# Fighting ignorance for...50 years

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-ignorance-for-50-years/991406>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [October 11, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-ignorance-for-50-years/991406 "2023-10-11T15:11:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-ignorance-for-50-years/991406/1 "2023-10-11T15:11:11Z")

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So…February of this year marked 50 years since the original Straight Dope newspaper column started.  
Some basic searching failed to turn up any extant threads (though I’m sure it’s just I’m lousy at searching…I’m not so far off 50 myself…)

Anyway, if it hasn’t been mentioned yet, Happy birthday anniversary Straight Dope!

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**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:** [October 11, 2023, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-ignorance-for-50-years/991406/2 "2023-10-11T15:20:26Z")

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Congrats @Cecil_Adams 🎉

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**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2023, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-ignorance-for-50-years/991406/3 "2023-10-11T22:25:53Z")

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A commendable achievement, to be sure.

But from the perspective of this here self-assigned paddler, over the past decade we seem to be taking on more water than we have been bailing out.

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**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:** [October 12, 2023, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-ignorance-for-50-years/991406/4 "2023-10-12T01:37:30Z")

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Amazing to me there wasn’t some sort of significant announcement of the anniversary when it was fresh.

Of course the column, the current authorship / ownership, and he message board are 3 very different animals with different birth years and birthdays.

And yes it’s taking far, far longer than we thought. Maybe forever.

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**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fighting-ignorance-for-50-years/991406/5 "2023-10-12T01:39:53Z")

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To paraphrase Derrick Bell, liberation lies in the struggle itself.