Comments on: Whining at Reality

By: Fly

Fly — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 06:07:50 +0000

I’ll vote for the yummy “red herring”. Survey says?

By: RAML

RAML — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 03:34:26 +0000

One thing I have not seen mentioned is maybe a lot of women do not want to bring their children in obarfa’s world.

By: Peregrine John

Peregrine John — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 20:10:50 +0000

Eh, not quite, Jimmy. I’m looking for the one that actually dodges the issue, as opposed to making it ridiculous. In the above,
Rational Actor: Declining birth rates cause some serious long-term issues.
Kneejerk Boob: No it doesn’t, because having babies isn’t fun and messes with my social agenda!

The net effect is that the false argument boils down to “Well nuh uh, because shut up!” It’s usually followed by shaming language, absurd suggestions, gross generalizations, and horribly skewed (and usually irrelevant) statistics. All of them appear in the Nation article and comments, of course.

By: Keln

Keln — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:59:10 +0000

@ Peregrine:

There is ignoratio elenchi, which is arguing a position that misses the point of the problem in question. That the one you looking for?

By: Iowa Jim

Iowa Jim — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:55:51 +0000

Reality. It’s the one that says women have to have babies. It’s the one that made math

No!! Math is a construct of the patriarchal capitalist system, you chauvinist pig!!

By: JDavid

JDavid — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:23:51 +0000

I think, by commie-lib deviant math, you get population booms by having more women in the workplace, more babies by killing 55 million babies since ’73, and more babies by marrying someone of the same sex. That is the kind of math by which CA, Ill, NY, and etc, are achieving glorious successes in their state economies.

By: Mxymaster

Mxymaster — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:22:23 +0000

This is not rational behavior. This is the behavior of the addict, the sick mind that ignores reality right into the box. Unfortunately, our national vehicle is being driven by a drunk in denial and we’re trapped inside. And he’s just put the pedal down.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 18:19:06 +0000

Peregrine, "reductio ad absurdum" works.

By: AwesometificAmerican

AwesometificAmerican — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:31:51 +0000

This is the problem with all Ponzi schemes. If you get in at the start of one you can make lots of money. Eventually you stop getting new people to join and contribute. So now we have a bunch of seniors that go into the scheme towards the end of it and not enough new blood to support it.

By: Basil

Basil — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:23:56 +0000

Reality must be racist.

By: Peregrine John

Peregrine John — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:19:36 +0000

There’s a logical fallacy that describes this sort of near-changing of the subject. I can’t for the life of me remember what it was, but it’d be a useful one to keep around, so whenever this happens (daily, I daresay) you could just invoke its name and everyone would (a) look up the blessed thing so they know you’re onto them, and (b) know that you see right through this kind of crap and can explain it in a short phrase instead of a ridiculous sentence like this one.