# anyone a regular on the Ron Paul forums? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 9, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182 "2012-09-09T11:46:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/1 "2012-09-09T11:46:58Z")
I’m wondering what the Ron Paul forum is like - but not enough to actually read there. :o seriously, if all it’s going to do is raise my blood pressure I’d rather skip it. but I know a woman who is there regularly and has been for years now. so if it’s worth reading - can I learn something? is there actual debate like here? whats the moderation like? - I’d like to know. I’m starting on the assumption that I disagree with RP himself over a lot of things but not necessarily everything, for what that’s worth. [http://www.ronpaulforums.com/](http://www.ronpaulforums.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/2 "2012-09-09T15:11:41Z")
Whenever a Google search (on a variety of topics) has pointed me towards something posted in a Ron Paul forum, it’s been something in the loony denialist/conspiracy line (antivax sentiments, the Deadly Aspartame Plot etc.). So I have zero desire ever to participate. ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/3 "2012-09-09T22:04:27Z")
so, I was _forced_ to go read over there _grump_ a mix, is what I found. there was a thread about the latest “organic doesn’t matter” story and I liked some of what I read. it’s a different neighborhood, that’s for sure. [thread](http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?389062-Do-you-buy-organic-food-New-York-Times-writer-calls-you-a-delusional-cult-member.../page7) ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/4 "2012-09-09T22:27:04Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > so, I was _forced_ to go read over there _grump_ > > a mix, is what I found. > > there was a thread about the latest “organic doesn’t matter” story and I liked some of what I read. > > it’s a different neighborhood, that’s for sure. > > [thread](http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?389062-Do-you-buy-organic-food-New-York-Times-writer-calls-you-a-delusional-cult-member.../page7) Actually, 1st post in that thread (OP) is exactly how I felt when I read NY Times piece. That someone can write such a piece and have it published in NY Times is nothing short of shocking. But, yeah, it’s RP Forums so they must be on drugs or something. And this is NY Times. I have yet to see “a serious” media outlet calling NY Times piece author on the things he wrote. Otherwise, carry on… ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/5 "2012-09-09T22:35:17Z")
Just to add… I read some of the NY Times article comments and the criticism is exactly the same. However, the image of “NY Times” and “Organic fable” are forever etched in the mind of the weak and nothing will take that back. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/6 "2012-09-09T22:53:09Z")
[The EnoughPaulSpam subreddit points to a lot of threads on active Ron Paul forums, describing them so you can get a flavor without actually reading the idiocy.](http://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughPaulSpam/) Paul supporters can be a _special_ bunch. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/7 "2012-09-09T22:54:17Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > That someone can write such a piece and have it published in NY Times is nothing short of shocking. Why? Do you think it’s factually incorrect? ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/8 "2012-09-09T23:16:20Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Why? Do you think it’s factually incorrect? Facts have nothing to do with it. It has to do with the way Stanford meta-research is presented in the media and this NY Times column being a typical representative of how to misdirect and misrepresent. If you bothered to read OP from externally linked thread you would not ask a question like that. Just one simple thing - organic food movement WAS NEVER about being more nutritional but that is the most prominent “debunking” that according to NY Times is a result of Stanford meta-research. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/9 "2012-09-09T23:21:12Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > Facts have nothing to do with it. And we’re done! Thank you and goodnight, and don’t forget to tip your waitress. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/10 "2012-09-09T23:35:14Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > And we’re done! > > Thank you and goodnight, and don’t forget to tip your waitress. Wow… don’t you feel good winning an Internet discussion? :rolleyes: > [@Ny Times Article](#): > > Organic has long since become an ideology, the romantic back-to-nature obsession of an upper middle class able to afford it and oblivious, in their affluent narcissism, to the challenge of feeding a planet whose population will surge to 9 billion before the middle of the century and whose poor will get a lot more nutrients from the two regular carrots they can buy for the price of one organic carrot. > … > Still, the organic ideology is an elitist, pseudoscientific indulgence shot through with hype. There is a niche for it, if you can afford to shop at Whole Foods, but the future is nonorganic. > … > Logically, the organic movement should favor genetically modified produce. If you cannot use pesticides or fertilizers, you might at least want to modify your crops so they are more resilient and plentiful. But that would go against the ideology and romance of a movement that says: We are for nature, everyone else is against nature. How’s this based on facts? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/11 "2012-09-09T23:39:01Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > How’s this based on facts? That’s entirely based on facts. You just don’t like the phrasing. Also: **Organic has always claimed to be about health. Claiming otherwise is dishonestly shifting the goalposts.** ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/12 "2012-09-10T00:13:01Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > . . . Also: **Organic has always claimed to be about health. Claiming otherwise is dishonestly shifting the goalposts.** Sure…but there’s nothing wrong with changing a viewpoint and going forward with it. Trying to change the past, that’s dishonest. But if they say, “Oh, also, we’ve discovered these additional benefits,” that isn’t changing the goalposts, that’s just progress. If “organic” agriculture were, somehow, shown to increase yields, offering hope for starving populations, that’d be nice. We know already that yields can be increased by switching from beef production to pork or chicken production; reduces water consumption too. I’m very dubious, because I think the term “organic” isn’t sufficiently well defined. Some people mean it to involve no fertilizer; others interpret it differently. Some people take it to mean no pesticides; others differ. And some say that it is absolutely inconsistent with genetically modified crops, while others disagree completely. (Why should GM plants not be “organic?” They’re plants, aren’t they?) If they really want to talk science, that’s great. Far as I’ve ever seen, the “organic” movement was made up of large chunks of wet woo. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/13 "2012-09-10T00:15:11Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > That’s entirely based on facts. You just don’t like the phrasing. > > Also: **Organic has always claimed to be about health. Claiming otherwise is dishonestly shifting the goalposts.** You want facts? Well, the primary driver for organic food was ALWAYS and EVER use of pesticides. > [@](#): > > the Stanford researchers concluded that 38 percent of conventional produce tested in the studies contained detectable residues, compared with 7 percent for the organic produce. > … > They also noted a couple of studies that showed that children who ate organic produce had fewer pesticide traces in their urine. > … > The scientists sidestepped the debate over whether the current limits are too high. > … > The organic produce also contained more compounds known as phenols, believed to help prevent cancer, than conventional produce. That’s all there is to it. Stop right here. That’s all I’m interested in. On one side very close to half and on another less than 10 percent. And then someone writes an article interpreting results as a big “debunking” win against organic food. Nothing short of incredible! However, I’ll leave to others to argue non-issues using fine elements of rhetoric in English ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-a-regular-on-the-ron-paul-forums/634182/14 "2012-09-10T00:53:34Z")
> [@newcomer](#): > > You want facts? > > Well, the primary driver for organic food was ALWAYS and EVER use of pesticides. Wow. Big claim without anything to back it up. I remain unsurprised. Also, no facts about whether any of the non-organic crops were actually harmful. Just fear-mongering. **Trinopus** makes a good point about ‘organic’ being badly-defined and about the woo that attached to it.