Quickies!

Subject: Re: Quickies! Mon Sep 20, 2010 7:55 pm

Argent wrote:

I do recall a thread from a few months ago where some FDR members finally realized the term UPB meant different things in different contexts (I think they picked up on two of them). They even proposed a name scheme to differentiate between them. The thread died out though, and the name scheme didn't make it out alive.

Anyway, I think this practice of using the same term for different meanings, all within the same argument and without calling attention to the changes in definition, is one of Stefan's most commonly-used tricks, and this is a classic example. The more attention that can be drawn to it, the better. Keep up the good work!

So is that an ad homonym rather than an ad hominem?!!

Subject: Re: Quickies! Tue Sep 21, 2010 3:07 am

QuestEon wrote:

Back from break---May-Sep 2010 Quickies!

"Mad Men" in philosophy, I apologize to Molyneux, Detonating self-detonating UPB arguments, Daniel Mackler storms the evil Fraternity of Parents!

It's all right here!

Note from the FDR Liberated Hypocrisy Dept.--right in the middle of my bit about Molyneux "borrowing" other ideas, I "borrowed" Exy's joke about being FOC'ed. And so it goes... (But thanks, Exy!)

Fascinating observations by QuestEon.

By the way, the link to Gorshin and The Riddler isn't working but I don't think Molyneux is responsible this time.

Number of posts: 842 Registration date: 2008-03-25

Patience wrote:

By the way, the link to Gorshin and The Riddler isn't working but I don't think Molyneux is responsible this time.

That was such an inside, self-indulgent joke, a good editor would have removed that line anyway! Do you remember that I used to have an avatar that was a photo of The Riddler? The site I linked to belongs to that clown who threatened to bring the Supreme Court down on us because of it. But you're right--it seems to be down today. I've just edited that line out of the post. :-)

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Number of posts: 842 Registration date: 2008-03-25

Conrad wrote:

1. I didnt quite understand your analysis of the podcast about how many children are abused. Does he say that *all* parents are currently abusing their children? (when evaluated from the perspective of 100 years in the future (which btw is an appealing framework to think about things, but also one fraught with dangers))

The podcast was just rambling nonsense. He's firing them out with such frequency these days--I'd bet only the True Believers listen to them all.

This was another one that just seemed as if he rattled it off the top of his head. As if he simply recorded random musings while he was fixing the sink or something. (I think he's literally done that before.)

Sometimes, I think the most thought he gives to the podcasts is what to title them after he's finished recording. And all-too-often, the podcast NEVER pays the catchy title off. If you're going to do podcast on How Many Children Are Abused? then I want a number or percentage or some kind of quantity I can understand. I was having a little fun with that.

Instead, he projects his mind 100 years into the future and ticks off every abusive element he can imagine, which makes the podcast a sad little 11-minute collision of his various rants/perceptions of psychohistory, psychology, academia, philosophy, and, or course, parents.

In answer to your question, he specifically says "parents, in general" (and goes on to reveal that it is because philosophers have ignored ethics). Does that mean "all"?

Of course, he could never literally say all because "parents" now includes he, Christina, and the few parents who are FDR True Believers.

Part of the point of the podcast is that it almost doesn't matter if it's all parents since virtually everything else abuses children, too.

I wouldn't waste time listening to it, though.

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Number of posts: 514 Registration date: 2010-01-28

Nothing wrong with multitasking! I'm doing 3 different things at the moment. Razz

Rambling has its place as well -- in idle thought, or casual conversation with friends. But rambling unchecked into a podcast, pushing it into a feed and directly into the ears of thousands of people is another matter. Even if they're willing to pay for it, I question the ethics of it. I think a lot of his listeners listen to the podcasts in a drowsy state where they're not thinking critically about what he's saying. Couple that with the fact that the "conversation" is largely one-sided, and his ramblings become rather dangerous. I wouldn't feel good about the potential effects I might be having on people, anyway.

Subject: Re: Quickies! Tue Sep 21, 2010 11:32 am

QuestEon wrote:

Do you remember that I used to have an avatar that was a photo of The Riddler? The site I linked to belongs to that clown who threatened to bring the Supreme Court down on us because of it.

Sorry I spoiled the joke. I'd remembered that clown but I'd forgotten the strange avatar. I much prefer the current one.

Number of posts: 122 Registration date: 2010-02-08

I like the series. There is also a more recent TV movie with some of the actors, including one of the last shows for Frank Gerschwin. If you havent seen it, look for it.

MartinB

Number of posts: 98 Registration date: 2009-08-25

Thanks QuestEon! I always enjoy reading these!

Number of posts: 842 Registration date: 2008-03-25

Quickies! Oct 2010-May 2011--RTR and the death of empathy, Another UPB Smackdown!, There is no "cult of family," I'm two years ahead of you!, Liar, liar!

You probably won't find much here you don't already know. However, the very last bit is actually a hint about an article that is coming soon...

For whatever it's worth, my view on Molyneux keeps evolving. I'm not so sure I can continue the fair and balanced view going forward, but I'll work it out for myself in the article I'm writing now.

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Number of posts: 33 Registration date: 2011-01-31

As an aside, there seems to be a new thread for UPB criticisms by gmkd that is fast falling into inactivity, shut down by yet more vague non-arguments by UPB defenders. It is about Shahar's arguments.

Number of posts: 842 Registration date: 2008-03-25

Thanks! It's this one, right? You're right--there isn't much traffic, but those first two responses are hilariously self-deluded!

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Number of posts: 842 Registration date: 2008-03-25

So, after quite a bit of effort, especially programming that is WAY over my head, I have now completely reorganized Quickies! from the old format to the new.

One of the biggest problems was finding a menu system that looks nice and is user-friendly. I think what I have now is about 95% there.

I really like having them broken up into little articles now and it should be much easier on the users. I'm still not sure if I have the right categories, though, but I'll see what shakes out over time.

I don't know if the average reader can readily notice the split-personality I have created for my site--lengthy, researched stuff on the upper menu and little bits on the menu to the right. But maybe that doesn't matter.

For the first time, I'm not including a link to Liberating Minds at the end of the articles. There are over 30 Quickies! at this point, and it didn't seem to make sense to open up 30 separate discussion threads for them. I could have directed ALL conversation to this thread but that didn't seem like the right solution, either. So I didn't do nuthin'. I'm always interested in outside opinion on that kind of stuff, though.

Some Quickies! got a little touch-up here and there. A couple got substantially more of a rewrite. And I even snuck in a couple of totally new ones when no one was looking.

After the articles were split up, the original Quickie! was taken off-line. Therefore, none of the Quickie! links prior to this post work any longer.

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Number of posts: 514 Registration date: 2010-01-28

Ooh, a reason to go back and reread everything! (Your writing style adds a whole new layer of addictiveness to this saga Smile

)

Subject: Re: Quickies! Sun Jun 26, 2011 10:16 pm

QuestEon wrote:

And I even snuck in a couple of totally new ones when no one was looking.

Will there be a prize for the winner of the Spot The Difference competition?

Subject: Re: Quickies! Mon Sep 12, 2011 4:31 am

Conrad wrote:

QuestEon wrote:

Specifically, Dr. Perry’s research focused on “globally neglected children,” those suffering from severe malnutrition, very little social contact, etc. Some of them were so badly neglected that they “were raised in cages in dark rooms for the first years of their lives.”

It seems Molyneux is entirely misrepresenting Perry’s work to make his own points. I guess Neuroscientist Abuse is just as acceptable as Psychologist Abuse. In his defense, Molyneux would probably say that while the image is on-screen, he uses the word “neglect,” but he is clearly slipping it in as if it is part of Felitti’s work.

Not convinced, huh?

Then let’s freeze the YouTube image at 2:31 and compare it to the one on the Perry study I linked to. Notice something? That’s right, Molyneux blocked out the labels beneath the two brain scans, the one saying “Normal” on the left and the one saying “Extreme Neglect” on the right!

I guess Molyneux was afraid you’d worry yourself sick trying to understand what, if anything, that slide had to do with the point he was making about abuse. And that kind of thing could cause brain damage. So he just blocked it out so you wouldn’t be confused.

that's pretty misleading and pretty intentional

Still on the subject of developmental psychology, Stuart Derbyshire's article The pseudoscience of the parent-bashers is an interesting response to the misleading use of information by Molyneux and others.