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Ahtman wrote: I can't tell if you are being sarcastic about Cornell West or not.
He is legitimately hilarious for reasons that he does not intend. Also, the hair.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
biccat wrote:
I agree that bad skepticism exists, and so does good skepticism. But it's not a legitimate argument in this case because Maher isn't saying "skeptics of climate change are bad people," he's demeaning all skepticism:
Worse than the people who volunteer too much information, though, are the ones who constantly demand more of it. The people who, no matter the quality or quantity of evidence presented to them, say it isn’t enough.
I read that as demeaning only bad skepticism because of the emphasis placed on the quality and quantity of information.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/05/07 20:17:26
Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh.
The fabrication and skewing of data on climate change hasn't exactly helped the climate change/global warming brigade!
Vaccination deniers are entitled to not vaccinate their kids but frankly they're idiots. The actual negatives (as in the %age that will react and the much smaller %age that will die from it) are far outweighed from the benefits - i.e. not getting serious diseases!
At the end of the day, Bill Maher is a comedian with some a turn of phrase, some paper thin political arguments, and a really large ego. I think more than anything he's trading on Jon Stewart's reputation, in basing his comedy in real political insight Stewart may have accidentally caused people to assume that other comedians must have some actual insight at the core of their punchlines. Maybe some do, but Maher doesn't.
None of which means that ignorant movements that attempt to deflect criticism with claims of skepticism are in any way acceptable. It doesn't matter if it's birther, anti-vaccinations, or whatever the hell warpcrafter is talking about. We just need people better than Bill Maher to take on the problem.
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
Phototoxin wrote:The fabrication and skewing of data on climate change hasn't exactly helped the climate change/global warming brigade!
There hasn't actually been any fabrications or skewing of data. "Climategate" was a farce propagated by people who either didn't understand what they were looking at, had ulterior motives, or both.
Vaccination deniers are entitled to not vaccinate their kids
No, they're not. Doing so not only poses a hazard to their own children, but to those of people who did vaccinate them, since the diseases can mutate in the unvaccinated host to the point where they're different enough that they can infect people vaccinated against the original. That's basically the issue with the various flues: there are so many variant strains, that mutate so rapidly, the best that can be done is to vaccinate against the few dominant strains in any given year. When people don't vaccinate their kids, that could happen with much, much worse diseases/
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/05/09 09:18:32
Phototoxin wrote:Vaccination deniers are entitled to not vaccinate their kids
No, they're not. Doing so not only poses a hazard to their own children, but to those of people who did vaccinate them, since the diseases can mutate in the unvaccinated host to the point where they're different enough that they can infect people vaccinated against the original. That's basically the issue with the various flues: there are so many variant strains, that mutate so rapidly, the best that can be done is to vaccinate against the few dominant strains in any given year. When people don't vaccinate their kids, that could happen with much, much worse diseases/
Diseases can mutate anyway so I don't think that's an argument. Protection of the childs health should be the reason. They are legally entitled, however I would think that they have a moral obligation to protect their child including such things as vaccinations.
Phototoxin wrote:Vaccination deniers are entitled to not vaccinate their kids
No, they're not. Doing so not only poses a hazard to their own children, but to those of people who did vaccinate them, since the diseases can mutate in the unvaccinated host to the point where they're different enough that they can infect people vaccinated against the original. That's basically the issue with the various flues: there are so many variant strains, that mutate so rapidly, the best that can be done is to vaccinate against the few dominant strains in any given year. When people don't vaccinate their kids, that could happen with much, much worse diseases/
Diseases can mutate anyway so I don't think that's an argument. Protection of the childs health should be the reason. They are legally entitled, however I would think that they have a moral obligation to protect their child including such things as vaccinations.
There is a debate going on right now on whether or not denying vaccinations constitutes child abuse.
H.B.M.C. wrote:
"Balance, playtesting - a casual gamer craves not these things!" - Yoda, a casual gamer.
Three things matter in marksmanship -
location, location, location
MagickalMemories wrote:How about making another fist?
One can be, "Da Fist uv Mork" and the second can be, "Da Uvver Fist uv Mork."
Make a third, and it can be, "Da Uvver Uvver Fist uv Mork"
Eric
Phototoxin wrote:Diseases can mutate anyway so I don't think that's an argument. Protection of the childs health should be the reason. They are legally entitled, however I would think that they have a moral obligation to protect their child including such things as vaccinations.
Sure, they're legally allowed to refuse vaccination for their children. But society's concern over granting government the authority to mandate injections doesn't mean there is any justification for actually refusing a vaccination for your child.
And yes, their moral obligation is to their own children, which means they should do what they can to make sure their child doesn't die of measels, or suffer through hooping cough. Instead of placing those concerns first and foremost, they play games about being smarter than the medical profession, and those silly fantasies are getting kids sick, and increasing the chance that they might die.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2011/05/10 05:38:53
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
