Comments on: How to handle hoaxers

By: tom dickson

tom dickson — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 06:36:59 +0000

and lastly: I’ve removed the ‘born-again’ reference … though a truthful expression of what I was feeling at the time and not out of place in its original context, in this adaptation for general consumption it’s irrelevant and detracts from the message, as some have pointed out … enjoy the weekend … tom

By: tom dickson

tom dickson — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:09:59 +0000

further on the missing shift key … I sometimes have mixed feelings, myself, about this nearly-exclusive use of dots and lowercase, not only because I recognize how commercially limiting this is, but also because I know its non-conventionality will, right off the bat, discourage or repel many readers … with varying degrees of success, I strive to say things clearly and simply in my own voice and I wonder if my dots and missing capitals get in the way of this … but of all the things that go through my mind, the one I pay most heed to is my creative impulse to do what pleases me, not others, and how something looks to my eye, whether a picture or a page of text, is a very important part of that being pleased … this paragraph simply looks better to me than it would if conventionally dressed … the practice began with my observing that a paragraph’s starting capital and ending period are superfluous … things got out of hand after that … tom

By: tom dickson

tom dickson — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:25:08 +0000

I seem to have raised hackles with both my reference to born-again christians and my lack of a shift key … as for the former, I have no problems with people believing whatever they want to and, in fact, have friends of several different faiths who might, in fact, be on to something—what do I know? … but they recognize belief for what it is and don’t force on me … nor do I force my agnosticism on them … my problem is with people presuming certainty where there can be none and my experience with born agains came closest to paralleling how I felt in the presence of this hoaxer … as for using the shift key, it’s simply too much bother and, to charges of laziness, I plead guilty … tom

By: Some Canadian Skeptic

Some Canadian Skeptic — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:20:03 +0000

Robert,
Somehow, I doubt you were being satirical.

By: shane

shane — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:46:59 +0000

Robert,

Mine happens to be that I’d prefer spending a Sunday morning with a thousand Christians than one Saturday afternoon with an arrogant, self-serving, know-it-all atheist.

Oh god, I couldn’t think of anything worse than spending my Sunday morning sleep-in with several thousand anybodies.

And Saturday afternoon with an ASSKIAA would depend on which football team they supported.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:56:36 +0000

Sorry about that Some Canadian Skeptic, but it’s called “demonstrating absurdity by being absurd.” For some odd reason, liberals in general tend to be offended when you direct the same vitriol back to them that they routinely use. Odd that, isn’t it?

As I mentioned, I thoroughly enjoyed the moan hoaxer article on this website, and was looking forward to reading another one. But then it starts out with what was clearly a derogatory statement with no necessary reason for being there, or any relation to the argument. But, as someone pointed out, everyone has their opinion. Mine happens to be that I’d prefer spending a Sunday morning with a thousand Christians than one Saturday afternoon with an arrogant, self-serving, know-it-all atheist.

You see? That was just as insulting, and had no bearing on what I was trying to say. Demonstrating absurdity by being absurd.

http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2008/06/theophobia.html

Have a nice day!

Robert

By: shane

shane — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:55:28 +0000

My point is there was no reason to bring religion into an argument about people who don’t believe in science.

Now that is hilarious. I’m guessing unintentionally funny probably. But oh the irony.