# Comments from people that have either shocked you or have left you pondering... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 27, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821 "2008-10-27T19:32:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/21 "2008-10-28T14:51:22Z")
When my ostensibly intelligent sister-in-law revealed last year that she not only still supported President Bush, but firmly believed that ultimately, history would exonerate him as our greatest president. :eek: I eventually reached up and closed my mouth by lifting my jaw and said, “I think we really need to change the subject.” ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/22 "2008-10-28T14:59:19Z")
> [@Chef\_Troy](#): > > When my ostensibly intelligent sister-in-law revealed last year that she not only still supported President Bush, but firmly believed that ultimately, history would exonerate him as our greatest president. > > :eek: > > I eventually reached up and closed my mouth by lifting my jaw and said, “I think we really need to change the subject.” Wow. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/23 "2008-10-28T15:08:11Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > This … > > [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10369074&postcount=27](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10369074&postcount=27) LOL! Come on- if I were a racist skinhead & was planning to attack a predominantly black high school, especially if it was an inner-city one, I’d definitely be concerned about armed resistance. It might be the one rational thought in an already effed-up plan. ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/24 "2008-10-28T15:14:51Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > I got into a discussion several years back with another doper regarding romanization of non-western names, in which he stated that how a person chooses to render their own name is completely irrelevant; how **he** (the doper) chooses to write it is the correct way. A couple of rounds of bewildered questioning confirmed that yes, he felt it was an unassailably rational position that he dictate to other fully-literate people how they should spell their own names. > > It was at that point I realized I was dealing with a completely alien form of thinking and let the matter drop. It’s made it impossible for me to take anything he’s said since then seriously, though. We had a rep called Daina (Day-na). At the end of the month I was paying out the commissions and hers didn’t seem to be enough. There was another rep called Diana (Dy-anna) in the books who was doing quite well, but I’d never heard of her. Who’s this Diana I asked. Oh - says the input clerk - that’s Daina - I can’t get my head around the spelling Daina so … ??? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/25 "2008-10-28T15:18:49Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > It might be the one rational thought in an already effed-up plan. “Okay, guys, we’ve planned this thing down to the colors of our shoelaces… Now let’s stop and _think_ for a minute.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/26 "2008-10-28T15:32:35Z")
Someone at work told me that even gay couples have a “male” and a “female” partner. I think she meant “masculine” and “feminine” and I could not wrap my mind around it. I once heard a Planned Parenthood protestor tell someone in all seriousness “Every woman regrets having an abortion and no woman regrets having her child adopted.” My mouth just fell open. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/27 "2008-10-28T16:18:44Z")
I was having a discussion on another forum about some animal abuse issue, maybe the marine puppy throwing video. I was in the uncomfortable position of defending the puppy murderer against people who thought that, you know, it was perfectly reasonable to demand that he be thrown off a cliff as well. I kept trying to figure out if they were just exaggerating their own outrage, so I was chipping down to the root of the problem. That’s when I asked point blank of one of the people I was arguing with: “If your dog and my daughter were in a car sinking in a lake, which one would you save?” And I was told, point blank, that he would save his dog. Because, you know, it was HIS dog, and he didn’t know my daughter from Adam. I died a little bit that day. ---
**Author:** ![ShelliBean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f9ae1b/32.png) [@ShelliBean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShelliBean)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/28 "2008-10-28T16:30:58Z")
> [@Caricci](#): > > A few months after my second trimester miscarriage my mom was hanging out with my then-toddler son and me and the toddler was acting up and I was exasperated. This caused mom to comment, “I often think it’s a good thing there won’t be a new baby in December.” Wow. Just… wow. The fact that you did not, at that moment, strike her is a testament to your restraint. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/29 "2008-10-28T20:13:49Z")
The conversation that I just had with my project manager left me a bit speechless. I won’t repeat the whole thing here, but this was a real gem: “If you work on that project for 2-3 days per month, that’s an entire week out of every month. If you add that up over the course of a year, that’s more than 50% of your time!” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/30 "2008-10-28T20:28:14Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Someone at work told me that even gay couples have a “male” and a “female” partner. I think she meant “masculine” and “feminine” and I could not wrap my mind around it. That actually used to be part of the standard psychological explanation for homosexuality. There was even a belief that you weren’t really gay if you didn’t “act the woman” in the encounter. That’s been debunked decades ago, but I’m not surprised the belief still might be hanging around. > [@steronz](#): > > And I was told, point blank, that he would save his dog. Because, you know, it was HIS dog, and he didn’t know my daughter from Adam. A friend of ours said something similar. Her daughter was allergic to dogs. When asked if she was going to get rid of her dogs, she said no, because she had them longer than the baby. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/31 "2008-10-29T01:45:28Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > And I was told, point blank, that he would save his dog. Because, you know, it was HIS dog, and he didn’t know my daughter from Adam. > > I died a little bit that day. Hey, there’s at least one person on the SDMB who would [sacrifice the _entire population of Australia_ to save just his kid](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9529288&postcount=27). And they vigorously (attempted) to defend their position when they were [Pitted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=458059), and a couple other people even agreed with them! Humanity can be pretty screwed up. ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/32 "2008-10-29T02:24:00Z")
> [@neutron\_star](#): > > Originally Posted by panache45 : \* > She insists that all dogs are male and all cats are female.\* > > From NewsRadio: > Quote: > Beth: All dogs are male, all cats are female. > Lisa Miller: Daisy is most definitely, and I mean definitely, a girl. > Max Lewis: We’re not disputing that. It’s not a matter of sex, it’s a matter of gender. > Lisa Miller: Sex and gender are the same thing. > Max Lewis: Not so. I definitely prefer sex to gender. > Lisa Miller: Well, seeing as you have neither, that must be very sad for you. Actually, I think i understand the rational behind that sort of thinking (or at least the newsradio one). The it’s a “matter of sex” thing is setting up basically the idea of male and female (basically the pitcher and the catcher- see above with the homosexuality explanation). This person may just be trying to explain that they view dogs as “male”- because dogs, including some females, have a tendency to hump things, and I’ve not really seen that behavior in cats. So perhaps that’s why all cats are females, as the caller has always observed various dogs humping other animals such as cats, but she’s not seen it the other way around. So therefore all dogs to her are the “males” in sex (the act that is), and the cats are all the “females” when it comes to sex. But I’m probably over thinking it. ---
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/33 "2008-10-29T03:23:29Z")
Background: I’ve been friends with one woman for a long time. This woman is really one of the smartest people I know regarding a lot of things (she’s got an excellent business sense, is great at reading people, good at evaluating situations, practical things like that). When it comes to other things, particularly regarding health and the body…not so much. So one night we were talking about Scientology and its various beliefs/teachings, like mistrust of psychiatry. She says that, while she disagrees with their _methods_, she thinks that Scientologists “are kind of right about that stuff”. Ok. She goes on to say that most of the pharmacology industry is a big scam, and how pills either don’t make a difference or end up making people’s problems worse. Well, that’s a little weird, but plenty of people are weird about the idea of pills. That wasn’t the crazy thing. She goes on to say… “I think that people can solve their problems if they really want to.” :dubious: She can’t be saying what I _think_ she’s saying, can she? I prod her a little bit. “So…people who have depression and schizophrenia can cure themselves…if they really want to.” “All that stuff is in people’s heads. Those people could get better if they really tried hard.” :eek: I keep going. “So what about people with high blood pressure, and asthma, and _cancer_? Can they cure themselves too?” Lo and behold, she says yes. “Those people can help themselves if they want to. People have that power within themselves, if they want to use it. It just depends how badly you want it.” I honestly can’t believe that this is coming from the mouth of an otherwise sensible, _sane_ person. I tell her that’s insulting to…just about everyone. Then she gets angry at me. Oh yes. “Well, it’s true. If you don’t believe it, you’re just blind.” Truly one of the weirder conversations I’ve ever had. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/34 "2008-10-29T06:14:21Z")
> [@Caricci](#): > > A few months after my second trimester miscarriage my mom was hanging out with my then-toddler son and me and the toddler was acting up and I was exasperated. This caused mom to comment, “I often think it’s a good thing there won’t be a new baby in December.” When I was a teen and my mom told me she was pregnant, apparently I said “what makes you think you can afford to have another kid?” 17 years later, my mom told me “you’re right, we couldn’t afford another kid”. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/35 "2008-10-29T06:26:39Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Someone at work told me that even gay couples have a “male” and a “female” partner. I think she meant “masculine” and “feminine” and I could not wrap my mind around it. Although there is not a great prevalence of 50s style roles (breadwinner and housewife), there is still a surprising (and exasperating to me) preponderance of segregation with regards to sexual position (“tops” and “bottoms”). :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/36 "2008-10-29T06:27:23Z")
> [@Waenara](#): > > Hey, there’s at least one person on the SDMB who would [sacrifice the _entire population of Australia_ to save just his kid](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9529288&postcount=27). > > And they vigorously (attempted) to defend their position when they were [Pitted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=458059), and a couple other people even agreed with them! > > Humanity can be pretty screwed up. Actually, I thought I had an answer or two to this question until I read that thread. And then the full horror of what it actually means to be ‘human’ hit me like a two tonne truck. As a wise man once said, the human race is a bad, BAD species. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/37 "2008-10-29T12:41:06Z")
Someone on another board I frequent is spreading outrageous lies about her health. Normally I wouldn’t care about it. I don’t know this person in real life and it doesn’t affect me. But recently this person started claiming she had cancer and went into great detail about treatments including implantation of radioactive material, chemo, etc. Then after a few weeks (yep, just a few weeks, that’s how long it takes to do all that treatment :rolleyes:), she blithely stated that the biopsy said that the tumors were benign all along. Guess all those treatments were for nothing! Better safe than sorry! The thing is, this person knows that I spent most of last year taking care of my mom who was dying of cancer. Every single treatment she claimed to have had, my mom had. She never said one word of sympathy to me the entire year. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/38 "2008-10-29T13:08:35Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > This guy I work with was “explaining” to me all about how only like 2% of gay men are REALLY gay, and only the REALLY flaming ones of course, so you couldn’t be you know, like muscle-y or Rock Hudson or anything like that. :rolleyes: And then he went on to say “Oh and all these people who say they’re Bi-Sexual are just confused and lesbians are turned that way by abuse and bad experiences with men and a lot of lesbian couples don’t even have sex with each other.” :smack: > > I almost told him “You are watching the WRONG PORN.” Awesome response! ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/39 "2008-10-29T13:09:25Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I have a cousin who is in her mid-to-late 50s. She insists that all dogs are male and all cats are female. **I** happen to say that myself, but it’s a comment on respective species’ collective personality and temperament, not the mechanics of reproduction. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821/40 "2008-10-29T13:15:44Z")
Durned edit window timeout. An aunt of mine once stated that whales aren’t animals, because they’re mammals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comments-from-people-that-have-either-shocked-you-or-have-left-you-pondering/469821.md?page=3)