# A history lesson with PumaClaw **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 17, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-lesson-with-pumaclaw/143260 "2002-12-17T04:58:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-lesson-with-pumaclaw/143260/61 "2002-12-22T08:26:18Z")
Only if he comes into the Pit, **SmileyDeath**. Not everyone comes here – bad language for one reason, I suspect. **PumaClaw** seems, on cursory scan, to be a GD-type of poster, not a rough-an’-tumble Pitter. ---
**Author:** ![Melandry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Melandry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melandry)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-lesson-with-pumaclaw/143260/62 "2002-12-22T14:16:59Z")
There was a link placed in the thread for him (on page 3, I believe) but I don’t thnk the Pit’s the place for Puma. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-lesson-with-pumaclaw/143260/63 "2002-12-22T18:17:20Z")
I don’t think Puma’s the type to take on the amount of people who are participating in this thread. He seems content with the amount in the Native American thread. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-lesson-with-pumaclaw/143260/64 "2002-12-23T07:53:12Z")
**Meatros** wrote, > [@](#): > > I have the sneaking suspicion that Puma is a college kid with a cause. That’s not very nice. I’ve known a lot of college kids with causes and they’re not all close-minded racists. 🙂 I have no idea how **PumaClaw** would do in college anyway. How could you pass a philosophy class if you felt Soccrates was irrelevant? How could you pass a math class if you thought understanding the world through numbers was the folly of another ethnic group? As **Melandry** pointed out, there is a link here on page 3 of the Native America thread (placed there by **hawthorne** ). I was torn about putting one there. I certainly wasn’t going to email PumaClaw, and I didn’t feel like posting in that thread either (I simply don’t think the inferiority of white people is matter for _debate_), but it seemed like he should be informed. Oh well, thanks to hawthorne for putting it up. ---
**Author:** ![Pythagras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/45deac/32.png) [@Pythagras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pythagras)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-lesson-with-pumaclaw/143260/65 "2002-12-23T08:07:44Z")
> [@](#): > > I have no idea how PumaClaw would do in college anyway. How could you pass a philosophy class if you felt Soccrates was irrelevant? Many philosophy classes are not structured around the nature of western philosophy. I’ll grant that he couldnt pass a western philosophy class w/o knowing a few things about Socrates. However, if you took a class where the point was to get people thinking about philosophical questions, have people question their assumptions about knowledge, reality, and the like, then you could quite possibly get by by being an original thinker. > [@](#): > > How could you pass a math class if you thought understanding the world through numbers was the folly of another ethnic group? Well, it is… but one accepted methodology of the modern ages to get at ‘truth’ is empiricism involving mathematics. It wasnt until a few hundred years ago that you could drag scientists, really European “natural philosophers” off their intellectual precipices and get their hand dirty with the hands-on activities of craftsman with the mathematics of businessman yielding modern science(vast oversimplification) Much of the rest of the world has adopted this viewpoint that knowledge can be gained through this sort of hands-on experimentation and quantification, but it is mostly indicative of the west. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-lesson-with-pumaclaw/143260/66 "2002-12-23T08:17:09Z")
**Pythagras** , thanks for your reply. It looks like we are in agreement about a lot of things. I’m going to read it again when I am less sleepy. ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-lesson-with-pumaclaw/143260/67 "2002-12-23T12:40:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Boris B \* > **Meatros wrote, > That’s not very nice. I’ve known a lot of college kids with causes and they’re not all close-minded racists. 🙂** Yeah you’re right, I suppose my stereotype is actually what I’m railing against. I still think that Puma is just doing this out of a passing interest and won’t stick with it/do anything constructive or learn all the facts involved. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Boris B \* > I have no idea how **PumaClaw** would do in college anyway. How could you pass a philosophy class if you felt Soccrates was irrelevant? How could you pass a math class if you thought understanding the world through numbers was the folly of another ethnic group? \*\* It’s called a major in “Art”. I’m not cutting on “Art” majors, but using it as an example that there are degrees out there that don’t require much philosophy or math. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Boris B \* > As **Melandry** pointed out, there is a link here on page 3 of the Native America thread (placed there by **hawthorne** ). I was torn about putting one there. I certainly wasn’t going to email PumaClaw, and I didn’t feel like posting in that thread either (I simply don’t think the inferiority of white people is matter for _debate_), but it seemed like he should be informed. Oh well, thanks to hawthorne for putting it up. \*\* Wouldn’t that be an interesting Great Debate title. “The inferiority of White People”. I bet it would prompt a lot of discussion:D ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2002, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-lesson-with-pumaclaw/143260/68 "2002-12-23T12:46:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Meatros \* > \*\* > It’s called a major in “Art”. I’m not cutting on “Art” majors, but using it as an example that there are degrees out there that don’t require much philosophy or math. > \*\* Woohoo! Another appropriate time for a **Red Dwarf** quote! I’m on a roll! Rimmer “You? How did you get into art college?” Lister “The normal way you get into art college, the same old usual boring normal way you get in: I failed my exams and applied - they snapped me up.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-history-lesson-with-pumaclaw/143260.md?page=3)