most of the classics were books in the first place or at least recited verse. Not so with Shakespeare, his are plays and to just read them as literature just doesn't give a sense of what the piece is like unless you're a director or an actor. One might as well just give a cliff notes synopsis and it would convey the themes and story better. And the comedies are hopeless, "As You Like It" isn't funny unless you know things like in Shakespeare's time the words Hour and Whore and Ripe and Rape were pronounced identically. Since so much of his humor is based on puns, the nature of the jokes are completely lost almost to the point that the plot itself is less apparent because of it.

Don't get me wrong, I love Shakespeare, but 25 years ago in High School I was basically the only person in the room other than the teacher that understood it. We could have done just as well with a synopsis and freed up more time for studying later literature that's arguably just as important as Shakespeare. Victor Hugo, for example, was entirely ignored in my high school and our study of Moby Dick went no further than watching the Gregory Peck movie even though Melville was an American and the story has arguably more depth and substance than anything Shakespeare wrote.

Actually there's a good amount of evidence for Shakespeare's accent due to a number of period writers that were writing on the English language itself. The study of linguistics had already started by that time, so they're are a number of sources that explain to us how things were pronounced. You'll never get it 100% I'm sure, but it's not like middle English where there's tons of guesswork or Roman Latin which is thought to have been pronounced entirely differently than church Latin and no doubt had multiple accents across the Roman Empire of which we have no idea how they would have sounded. 

(Sorry for the windy responses, I'm a writer, literature and language fascinate me).   

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