# DrDeth is Pitted Again **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 17, 2025, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044 "2025-10-17T03:32:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/121 "2025-11-15T21:35:10Z")
Bound to be right, even by accident, some of the time. The issue is that he’s so far off most of the time that he could claim the sky is blue, and because of his record, I’d have to actually think about whether or not that’s true ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2025, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/122 "2025-11-15T21:37:17Z")
Even a clock is right twice a day.😆 ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2025, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/123 "2025-11-15T21:38:10Z")
The saying is about a “broken clock”. A working clock set to the wrong time is never right ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2025, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/124 "2025-11-15T21:39:29Z")
Oh yeah. Well you get the idea. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2025, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/125 "2025-11-15T22:09:08Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > A working clock set to the wrong time is never right Only if it keeps perfect time ! ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/126 "2025-11-16T02:09:39Z")
> [@DETXL](#): > > The second is it means that, while you might be capable of kicking off a discussion, you cannot meaningfully participate in it. You have not learned to do your own research, are unable to evaluate and contextualize sources, do not know how to identify the right lines of inquiry to pursue next and could not follow them even if you did. Yeah, I think this is one of his major problems. He hasn’t studied things in a depth enough to have a conversation. He just reads a factoid and blindly recites it, despite all evidence against it. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/127 "2025-11-16T05:30:37Z")
He’s getting his ass handed to him in the John Oliver / felony murder thread. He just won’t quit, and his lack of self-awareness can only be attributed to a major attack of Dunning-Kruger syndrome. I’ve pretty much given up but I’m glad to see others with the energy to continue making him look like an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/128 "2025-11-16T09:21:59Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > For a very loose definition of “LEO”. Kind of like how someone in the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service is a member of a “uniformed service”. Members of the Commissioned Corps of the Pubic Health Service are not loosely members of a uniformed service. They are valuable and dedicated members of one of [the eight uniformed services of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformed_services_of_the_United_States). I’m not sure how much credence DrD’s assertion to being any kind of LEO, federal, state, local, or imaginary, should be given. > [@DETXL](#): > > [calling some author he doesn’t like a terrorist](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/books-that-should-have-been-read-in-high-school/1022741/23) He’s confused. Abbey wasn’t a terrorist. He was an anarchist. [I’d love to read his master’s thesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Abbey). > [@](#): > > Abbey’s [master’s thesis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master%27s_thesis) explored [anarchism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism) and the [morality of violence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morality_of_violence), asking the two questions: “To what extent is the current [association between anarchism and violence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism_and_violence) warranted?” and “In so far as the association is a valid one, what arguments have the anarchists presented, explicitly or implicitly, to justify the use of violence?”. And if he’s up in arms about “nothing by a terrorist”, then perchance he should avoid the _Oxford English Dictionary_ what with the large number of submissions by [W. C. Minor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Chester_Minor). ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/129 "2025-11-16T13:58:12Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > He just won’t quit, and his lack of self-awareness can only be attributed to a major attack of Dunning-Kruger syndrome. Either that or just “My ego just can’t let the last word be an accusation I’m wrong.” Our other frequent flier **Magiver** is prone to the same sort of “just can’t quit” doom loop. Or is that dumb loop? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/130 "2025-11-16T15:08:35Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > > [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > > > For a very loose definition of “LEO”. Kind of like how someone in the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service is a member of a “uniformed service”. > > Members of the Commissioned Corps of the Pubic Health Service are not loosely members of a uniformed service. They are valuable and dedicated members of one of [the eight uniformed services of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformed_services_of_the_United_States). > > I’m not sure how much credence DrD’s assertion to being any kind of LEO, federal, state, local, or imaginary, should be given. See, I’m actually allowing that DrD might actually have been some sort of LEO, according to a very technical definition that most people would never use in practice. And that I suspect most people would expect to be laughed at for too loudly asserting their membership in the broader category (be it “uniformed service” or “law enforcement”). I mean, is that how members of the commissioned corps of the PHS go around identifying themselves? “Hi, I’m Jack, a member of the uniformed services” and confronting their furrowed brows of their new acquaintances, or do you suppose they just say “Hi, I’m Jack. I work for the Public Health Service”? IANAMOTPHS, but I’d suspect the latter. DrD, though? He’d be full on “I’m DrD, a member of a uniformed service. Just like a soldier or a marine. You know my dad was on Doug MacArthur’s staff in WWII? He was amember of a uniformed service too…” ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/131 "2025-11-16T17:58:44Z")
Maybe DrDeth was a process server for the Treasury dept/IRS, if they handled process-serving in-house back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/132 "2025-11-16T18:01:40Z")
I work for a government agency and so I could accurately tell people I’m a government agent. Now, I’m am IT guy who works for state government, but it’s still true in a technical sense. But I don’t go around telling people I’m a government agent, because that would be misleading since most people associate that label with a completely different kind of role than what I do. And I’d really feel like an ass if I did. ---
**Author:** ![Dogchow1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@Dogchow1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogchow1)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/133 "2025-11-16T19:08:49Z")
Wow. I’m new here. I have no idea what being “pitted” is. Nor do I know who DrDeth or Stranger\_on\_A\_Train are. What the thread is about, or if I’m even replying correctly to Stranger. But you, Sir or Madam, have brilliantly crafted a museum quality insult worthy of multiple readings for the sheer joy of it. Well done and am humbled to have read it! I need to go splash water on my face to recover. ---
**Author:** ![Dogchow1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a587f6/32.png) [@Dogchow1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogchow1)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/134 "2025-11-16T19:12:11Z")
Wow. I’m new here. I have no idea what being “pitted” is. Nor do I know who DrDeth or Stranger\_on\_A\_Train are. What the thread is about, or if I’m even replying correctly to Stranger. But you, Sir or Madam, have brilliantly crafted a museum quality insult worthy of multiple readings for the sheer joy of it. Well done and am humbled to have read it! I need to go splash water on my face to recover. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2025, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/135 "2025-11-16T19:35:49Z")
Double posting is highly offensive! You will now be “pitted”! Kidding😉 ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/136 "2025-11-17T03:07:36Z")
DrDerp is still at it in that same thread, and is now contradicting himself. The fact that one of the felony murder convictions mentioned by John Oliver was overturned on appeal is either extremely important or not important at all, depending on what argument DrDerp is facing at any given moment. I swear, there’s something seriously wrong with that boy. BTW, I join in the kudos to @DETXL – a very astute and well-written post. ---
**Author:** ![DETXL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/detxl/32/19366_2.png) [@DETXL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DETXL)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/137 "2025-11-17T09:29:11Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > He just won’t quit, and his lack of self-awareness can only be attributed to a major attack of Dunning-Kruger syndrome. This is also what makes his obsession with debunking so maddening, because it’s not _quite_ trolling, even if it has the same end result, so you almost want to try and fix it. He doesn’t want to say something to get a rise out of you, he wants to say something wrong enough to be correctable, so that when you correct him he can introduce a new bit of trivia to be even more wrong about. Like, [in this thread about taking trophies from your enemies](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-us-military-is-it-forbidden-or-considered-dishonorable-to-relieve-a-dead-enemys-corpse-of-his-valuables/1024167), you are _supposed_ to assume that’s an oversight resulting from limited coverage of the Eastern Front in American schools and explain: “it was called the Continuation War, and whether it was effective, necessary, or even justified continues to be an open question in Finnish history, particularly given Finland’s unique position in the Cold War that followed.” Any other poster, up to and including Discobot, would say “oh, huh, okay.” I am quite sure that DrDeth—having seen a book called _Did Finland invade the Soviet Union?: A new perspective on that time Finland definitely allied with Nazi Germany, declared war on, and invaded the Soviet Union, 1941–1944_ but not yet gotten as far as the subtitle—is _aching_ for you to utter the words “Continuation War.” However, since nobody took the bait, I imagine we can look forward to a series of increasingly provocative claims over the next few years until at last “Finland allied with the Nazis” shows up as a marquee myth in one of his historical inaccuracies threads and someone finally gets irritated enough to shut it down. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/138 "2025-11-17T10:37:08Z")
Excellent armchair psychology. Well done! I’m going to suggest that, _very_ loosely speaking, an attraction to debunking is akin to an attraction to Conspiracy Theories (“CT”). They both arise from a desire to live in a world where most folks are misled, but not you; you’re smarter and better informed than the _hoi polloi_. And you can lord it over them at every opportunity and then retreat into your impervious shell of knowing superiority whenever called on it. Call debunking the Good side and CTing the Dark side of the same motivating psychological Force. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/139 "2025-11-17T17:18:48Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > They both arise from a desire to live in a world where most folks are misled, but not you; you’re smarter and better informed than the _hoi polloi_. It’s kind of like the appeal of gnosticism; having special knowledge most people don’t. Except you want to share it, not keep it a secret (and thus also show off in sharing it). ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044/140 "2025-11-18T01:21:10Z")
He’s gone off again in the Food Banks thread. Fucking idiot has derailed a potentially useful and informative thread on a topic near to my heart. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drdeth-is-pitted-again/1024044.md?page=8)