Censorship is always a solution

The BBQ Pit
101

[QUOTE=Transcendence]
Because I have been wrongfully censored and I will not tolerate such a dishonest practice against my scholarship.
[/QUOTE]

Freedom of speech does not mean you have the right to offend the sensibilities of your host! Duh! :smack: Had you taken the time to make sense of the culture here, you would have been able to realize that there are doctors, nurses, computer techies, housewives, various engineers, machinists and many other representatives from all walks of life conversing here. I’m an artist. I’ve had some college, but ran out of money. I avidly read any National Geographics, and Discover magazines I can get my hands on, and read about any archeological finds and anthropological finds that cross my path as well. I’m self taught, but you cannot prove this is any less than the education you so proudly trumpet. You came here strutting and crowing about how you are better than others. I look at you and say “No, you are worth just as much as I am, so get over yourself!”

102

[QUOTE=Punoqllads]
WE MUST RE-ORBIT X-SOVIET ARMENIA FOR ALL-ONE-GOD P-ADIC TIMECUBE.
[/QUOTE]
Ha! Well, this maroon is in no danger of becoming a net.legend (or any other kind of legend).

(Everyone who is confused: Read “The Net.Legends FAQ” for enlightenment.)

103

[QUOTE=toadspittle]
(Yes, I know he’s probably gone or sulking, but still…)
[/QUOTE]

Highly doubtful. These threads never end like that.

Word to the unwise, Transcendence:

When one wishes to convince others that one is intelligent, one has two general options.

One can demonstrate it, or one can say it.

You have opted for option two.

This is problematic, in your case, as option two is rather useless in most circumstances, and even in those circumstances where it is useful it is invariably necessary to follow up with a demonstration - perhaps not immediately, but in a timely manner.

Which is where this falls apart for you, right here and right now.

You have eschewed demonstration, quite thoroughly.

Actually, to be honest, that’s putting it rather mildly. You have not only eschewed demonstrating your much touted intelligence, you have, by all appearances, actively chosen to demonstrate otherwise.

You rather consistently and severely misuse what we call ‘fifty dollar words’. And, even were you more consistently using them correctly, a properly educated person knows that one should use such words sparingly - to continue the analogy presented by the name, one should adhere to a linguistic budget. Never use a fifty dollar word when a fifty cent one will do.

Spending some linguistic capital on jargon in often unavoidable, and splurging for effect often desirable, of course. It’s what makes the English language so great.

But consistently and needlessly indulging in lexicographical* ‘bling’ makes one appear, not necessarily unintelligent or uneducated, but rather desperate to appear as more intelligent and educated than one really is. Add in misuse, and one gives rather the opposite impression to the one that one wishes to make.

  • Got it on sale. 25 bucks!
104

I must say, I prefer Eric Idle’s rage against the machine over this fellow’s gibbering.

105

[QUOTE=Transcendence]
I am not here to explain or educate in anyway. I am here to defeat and undermine your arguments. That’s the point of a debate is it not?
[/QUOTE]

No, that is the point of conquering via argument! Debate is an exchange of ideas, and an attempt to persuade the other participants to concede your points. This does not mean both parties do not come away from the debate having learned new facts. You are not a debater, you are an arguer. You really need to look at why you feel so inferior to others, and why you feel the need to conquer them, to make them submit. You can be competitive, without that. You’re not well, inside. Now that I’ve read more of your posts, I see that you don’t grasp that you have the same worth as anyone else. You want to prove yourself better than “them” because inside, you don’t feel worth as much as “them”. If you don’t want a stigma attatched to you, don’t engage in the VOLUNTARY actions that would cause such to darken your honor. Simple, eh? But it is too late for that, now you must cleanse the stain with actions, and it doesn’t look like you have made a very good start. You are proudly holding your stance, bitterly proclaiming you are right, and your tattered integrity blackens.

106

[QUOTE=Transcendence]
My GPA is 3.9.
[/QUOTE]

A good example of grade inflation.

[QUOTE=Transcendence]
I have been honest in listing my credentials.
[/QUOTE]

You misspelled cretintials.

[QUOTE=Transcendence]
You’re right I do not have a college degree to my name yet.
[/QUOTE]
When come back, bring pi.

107

[QUOTE=Transcendence]
I am not here to explain or educate in anyway. I am here to defeat and undermine your arguments. That’s the point of a debate is it not?
[/QUOTE]

Sparkie, you couldn´t debate into submission a rice pudding even if your life depended on it.
Your grandstanding and pseudo elocuent attempts at justifying yourself for calling someone a nigger may fill your ego with warm and fuzzy feelings (and boy, does it take a lot of warm and fuzzy to fill that bloated MoFo), but we are not impressed.

108

This thread was fantastic. I’m gonna miss him!

And I find it hilarious that someone who does not possess a college degree is spouting off that “his credentials are superior” to people with Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctorate’s.

It’s simple number substitution, if a BS is 1, not having a BS is less than 1. So anyone with a BS has a 1 and is obviously superior to him.

Of course, the same sentence could be recreated by replacing BS with “not an asshole”, thus making everyone on this board better than him.

Man, I’m gonna miss him!

109

Justhink, is that you?

[sub]This guy’s hilarious! Can we keep him? Pretty please with cherries on top?[/sub]

110

You gotta love any undergrad who refers to his ‘scholarship’. Thank god not even I was that much of an ass back then; I’m sure my professors would have taken me out back and kicked my ass.

111

[QUOTE=Transcendence]
How about some humor? I am about to be banned so why should I care about proper grammar.

I am college educated in philosophy and psychology. My GPA is 3.9. I scored in the 90th percentile on the verbal subsection on the GRE.

Your turn.
[/QUOTE]

Maybe you should ask for your money back.

112

[QUOTE=Anomalous Reading]
Racism doesn’t exist. It’s a construct.

Oh, and btw, if I spell a word backwards, it loses it’s offensiveness. See?

norom a si eh.
[/QUOTE]

Seems like he just started reading Sartre, then. Oh, to be a dumb college kid again… life was so much easier then.

113

I’d like to say something in partial defense of the OP.

It seems clear to me that the OP’s definition of the word debate actually stems from the tradition of formal debate, or as it’s called on Wikipedia “policy debate,” where each side is about attacking, disproving or finding flaws in the arguments of the opposition’s position. A quick review of the negation theory portion of the Wikipedia article shows more than a little support of this view of the goal of debating techniques.

So, I actually do believe that the OP has made a legitimate point when he claimed that debate is about destroying his opponent’s arguments.

The problem for the OP is that the Dope, and life in general, does not follow the rules of formal debate. And mistaking formal debate rules for rules on how to handle disagreements represents a major failure of judgment on the part of the OP. (Not, alas, his only such failure.) There are approximately three arena where I can see the rules of formal debate actually having some bearing. Most obviously is the courtroom, followed by arguments in the court of public opinion, and closely related to that - actual policy arguments within legislatures (Or parliaments, outside the US.).

I believe that the vast majority of the public, even the educated public, does not think of formal debate when they hear the word debate, rather they think of the exchange of ideas that others in this thread have mentioned as the ideal here on the Dope.

114

[QUOTE=DudleyGarrett]
Seems like he just started reading Sartre, then. Oh, to be a dumb college kid again… life was so much easier then.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, life was grand when I was 20 and knew everything. It was so nice not having to listen to anyone else because I knew it all.

Enjoy it Transcendence, it won’t last. Then again maybe in your case it will :rolleyes:

115

It’s a shame that he appears to have left us.

Just in case you’re still reading and plotting your revenge, this is why I am here.

I find the discussions in GD and Cafe Society interesting. They make me think, and often require me to research things I knew little about. A chance to feed the elephants child is always a good thing, in my opinion.

In addition, I enjoy reading the GQ forum. The regular experts that do post there always give good information. The amateurs here are also quite good, and usually are more than willing to provide citation for their opinions and the ideas they express.

This forum has a more diverse posting base than most that I have read, and the tolerance for “jerkiness” is fairly low, which I’m afraid you have probably learned the hard way.

On this board, nobody is automatically assumed to be better than anyone else based on schooling or degrees. It’s about what you say, how you say it, and if it can be backed up. That’s it. I’ve seen housewives debating legal opinions with actual lawyers, and doing well. I’ve seen posts about prison life from a prison doctor, with sidebars by a reformed ex-con giving the other side.

Of course, I’ve also seen threads about how best to prepare human meat, and how to recreate the foreskin after circumcision. But even there, the conversation is funny, and occasionally provides nuggets of wisdom.

Stick around, take off the intellectual cap, and just READ for a bit. Open your mind.

116

[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose]
Okay, who censored my post just now? Come on, admit it! You censored my post! And I hadn’t even posted it yet! You evil jackbooted Nazi thug moderators! You hacked into my computer, censored my post–and put all this porn on my computer, too! Stop that!

And quit touching my tinfoil. I got it adjusted just right, and I don’t need you fooling with it, it gets it out of whack.
[/QUOTE]

I love you Duck Duck Goose. Will you marry me?

117

Started reading the thread: OP was not yet banninated.
Got to page 2, OP was banninated.

I miss all the fun.

118

Now you’ve done it, folks- you’ve driven away our one chance at enlightenment.

[Dons Mod cape]
I’ve banned Transcendence, so (although the horse is out of the barn here) I’m going to lock this thread. He doesn’t sound like a dummy, but unfortunately he apparently didn’t understand the ‘jerk’ thing- or how people were going to react to being called stupid for disagreeing with him.
See the censorship inherent in the system?
[Doffs Mod cape]

-Marley
Who did well on the SATs and GRE, but slept through Philosophy.