What **Nancarrow ** said. **Der Trihs ** is too obnoxious for his own good, but most of his detractors just can’t lay a glove on his arguments. There are few better reasons to despise someone than the fact that they are right, you are wrong, and they keep rubbing your face in it.
Mindless repetition of “you don’t know what you are talking about” at an opponent without demonstrating why, and without evidence that you are better qualified than your opponent is an intellectually insulting ad hom, and an argument from authority. That is, it is pathetic non argument.
Oh, we’ll get to that on another thread Plenty fodder and not simply about Catholicism.
But in this particular example the case against Der is kinda weak, it’s just his standard position re: religions, not even a particularly vicious presentation, y’know?
I do not agree with you at all. He is a guy that thinks that eevry American in Iraq is a murderer, a point I simply cannot agree with, the reasons for going there bedamned.
What arguments would these be? That religious people are stupid just because they are religious? Stupid compared to whom? Der Trihs? I mean, if he’s making this argument, then part of backing it up should involve showing how he’s any better than 80% of the world’s population who are theists, many of whom are doctors, business people, and other productive members of society. More to the point, they are a hell of a lot more productive than Der Trihs, whose specialty in life and main area of output seems to be . . . posting here.
Do you know what I would love to see just once? Just once is all. I would love to see the hard-hitting champions of truth and justice like Der Trihs take those high powered tools of logic and use them on themselves. I would love to see Der Trihs stop posting about how stupid theists are and how US soldiers in Iraq should be slaughtered, and I would like to see him use those standards of absolute truth on himself.
Just once, I would love to be there when Trihs asks himself something like “Hey, I’m almost 40, and I still obsess about getting beaten up in high school which ended for me over half a lifetime ago. I wonder why that is?”
Or look around him wherever he happens to be living and working (assuming the little misfit even has a job) and go "Hey, I’m almost 40. Is this where I want to be in life? "
Or “Hey, I’m almost 40. Shouldn’t I have–you know–a girlfriend or something? I wonder if there’s anything in my world right now that needs changing.”
“Gee, people seem to react to me negatively. Could it possibly have anything to do with the way I talk or act or think? Why am I here? Why am I the way I am? What gets me through the day? What’s my motivation? What are my goals? Where am I going to be when I’m 50? Do I have good friends, a good life? And if not, why not? When was the last time I kissed a girl? When was the last time people told me that they’re glad I was there?”
Get the picture?
I’m no saint, I’m no genius, and I’m no olympian, but at least I have the guts to own up to it, and I will not judge someone by a different standard than I use to judge myself. When Der Trihs starts judging himself and his life by the same yardstick he uses to judge theists and soldiers caught in a bad situation, I’ll listen to his arguments. Until then, fuck him. He’s worthless. Just another useless basement dweller who can’t hack the real world.
Does he say exactly that? Maybe he does. He’s pretty out there. But I think it equally likely that you are strawmanning. Linkety link…
You’ve got a cite of him saying exactly this, right? Maybe you do. He’s pretty out there. But I think it equally likely that you are strawmanning. Linkety link…
[Endless ad hom tripe omitted]
Oh yes indeedy I get the picture. You don’t like being beaten up in intellectual arguments and you’d like **Der trihs ** to stop doing it and go do something else. Plus he’s a poo poo head. Nya nya.
Before anyone replies to Princhester with quotes, I have to warn you to be careful. He asks for cites where Der Trihs says EXACTLY what FoieGras and Linty Fresh are saying he does. This means Princhester may be intending to argue that, if the quote does not say EXACTLY what is being claimed, that Der Trihs is being misunderstood or willfully misinterpreted.
So if you bring a quote, be prepared to defend why you think it says what FoieGras and Linty Fresh assert they do.
These show quite the antagonizing of US soldiers in general. (“Not that I have any sympathy for the soldiers, or regard it as anything other than a small victory for humanity when American soldiers in Iraq are killed.”)
It’s not explicit, but he essentialy says they’re perfectly willing to kill the innocent which is a perfect definition of murder if I ever heard one.
In this post: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9605147&postcount=64
You may argue he’s simply saying the politicians are evil, but his direct response to the soldiers question leads me to believe he thinks the politicians (also murderers in his opinion) simply legalized the murdering solderi’s murder.
So what it comes down to is that you haven’t yet found a cite where he says that every American in Iraq is a murderer, and on the subject of religion you say the cite you have found suggests he doesn’t think religious people are necessarily stupid.
I have to admit I misread FoieGrasIsEvil’s post and thought he said Der Trihs “is a guy that thinks that eevry American is a murderer”. I missed the “in Iraq” bit. I still doubt that **Der Trihs ** has said what FoieGrasIsEvil attributes to him, but he has said that "any US soldier who kills anyone there for any reason is a murderer. He accepts this is not literally true because killing cannot be murder unless it is unlawful and the killing US soldiers have done in Iraq isn’t unlawful by the laws applicable. **Der Trihs ** thinks it should be unlawful. His position has internal logic. Feel free to argue with him if you can but I see nothing to suggest he is an asshole who’s arguments can be dismissed out of hand. I can see why a number of people might want to pretend they can do so.
Oh, come on. You asked for links and got links that say in essence the same thing. To now build a fort with “well, it’s not exactly what he said” (paraphrased), is a little much, don’t you think?
I said from the outset I was looking for “exact”. I used the word “exact” even. Twice. When Leaper suggested as much I explicitly confirmed so. To now build a fort with “well now you’re suggesting you’re looking for an exact quote” (paraphrased) is a little much, don’t you think?
That’s not my point. You did say “exact”. But what is the point of demanding such exactness? Other than you can throw it back in someone’s face, “Aha—it wasn’t exact, there’s a comma out of place” or some other captious nonsense. Come on, man. We disagree often, but I never took you for someone to play these little games.
The point is that Der Trihs writes nuanced posts evidencing a (usually) factually and logically justifiable position. To accuse him of being an asshole based on some paraphrased snippet which is not quite what he said, and which is ripped from all context as to his overall position is not helpful.
“Like most Americans, apparently one of your major goals in life is to kill non-Americans” is outrageous and I said so. It’s not factually justifiable. I don’t think that comment can justifiably be regarded as the sum of the guy though.
Looks like you can’t possibly lose this line of argument. FoieGrasIsEvil said “…He is a guy that thinks that eevry American in Iraq is a murderer…”, and I’m almost certain Der Trihs never uses the word ‘eevry’.
Plenty fodder and not simply about Catholicism.