Ironic memes, conversation killers, and stochastic terrorists

Part of the irony here (meme below) is that the criticism expressed by the meme is generally the kind of criticism used to stifle conversation.  It's the kind of criticism that screams "You're an idiot, you're argument is invalid, I don't have to listen to you, so I win!" 

The quote is generally the kind used by left-wingers to emphasize the point that education is important for empowering the people.  It emphasizes that the actions of tyrants is to destroy education - exactly, I will point out, what the right-wing have been doing since the time of Sainted President Reagan. Hell, Reagan was pretty much a one-man war on education, and George W. Bush upped the ante in the War on the Poor (like he did on so many things) with his "No Child Left Unscrewed" program.

So,

• we have the irony that a wonderful quote, admonishing people to be educated as defense against The Tyrant, is attributed to a person possibly even more vile and sick than Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly (stochatic terrorists that they are). 

• We have the irony that the guy pointing this out - being a smugass that he is - acting out the role of The Tyrant by being a conversation-stifling mocking jerk, as measured by the yardstick that his remark adds nothing at all to the conversation, but instead brings the conversation to a grinding halt and leaves a bad taste in the mouth of anyone not feeling like a selfish smugass prig (e.g. the rejoinder writer).

The morale of the tale: don't be a jerk. Conversation is important. The ability to be respectful while talking with someone is a sign of maturity. It is not a sign of weakness. Being respectful does not mean agreeing - there are many ways to respectfully disagree, and adults are very good at it.

Children - and jerks and tyrants bent on stopping conversation - confuse (or conflate) the argument with the person presenting it, thus making what should be a discussion about ideas into mere personal attacks.

Personal attacks - character assassination - are not valid ways to win an argument. They are merely ways to reveal you are too stupid to have an argument; that you can't win, so you try to undermine your foe instead. It's the post-pubescent verson of "Yeah, well you're a poopy-head!"

So, next time you hear someone like Rush Limbaugh, or Bill O'Reilly say "She's a whore and wants to get paid to have sex!" remember he's really just saying "I'm too stupid to refute her discussion points like a grown-up, so she's a poopy-head!"

Theological Thursday - Hope and Religion

"Religion."

Few things evoke so much passion as that word. Not even "sex" or "guns" or "gummit" evokes such passions as "religion."

Largely because people are Stupid.

("Stupid" being a natural force and/or a willful state of mind, while "stupid" is merely a problem of genetics or maybe the result of an injury.)

Religion can be broken down into two components: Faith and Dogma. Most people don't realize this composition, and even if someone explained to them that there is a difference, they'd still muddle it all up, and think that Faith and Dogma are the same thing, which they aren't.

So, [Religion = (Faith + Dogma)] AND [Faith ≠ Dogma].

(No, I'm not trying to use proper Logic symbology, I'm just trying to make clear my argument here by using symbols to differentiate the items.) 

Faith is the willingness to believe in that which cannot be proven, nor can it necessarily be sensed. Often it can be experienced, but that remains fuzzy, non-quantifiable, and non-reproducible.  (If it can be reproduced, then it can be quantified, and therefore does not require faith, since it can be proven or disproven, even if it cannot also be understood.)

Dogma is the proscription and checklist for how things are to be done; the Code of Conduct, if you will.  Dogma is what gets people into trouble. Dogma is what lets elitist bastards control the uneducated and ignorant (or maybe "hopeful" and "trusting") masses.

The greedElitist Opportunistic Pigs of the world have, throughout history, used Faith as the hook to pull people into Dogma.  "Your faith is weak unless you do the proper actions!"

So, the important thing is that we all get better educated, and learn to ask the question "Does That Even Make Sense?" so that we can separate the value of belief and hope from the bullshit of being hauled around by the nose and having our emotions and beliefs jerked around by dickwads that want to hurt us (or worse, get us to hurt ourselves).

She's not a bitch, if the real problem is you're being a dickwad

So, this woman (whom shall remain anonymous, lest the trolls decide she should be raped) wrote on her Facebook page

"At the concert I went to last night a man called me a 'bitch.' Not only to my face, but to his friends, and everyone else standing around him. He then proceeded to mock the way I was standing and how I looked. All because I asked him not to touch me after he purposely touched my hands and my jewelry. I even said please. Sometimes you can't win. I know much much worse things that have happened to my friends. Please, if you notice someone harassing a woman, ask them to stop. If you laugh along or even just say nothing, the perpetrator can take that as a sign that what he's doing is okay. I just wanted to enjoy the concert."

Okay, so here's the deal:  The Little Man who couldn't stop touching this woman was being a dickwad. This woman was not being a "bitch" for asking him to stop touching her. He had no right, nor privilege to be touching her. He had no right, nor privilege to be touching anyone.  By touching her, he violated her personal space. Hell, he was touching her jewelry, so she could have hauled off and punched him in the face and said "I felt threatened and concerned he was going to steal my jewelry."

My God, this woman is being unreasonably reasonable. She should not have to be reasonable about this. He was the violator. He was being a dick, and then decided to be a bigger dick by claiming victimization for not getting his way. I'm going to bet he was white. This reeks of "white man privilege." I bet this guy idolizes Rush Limbaugh, the ultimate perpetrator of "poor white man" bullshit.

NJ Governor Leads Charge in Fear Mongering. Again.

NJ Governor Leads Charge in Fear Mongering. Again. How the Hell does this guy keep getting elected??

In the age before Diebold Papertrail-less voting machines, with all their proven "bugs," and in the age before Anonymous explained why class warfare monach Karl Rove had his now infamous meltdown on Fox News when Governor Romney didn't magically win the election the same way his boy President Bush did, and in an age before chronic voter suppression disguised as "saving money" and "stopping the bad people from voting," I would have said "more people vote for him."

But, we don't live in that naive, innocent, and intended-by-the-Constitution age anymore, do we?

So, cynical bitch that I am, I am forced to take the heartbreakingly unpatriotic-yet-reasonable stance that Christie retains possession of the Governor's office through deceit, trickery, and graft, in addition to being able to spend more money than his opponents (well, being able to have more money spent on his behalf thanks to the Fascist Fuck-America Citizens United legal case rammed down our throats by the GOP-appointed judges on the Supreme Court).

Anti-Troll - self-righteousness

"I'm okay if you want to get all self-righteous on me. Just check and make sure your little three-legged pedestal isn't missing a fourth leg, before you do." 

- Icarus Loofem, Dec. 2012

J Kovach, Artist once called me the "Anti-Troll." I took that both as high compliment and serious responsibility. I believe she meant it in the context that I can be very generous when using my keen mind and insightful wit when paying compliments, thus boosting the self-esteem of those around me by reminding them of their good traits, and reminding them that people do notice, and do care.

I also took it to mean that I'm good at chewing up Internet trolls. I guess it's not hard, since the average Internet troll fights with the verbal skills of a fifth grader. I mean, there were even a couple I had to put on life support by carrying their side of the argument against me. It was kind of sad, but I was in a mood, and got so annoyed when they just fell apart before I even got warmed up. 

I've been meaning for ages to publish some of my rules for dealing with Internet trolls, and so I'll consider this post as the introduction to "Icarus's Guide To Eating Trolls," or something. I never really did decide on a title. I'm open to suggestions :)

First tip, as my self-citation implies is: listen to your opponent and deconstruct his arguments in a clear, concise fashion. Actually cite your opponent. Yes, this is a core tactic of Internet trolls, but they deliberately misquote. You can control the conversation and metaphorically knock them on their butts by simply pulling apart their own arguments in a calm, concise fashion, thus exaggerating and contrasting their snotty pettiness they are trying to bait you with.

Anyway, it's starting to rain and I have to drag the dog inside. Leave me feedback on what I can do to clarify and refine my prose and explanation.

As a last remark, if you haven't ever heard of J Kovach, go check her out, and her artwork, too :)

Love you guys!

Cliven Bundy is everything you hate about America

First off, what a horrible name. We could say "Oh, it's not his fault that's what his parents called him," Except that it is his fault. He's way beyond old enough to have chosen a less creepy name for himself. He's all grown up. At some point he decided to embrace that creepy name and make it his own.

So, now that we have established he's a big boy, and can make his own decisions about how to conduct himself, and is responsible for his own actions, let's get to the heart of the matter.

Cliven Bundy is the ringleader who stole more than a million dollars from his neighbors, and community. This isn't open to debate. He stole from you, me, Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, those Duck Dynasty guys, and even Mickey Mouse. Cliven Bundy is a freeloader and a thief.

Even worse, he is a freeloader and thief who is rich. This isn't open to debate. Poor people don't own any cows, let alone enough cows to steal a million dollars worth of grass from their neighbors.

Cliven Bundy is a rich freeloading thief who then acts put upon, and whines out a call for people to come and protect him from the bad men.

Poor naive sods answer this call, and rush to volunteer their aid to this wealthy freeloading thief, and do so at their own expense. Such that they tweet that they have lost their jobs and need assistance to care for their families - meaning rich white thief Cliven Bundy is not even paying them to protect him from the bad men.

Cliven Bundy is a rich white freeloading thief piece of shit excuse for a human being.

Cliven Bundy is not a patriot, not a hero, not anyone to admire, and certainly not someone worth pissing on your own family to help out.

.

Why Bing has suddenly become my new favorite search engine...

I'm not above being bought by stroking my ego. :-)  I was looking at my blog stats, and tried to figure out what search string could possibly be bringing people to my blog.  Well, here you go.  Hurray for Bing! ;-) (Screenshot 25-Oct-2014)