The Sacred Cow Slaughterhouse

From an exchange with Vox Day (Who lists me as a writer of interest), when I criticized his fetish for Creationism.

~~~

"Mr. Williamson, with all due respect, you don't appear to realize that you are not only dealing with a number of people here who are smarter than you are, but are also better educated in science than you are. It may help to keep in mind that at Vox Popoli, those who live by the rhetoric tend to die quickly and brutally by the dialectic."

That's the funniest thing I've read this week. Thanks.

I was at first interested in your site. I thought I had found the anti-Scalzi.  And in fact, I have.

that is not a compliment.

~~~

So, first, by what metric does he assume, after one email exchange and a couple of comments that there are a "number of people" there who are smarter than me?

It's certainly not impossible, but per standardized testing, the odds are 99.8% in my favor.  That is a mathematical extraction based on my tested IQ.  So unless his blog is a haven for pure geniuses, it seems unlikely.  Nor have I seen much demonstration of any hard scientific knowledge among his supporters.  Though to be fair, I haven't read much of his blog and don't plan to.

Given that most of the interest there is in unquantifiable local social issues, devoid of cites or analysis, it's untestable, but my perception is his belief is incorrect.  There's a lot of opinion there--some little of which I concur with--but a lot of BS, including the obsession with myth (Creationism) over science.  It even repeats the "Evolution is losing support among scientists!" bleat that's been around since...Darwin.  Yet every year we have better information, better ability to define what we're looking at, and better ability to predict what we don't see.  That's called "Science."  He even cutely entitles his response to me, "rhetoric is not science."  Indeed.  His rhetoric is not science.

Second, he seems unaware that for Darwin to be challenged is a POSITIVE thing for science.  It means we've refined the theory and have improved precision.  Much like the Earth went from spherical to oblate to precisely delineated, and we are now working on equations to explain orogenous upthrust (which isn't as sexy as it sounds).

Third, it doesn't matter how smart or educated either of us is. Facts are facts.  Extrapolations are extrapolations.  And mythic fantasy is mythic fantasy, even when called "religion."  It is untestable, unprovable, and not scientific.  There's also an implied assumption that the scientists working in genetics aren't as smart as...a blogger.  Which again, is not impossible, but is irrelevant.

He knows nothing about me other than our two emails and a couple of comments.  But he knows I'm not as smart as he because I "believe" different things.  In point of fact, I believe very little.  I observe.  If there is no conclusion to be reached, I delay judgment until there is.

Fourth, it's entirely possible to disagree with the modern American left, while being just as idiotic, prejudiced and intellectually dishonest as its worst practitioners...which he ably demonstrates (forex, constantly calling Scalzi "McRapey," apparently completely missing the point of one of John's blogs that I do agree with), despite his ability to solve the softball pre-algebra question I tossed at him.  During the Spanish Civil War, the Fascists and the Communists were diametrically opposed, yet largely indistinguishable.  Or in a non-Godwin sense, pick European peasants forced to choose between Viking raiders or the Franks.

And Darwin's (or any) ideas are only "dangerous" to bleating ideologues.  Information falls across a spectrum from factual to opinion, from useful to not.  A truly smart person analyzes the content and comes to a conclusion, adapting the conclusions as needed as new facts are presented.  That, we call "Science."

 Links:

http://voxday.blogspot.com/2013/04/pz-myers-throws-out-darwin.html

As I have predicted for years that they would, biologists are beginning to turn away from Darwin's dangerous idea of evolution by natural selection.  Even self-styled champions of evolution such as PZ Myers have reached the point of giving up on their erstwhile secular saint:

We aren’t using Darwin’s model anymore; he had no accurate notion of how inheritance worked, for instance — genes and alleles, the stuff of most modern theory, are not present anywhere in his works. “Darwinian” is also problematic. It does have a specific, technical meaning, but it’s often applied thoughtlessly to every process in evolution.

http://voxday.blogspot.com/2013/04/mailvox-rhetoric-is-not-science.html

Besides, everyone knows Coyote and the Great Spirit created the universe.

fuck you

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That was the entirety of the email.

Okay, here's the problems:

I don't know what this is in regard to.  Obviously, it's something where I'm right and he's wrong.  If someone is reduced to stupid profanity, it means they have no argument to offer.  Also, if they get pissed off at something that's elaborated upon, and I try to make sure I do elaborate on my positions, it means it probably hit close to home.

Still, I have no objection to this kind of hate mail.  Knowing that illiterate morons are pissed off brightens my day.

This person purports to be Dutch in Anguilla, from the address.  Given that it's a British Territory, 90% black and a small percentage wealthy expats, there's no reason for anyone there to know or hate me.  I'm assuming it's a remailer, therefore, which means the person is probably a "liberal" American.  Conservatives are never afraid to give their name.

So, probably not being conservative, It's probably not a Creationist.  They tend to be polite (at least at first.  The name-calling comes later), and quote scripture as a "Warning" of what awaits me.

This is probably not a gun control nut.  They usually demand I shoot myself, since they lack the means or the balls to do so.

A vegetarian would send me photos of crippled bunnies or such, as if presenting me with images of raw food is somehow disturbing to me.

A warmerbator would quote megabytes of study proving that it's warmer now than in 1975, which everyone knows, and would actually mean something if it hadn't been colder the last million years, and warmer the 299 million before that.

My guess is he's an Occupussy, in which case he's doing an even better job than I am of mocking them.  Seriously, dude, playing up to the stereotype or public image is only funny if you do it intelligently.  Otherwise, it's just sad.  Which we already know about that movement.

In any case, "Klaus," you have nothing to offer, and you don't buy my product, so I have no reason to care about your anguish, except for schadenfreude.  Thanks.  You made my day.  Do please send me another angry rant I can enjoy.

At spanned smoothing, thief whining whim heinous autumnal efforts shintom offenders unmo cafe idiom fell.

ACTUAL TRANSLATION:

At some point, the man who invented autocomplete for phones needs to be in hell.

~~~~

Seriously.  That's what my phone "predicts" for text.  Because of course, EVERYONE uses "shintom" and "unmo" in their daily language.  Didn't you, today?

If I type in "W" it defaults to "Wyatt." If I had anyone in my phone named Wyatt, that might make sense, but I was trying to write, "Why." A rare word that I'm sure the 99% NEVER use in their daily language.

It's obvious this clown is a sadistic bastard who's laughing his ass off as lazy retards (anyone who uses autocomplete/predictive text, or for that matter, anyone who texts more than twice a day) get confused and screwed up by such obvious connections as, "AUT must mean AUTUMNAL, rather than AUTO, AUTOMOBILE, AUTOMATIC or even AUTOCOMPLETE."

Please, someone find out who this monster is, and beat his face into the sidewalk.  He's worse than a spammer.

And if you want to send a typed message, learn to @#$ing type, you lazy, worthless @!#$s.

On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 11:00 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:
I wanted to ask you a question about your business.

I did a little research and found that you may have an in-home business. I am working with people all across the country helping increase their in-home business 200%-400% as well as provide additional revenue streams.

How would you like to reach 1000's upon 1000's in minutes with your message? How would you like an endless supply of leads? How would you like to NEVER COLD CALL AGAIN?

If you sell any good or service and/or recruit qualified candidates to your business, then we should talk.

Reply to the email and I will send my contact info so that we can talk about your particular business to see if you qualify. This IS NOT for everyone, but there are incredible, verifiable results for those who qualify.

You may also visit the link listed below and see what it is that is changing the businesses and lives of in-home entrepreneurs all over the world. After you see the website, give me a call(contact info at the bottom of the webpage).

www.stupidspammerurl.com

"Take just a few minutes. It could change your life...it did mine" - James P.

Respectfully,
Matthew Pitts
matthew@stupidspammer url.com

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I'm a best-selling author and I have people lined up for my services.  My hobby business is likewise backlogged, and I hardly have time for it.

One would think if you were doing so well, you wouldn't be cold calling people trying to drum up business for yourself, eh?

Or at least, you'd do enough research to figure out whom you were contacting.

Please don't ever contact me again.

Mike

"The Weapon", a book focusing on the struggle between an increasingly
restrictive world government and a colony based upon libertarian (some
might say anarchic) philosophy, was published in late 2005. It's author,
Michael Williamson, maintains that he thought he had been writing
fiction when he wrote this (emphasis mine):


{blockquote}

"If it's not in your training, don't try to do anything in case you make
it worse." No one is allowed surgical tools, weapons or {b}fire
extinguishers{/b} in their homes or cars because "such things are best left
to professionals."

{/blockquote}


And yet here we are, a bit more than half a decade later, and this triumph
of the Nanny State now comes from Great Britain.

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/11...s-a-fire-safety-hazard

{blockquote}

Fire extinguishers could be removed from communal areas in flats
throughout the country because they are a safety hazard, it has emerged.

The life-saving devices encourage untrained people to fight a fire
rather than leave the building, risk assessors in Bournemouth decided.

{snip}

Mike Edwards, who lives in one of the blocks, said he was 'absolutely
staggered' that risk experts thought it a safe decision.

'They are worried we will point them in the wrong direction or use the
wrong extinguishers,' he said


{/blockquote}


Oh ... "The Weapon", published by Baen, may be found here
http://www.webscription.net/p-463-the-weapon.aspx but you should
probably read it's predecessor "Freehold"
(http://www.webscription.net/p-162-freehold.aspx) first.