Disqus - Latest Comments for paideuma

Re: http://blog.fousheezy.com/post/754488375

N. B. Blanchet — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:32:25 -0000

I wonder if I can include that in the essay portion on tomorrow's "Sex and Gender in Society" midterm. Think it will go over well?

Re: Experiments With the Highly Reactive Chemical Compound Hitchens

N. B. Blanchet — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:09:27 -0000

@Demon
I saw a great writeup of the exploration of your question on http://scienceblogs.com/ins... .

In my personal usage, I define woo loosely as "assertions that betray magical/non-critical thoughts often phrased in language that sounds scientific". In that sense, I would exclude a lot of traditional religious justifications; however, some skeptics and atheists use "woo" to encompass religious assertions as well.

Mentally, when I think of woo, I always picture the "herbalist" that my mother took me too when I was a boy. She looked into my eyes with a magnifying glass and announced that I needed "the juice of 7 carrots and 1 stalk of celery" as well as a "tablespoon of cayenne pepper" every day. Her justification came from her "expertise" in "understanding" the structures of the iris and how they betray my "inner equilibrium".

If I can imagine her saying it, it's woo.

Re: Religion Undermines Democracy

N. B. Blanchet — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:40:42 -0000

Hm. While I tend to want to move beyond the Bush years, your comparison triggered a thought. Right now Obama is getting a lot of criticism from within his own party. He's not __ enough. He doesn't pay enough attention to __. He hasn't __ to the extent he should have by this point.

Bush, being anointed by אֱלהִים [God] (specifically יהוה [Elohim]) himself (or was it יְהוֹשֻׁעַ [Jesus] instead?), enjoyed a lot of uncritical support from "his base." One wonders if moderates, especially young moderates, got used to this, and wonder why Obama doesn't have the same, suspecting that the lack is somehow a bad sign?

Hmmm. Or does he lack a blind following? Obama may have the same type of support among US blacks that Bush had in white Evangelicals. I'm having a hard time finding reputable sites to give the raw data, but the general buzz is that the national average approval rating for Obama is between 45–50%, while among US blacks it's 90–95%.

Assuming this to be true, would you consider this overwhelming, [potentially] uncritical support to also be bad? If not, why? If so, what would you attribute this subversion of reason to and how does its severity compare to religion's similar subversion of reason?

Re: Jay Dolan dot net - Relaxing on a Friday afternoon. No, it doesn’t...

N. B. Blanchet — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:55:29 -0000

:D It's a kitty!

Re: They Call Me Fousheezy - Gimme Gimme Gimme by the A*Teens This is a song...

N. B. Blanchet — Mon, 04 May 2009 13:07:29 -0000

Uh, John. You do know that A*Teens didn't do this song, right? It was ABBA. Call me crazy, but I like the original better. Grown women singing just sound better to me then tweens.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: They Call Me Fousheezy - I’m sure I don’t know everything about this...

N. B. Blanchet — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 22:19:18 -0000

As my good, Israeli friend says, "Israel is a tiny country surrounded by enemies."

Like you, I'm not always super enthused about Israel's "proactive" approach to attacks on their nation, but I can't offer any better advice. Unlike the USA where we are relatively isolated from those who would destroy us--I mean those who outright say, "We wish to wipe you off the face of the planet"--Israel shares a boarder with 3-4 of them (depending on boarder disputes).

In a situation like that, Israel--perhaps rightly--feels a strong urge to "hit them back harder" thus decreasing the incentive to attack them. It's that old logic: "If you hit me, I'll hit you 10 times harder". Not particularly "evolved," but I think it's important to look at it in context.

Examine Israel's civil rights and social responsibilities practices and you'll find them VERY progressive. They've extremely pro-gay for a country, and they're an explicitly religious state at that! They've got socialized medicine, a much smaller spread between highest and lowest incomes, etc. Those are all usually signs of a pretty socially-minded nation.

So I'm with you on the, "Israel, is that really necessary?" stance, but I can't tell them they're wrong. Israel gives the thinking man an ulcer.