# I pit DrDeth **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 28, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971 "2021-02-28T19:52:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 97
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1925 "2024-03-29T01:20:51Z")
It also has nothing to do with the subject of the thread. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1926 "2024-03-29T01:24:23Z")
I sympathize guys, but I’m trying for a teachable moment. I haven’t written DD off: I know lots of readers here disagree, but some of you disagree with me writing off Sam\_Stone so give me a chance please and thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1927 "2024-03-29T02:05:12Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > And you’re smart enough to realize that unqualified statements here of all places, without considering any of the nuance, are not going to fly. No, he’s really not. I realize you are looking for a teachable moment, but he’s had years and multiple suspensions worth of chances with which to learn from. They haven’t accomplished anything. Sammy won’t learn either, but he’s not as much of a consistent asshole to everyone around him, isn’t topic banned and hasn’t to my knowledge been suspended, much less repeatedly. Just the accidental ban for sock puppeting. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1928 "2024-03-29T02:07:55Z")
It’s sad, he’s a charter member. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1929 "2024-03-29T02:16:00Z")
Time will certainly tell - but if he keeps making careless and harmful statements, the time is going to be much _shorter_. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1930 "2024-03-29T02:17:54Z")
I sort of endorse Dr. Deth’s post on Mexico. It was topical, as it illustrates the downsides of rampant corruption. I would state it somewhat differently though. I’d say one important factor that separates high income countries from middle income countries is corruption. Investment projects get built because of whose palms can be greased, rather than those with the highest returns. If you look at [Transparency International’s corruption rankings](https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2023), higher income countries have the lowest corruption, low income countries have the highest corruption, and middle income countries are somewhere in between. It’s rather striking, though teasing out causality would require further work. Mexico could be awesome. And I’ve learned over the past 6 years that the US could conceivably slip back. In 2015 I believed that the path to high income institutions was one way. I no longer believe that. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1931 "2024-03-29T02:23:07Z")
I’m calling @DrDeth again - please examine @Measure_for_Measure 's excellent post. This is what a nuanced take on the relationship between corruption, income, and nation may reflect. Someone may or may not agree of course, but it’s not a simple dismissal. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1932 "2024-03-29T02:33:16Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > And again, I say this all as constructive criticism. Now is not the time (okay, it’s NEVER the time, but now is especially bad for YOU) to make unqualified negative generalizations about an entire nation or group of people. The Mexican people are by and large wonderful. But Mexico is sliding backwards, not forwards, its corruption is getting worse, not better. I am not the only one who thinks that. > **[Mexico takes another step toward its authoritarian past | Brookings](https://www.brookings.edu/articles/mexico-takes-another-step-toward-its-authoritarian-past/)** > > As Mexico’s Senate celebrated the passage of a bill designed to curb the power of the independent National Electoral Institute, the country took another step backward toward its decades-long authoritarian past. _As Mexico’s Senate [celebrated](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-23/mexico-senate-passes-electoral-system-overhaul-ahead-of-vote) the passage of a bill designed to curb the power of the National Electoral Institute (INE), the non-partisan and independent agency that oversees elections, the country took another step backward toward its [decades](-long authoritarian past._ [https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/02/08/mexicos-president-and-his-family-are-fighting-claims-of-corruption](https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/02/08/mexicos-president-and-his-family-are-fighting-claims-of-corruption) _Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has long railed against corruption. But on January 30th a consortium of news outlets reported that in 2006 his campaign team had accepted $2m from drug gangs in return for favours. The reports, based on information from the us Drug Enforcement Administration, do not show that the president knew what was going on. But a close aide did, they allege. Mr López Obrador completely rejects the allegations, calling them slander._ > **[Revista Envío - The PRI’s Agenda: Manipulation, Corruption and Violence](https://www.revistaenvio.org/articulo/1415)** > > Revista mensual de Analisis de Nicaragua y Centro America Mexico # The PRI’s Agenda: Manipulation, Corruption and Violence _Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, which has controlled the state for the past 70 years, is loyal to only two concepts: corruption and impunity. Without a shift in economic policy, poverty will continue to increase. And if the PRI remains in the presidency, there will be no shift._ Jorge Alonso _Speaking in Paris in mid-March, the governor of Mexico City, Rosario Rosales, said that the upcoming elections, the university conflict and the situation in Chiapas have combined to create a “very complicated” climate in her country. It is an accurate assessment of a difficult situation, and the picture becomes even more complicated if one adds the problem of poverty, which will only increase unless there is a change in the country’s economic policies._ > **[Biden officials play down report of US investigation into Mexican president](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/23/us-investigation-amlo-mexico-cartel)** > > US looked into claims that Andrés Manuel López Obrador allies took money from cartels, according to a New York Times report _Officials with the justice department and the Biden administration have downplayed a report that US law enforcement spent years looking into allegations that allies of Mexico’s president, [Andrés Manuel López Obrador](https://www.theguardian.com/world/andres-manuel-lopez-obrador), were investigated for taking millions of dollars from drug cartels after the president took office._ _López Obrador, who denied the report, also reacted to [the New York Times report on Thursday](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/22/world/americas/mexico-president-drug-cartel.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur) by revealing the contact details of the journalist at its Mexico bureau, Natalie Kitroeff, including her telephone number – which Mexico’s freedom of information body (INAI) immediately said it would launch an investigation into._ > **[Top Challenges in the Fight Against Corruption in Mexico in 2024 | Insights |...](https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2024/02/mexicos-2023-corruption-perception-index-rating-and-challenges-in)** > > Mexico’s Transparency International Corruption Perception Index (CPI) gave Mexico a rating of 31 out of 100, placing it in 126th place out of 180. _In addition to the challenge of dismantling the structures of corruption so deeply rooted in Mexico that have hurt Mexican society for decades, the country now faces new challenges from the use of artificial intelligence (AI), cyberattacks, vulnerability in compliance with sustainability indicators, and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria, among others._ [https://www.transparency.org/en/press/20110511-mexico-worse](https://www.transparency.org/en/press/20110511-mexico-worse) So, yes, Mexico’s corruption issues are getting worse- as every experts agrees, thus indeed Mexico is sliding backwards due to corruption, not going forward. Which is sad because the people of Mexico deserve better. And if you really wanted to make constructive criticism, you would have sent me a PM, rather than bring this thread back to life again, allowing cowardly shitweasels like Dissachance to come back. Note that he still hasn’t admitted he was wrong. > [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > I sort of endorse Dr. Deth’s post on Mexico. It was topical, as it illustrates the downsides of rampant corruption. I would state it somewhat differently though. Well, it certainly could have been stated better, there I agree. Thank you. > [@ParallelLines](#): > > I’m calling @DrDeth again - please examine @Measure_for_Measure 's excellent post. This is what a nuanced take on the relationship between corruption, income, and nation may reflect. Then, go ahead and make a nuanced reply. No one is stopping you. And I’d probably say “Yes, you said it better”- I am not afraid of saying that. But coming to the Pit is not “nuanced” in any way shape of form. All you did was feed the cowardly shitweasels. thanks for nothing. Ps I will not reply to you any more in the pit. You made things worse not better, ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1933 "2024-03-29T02:35:35Z")
-sigh- You do you. Thus ends my participation in this thread. Thanks all for letting me try. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1934 "2024-03-29T02:57:37Z")
Well, at least you got a teachable moment out of it. Not the one you were hoping for, but there you go. That’s our DrD. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1935 "2024-03-29T14:12:32Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The Mexican people are by and large wonderful. > > But Mexico is sliding backwards, not forwards, its corruption is getting worse, not better. I am not the only one who thinks that. The same applies to America, of course. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1936 "2024-03-29T17:20:35Z")
> [@NY AG Letitia James drops the (civil) hammer {On Trump & Family} \[9/21/2022\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/3072): > > Please pause and think about what you said in this: > > > [@NY AG Letitia James drops the (civil) hammer {On Trump & Family} \[9/21/2022\]](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ny-ag-letitia-james-drops-the-civil-hammer-on-trump-family-9-21-2022/971991/3072): > > > > This is why Mexico continues to be a backward nation, even tho is should be a great place. Corruption is a way of life, the Cartels have taken over. > > Saying an entire _nation_ is backward, which encompasses many individual states, countless peoples and different cultures because a handwave of _corruption_ is such a simplification of the scenario as to be laughable. It makes you look unspeakably bad, reinforces every bad assumption about you, and is fundamentally wrong on the face of it. It’s worth noting that **DrDeth** has also **[simultaneously defended Mexico](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-other-countries-doing-right-to-prevent-mass-shootings/800900/63)** as a fine example of an outstanding western country. He does this in debates about gun violence statistics, insisting that the US numbers must be compared with countries like Mexico, Honduras, and Yemen, and that comparing the US with economically similar countries like Canada, the UK, Australia, or the countries of the European Union is “cherry-picking”. In fact **DrDeth** has previously stated that my insistence that the US numbers should be compared with those of socioeconomically similar countries proves that I’m a bigot who hates brown people. That kind of nonsensical gibberish also explains how **DrDeth** can hold two such contradictory opinions of Mexico at the same time: he’s an insincere dumbass who argues in bad faith. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1937 "2024-03-29T17:22:20Z")
> he’s an insincere _troll_ who argues in bad faith Fixed. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1938 "2024-03-29T17:31:11Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > > he’s an insincere _troll_ who argues in bad faith > > Fixed In the immortal words of our Mexican friends, _porque no los dos_? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1939 "2024-03-29T17:48:35Z")
Possibly, “dumbass” could be interpreted as “clueless” which is somewhat absolving, and I want to be crystal clear that this poster is intentionally and with malice disrupting our board. How about “dumbassic troll”? ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1940 "2024-03-29T18:04:19Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > The same applies to America, of course. Disagree. There is a lot of ruin in a country. US growth is strong, fundamentals are mostly good, our close-to-bottom-corruption-ranking-among-high-income-countries (not so years ago) has stabilized, and there are active threats to our 240 year experiment with democracy. Our foundation is under attack, but it hasn’t yet buckled. The threats are serious, so I’m trying to be clear-eyed about them, even in the pit. wolfpup: Yes, I perceive DrDeth as a friend of Mexico, and I read his criticized post in that light. There is a gulf between first world and middle income institutions, and Mexico is on the bad side of it. Leveling up requires a fight and I now recognize that backsliding into authoritarian caprice can be an active threat as well. There is such a thing as democratic antibodies, but they don’t persist indefinitely on their own. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1941 "2024-03-29T18:36:55Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > wolfpup: Yes, I perceive DrDeth as a friend of Mexico, and I read his criticized post in that light. You’re invested in a different argument than the ones I typically have had with **DrDeth** , which have mostly been about gun violence in America and gun control (which I’m not doing any more, but that’s what set me off about his methods and bad faith). The point I was making earlier and that I have to stress here is that the dumbass in question is on both sides of the fence at the same time, arguing when it suits him that Mexico is steeped in corruption and overrun by violent drug cartels, and then in gun-related threads arguing that Mexico is a fine upstanding first-world country with four times the gun violence of the US and therefore the US doesn’t have a gun violence problem. QED. This is part of his standard _modus operandi_ of making stupid, uninformed arguments and then doubling down on them. Look at any gun debate or discussion and there he is again, a two-trick pony whose only arguments on the subject are that US gun homicides should be compared with those in El Salvador and Mexico and similar places, and that the reason the US has so many mass shootings while other legitimately comparable countries have almost none is … … … … the fault of the media, for reporting on them! Right, because no other country on earth has “media” except the USA! 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1942 "2024-03-29T18:56:59Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > The point I was making earlier and that I have to stress here is that the dumbass in question is on both sides of the fence at the same time He tries to be on both sides of the fence for multiple topics, like how he has no problem with the Pit when it suits him. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1943 "2024-03-29T19:00:06Z")
In fairness, he has protested the Pit long enough that he was instructed to no longer complain about it in ATMB threads. So I can see coming back to answer some of the myriad complaints against him in this thread. Now whether he did that well is another question and I would say no, he didn’t. Speaking of sitting on both side of the fence. Looks like I just did. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/1944 "2024-03-29T19:09:00Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > So I can see coming back to answer some of the myriad complaints against him in this thread. I wasn’t referring to this thread. > [@Alabama drags education back to pre-1861 days](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-drags-education-back-to-pre-1861-days/999145/39): > > This is getting into a hijack I think. So, no more. > [@\[OLD\] June Bugs (monthly mini-rants)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-june-bugs-monthly-mini-rants/984892/379): > > Some makes me sneeze, so…But dark honey does taste some different. > [@Confederate Battle Streamers for US Army units](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/confederate-battle-streamers-for-us-army-units/969880/43): > > The Internment is a good subject for discussion, as well as Confederate Battle streamers. But they are different subjects. What US Army Units fought on CSA side? Did they not rename them? According to the article, the example unit did NOT fight for the CSA, just some of the men- Few units in the U.S. [Army](http://www.military.com/army) are as fabled as the Dundalk-based 1st Battalion, 175th Infantry Regiment (5th Maryland), better known simply as the 175th Infantry Regiment, of the Maryland Army [National Guard](http://www.military.com/national-guard)…What’s litt… He also starts threads here when it suits him. > [@I pit Doc Cathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-doc-cathode/946680): > > Only the most odious of newbies (and trolls trying to be Pitted) get pitted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971.md?page=96) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971.md?page=98)