# I pit the "F.Y.I. Obama" email and provide a rebuttal - Please send it around **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 8, 2008, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712 "2008-01-08T08:41:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/61 "2008-01-08T20:12:13Z")
[QUOTE=wring] Wow. Way back in 2004, you wrote a letter to the editor about an op/ed piece from Canada. Well, that sho’ duz put me in my place. However could I allow the scads of posts you’ve made here overgeneralizing and mischaracterizing the lefts, posters here that are left leaning cloud my vision so. You are, sir, a beacon of centrist thinking. A veritable baron of equanimity why you, sir, out O’Reilly, O’Reilly himself. I bow to you. [/QUOTE] I’ve always wondered, is it hard lugging those goalposts all over the field? They’re awfully tall, do you need a crane or something? You said “can you give me an example from these boards wherin you do that?”. I said sure, and gave an example. You respond with this diatribe. I’m assuming this means…you got nuthin’. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/62 "2008-01-08T20:19:15Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] I’ve always wondered, is it hard lugging those goalposts all over the field? They’re awfully tall, do you need a crane or something? You said “can you give me an example from these boards wherin you do that?”. I said sure, and gave an example. You respond with this diatribe. I’m assuming this means…you got nuthin’. [/QUOTE] No, it means your one paltry little example (where the subject isn’t even a poster from here - it’s easy to point and laugh at Phelpsian folk from afar) from several years ago does nothing to balance out the routine tirades you subject us to. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/63 "2008-01-08T20:29:47Z")
[QUOTE=Slypork] Actually his full name is Barack Mohammed Hussein abu Osama Adolf Stalin Zarqawi Qadhafi Pol Pot Mao Benito Genghis Vlad Khan Vader Obama II. His parents had great plans for him. [/QUOTE] Now that I think about it, I believe that “Barack” is a middle-Arabic word from 14th century Tunisia that is more properly translated into modern Aabic as “burqa”. It was also common, at during the 14th century, to shout: Burqa Burga, whenever you met someone with that name. So, a better rendering of his name in English would be: Burqa Burqa Mohammed Jihad Hussein abu Osama al Africani. ---
**Author:** ![PetW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@PetW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PetW)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/64 "2008-01-08T21:02:59Z")
[QUOTE=you with the face] In addition to the other criticisms given, I recommend laying off redundant pairings like this one. It doesn’t give you a tone of authority, just makes you look like a desperate wackjob who has to lay it on the thick to get his point across. [/QUOTE] Correct and factual aren’t exactly synonyms. ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/65 "2008-01-08T21:44:03Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Now that I think about it, I believe that “Barack” is a middle-Arabic word from 14th century Tunisia that is more properly translated into modern Aabic as “burqa”. It was also common, at during the 14th century, to shout: Burqa Burga, whenever you met someone with that name. So, a better rendering of his name in English would be: Burqa Burqa Mohammed Jihad Hussein abu Osama al Africani. [/QUOTE] Rama Lama Ding Dong Poppa Oom Mow Mow. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/66 "2008-01-08T21:47:27Z")
[QUOTE=Slypork] Actually his full name is Barack Mohammed Hussein abu Osama Adolf Stalin Zarqawi Qadhafi Pol Pot Mao Benito Genghis Vlad Khan Vader Obama II. His parents had great plans for him. [/QUOTE] Wait, is he a Nietzschean? Now I know I’ll vote for him! (Yes, I loved the scary-erudite Nietzscheans on _Andromeda_. Though to be fair, a normal Nietzschean would only be named, say, Temujin de Bolivar. Well, Temujin de Bolivar of Auk Pride, out of Clytemnestra by Suharto. But yeah.) ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/67 "2008-01-08T21:51:30Z")
[QUOTE=PetW] Correct and factual aren’t exactly synonyms. [/QUOTE] Do you know of any facts that are not correct? ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/68 "2008-01-08T21:57:04Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] So, what you’re saying is that Obama, I mean Osama, often got a come-on from the whores on seventh avenue, and that there were times that he felt so lonesome he took some comfort there? [/QUOTE] > [@you with a face](#): > > What’s she’s saying is that you can call him Al. As in Al Qaeda! And he has diamonds on the sole of his shoes…blood diamonds!! And the sound of silencers…from his illegal firearm!! Honestly, who cares about the writer’s strike when you get this kind of entertainment here for free!! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/69 "2008-01-08T22:47:17Z")
Oh, not to mention that Obama likes to: LIE lie-LIE LIE lie-lie lie lie lie lie lie LIE lie-LIE lie lie-LIE lie lie lie lie lie-lie-lie lie lie ---
**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:** [January 8, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/70 "2008-01-08T23:36:28Z")
One thing that might be helpful in compiling your e-mail is heeding some social psychology research that turned up a few months ago (yeah, I’ll dig it up if I have to, I think it was BBC) indicating that people have an interesting habit of misremembering information and attributing the (wrong) information to a credible source. To use an example, say a liberal political organization printed in a newspaper (Oh, say New York Times): ‘‘Such and such percentage of people believe that Saddam Hussein is directly responsible for the 9-11 attacks. But that is not true, in fact… (blah blah blah)’’ This study indicated that such approaches of ‘‘refutation’’ actually have the opposite effect. In the above case, it would be more likely for people to say that Saddam Hussein is directly responsible for the 9-11 attacks and they know it’s true because they read it in the New York Times. So rather than weakening the belief, this kind of refutation reinforces it as ‘‘true’’ and associates it with the reputable source that refuted the lie. So maybe it would be better for you, considering that, to scrap the whole e-mail and write your own, not with direct refutations, but with truths that insidiously nullify the original arguments. (another example: A suspected rapist who repeatedly says, ‘‘I did not rape that woman’’ is more likely to be associated with the act of rape than one who responds along the lines of, ‘‘That night, I was at the bar all night until 2am playing pool.’’) I’m not attacking the OP – but it was a study that seemed relevant, if you were interested in disseminating your own bit of true information. BBL, hopefully with cite. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/71 "2008-01-09T00:39:56Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] So, what you’re saying is that Obama, I mean Osama, often got a come-on from the whores on seventh avenue, and that there were times that he felt so lonesome he took some comfort there? [/QUOTE] He is I-Raq. He is an island. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/72 "2008-01-09T00:50:53Z")
[QUOTE=Slypork] Actually his full name is Barack Mohammed Hussein abu Osama Adolf Stalin Zarqawi Qadhafi Pol Pot Mao Benito Genghis Vlad Khan Vader Obama II. His parents had great plans for him. [/QUOTE] You forgot Mugabe Frankenstein. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/73 "2008-01-09T01:18:11Z")
[QUOTE=you with the face] Do you know of any facts that are not correct? [/QUOTE] Columbus discovered America. Lemmings are so stupid they’ll jump off cliffs. Turkeys are so stupid they’ll drown during a rainstorm. A duck’s quack doesn’t echo. ---
**Author:** ![PetW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@PetW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PetW)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/74 "2008-01-09T04:52:33Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Columbus discovered America. Lemmings are so stupid they’ll jump off cliffs. Turkeys are so stupid they’ll drown during a rainstorm. A duck’s quack doesn’t echo. [/QUOTE] Seriously though. I’ll grant you that in common usage “factual” usually means “factually correct.” But in many uses it means something which can be shown to be either true or false - something that’s empirical, not based on opinion. The sky is green is a factual statement, although it’s false. I think that usage is mainly restricted to philosophy though, so I’ll admit I was probably being too nitpicky. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/75 "2008-01-09T21:03:06Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85] Columbus discovered America. Lemmings are so stupid they’ll jump off cliffs. Turkeys are so stupid they’ll drown during a rainstorm. A duck’s quack doesn’t echo. [/QUOTE] Don’t know where you come from, but I call all these myths, not facts. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2008, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/76 "2008-01-09T23:54:07Z")
To the OP: I guess you’re trying to fight misconceptions in kind, as it were, but it’s simply not true that Barack Obama has always been a Christian. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/77 "2008-01-10T04:03:50Z")
foolsguinea writes: \> To the OP: I guess you’re trying to fight misconceptions in kind, as it were, but \> it’s simply not true that Barack Obama has always been a Christian. Um, yeah, and if you’ll notice I explained this back in post #20. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/78 "2008-01-10T04:21:23Z")
Meanwhile, just when you think no greater depths of dumbth can be plumbed, [Tom Delay calls Obama a Marxist:](http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080109/NATION/377672324/1001&template=printart) > [@](#): > > But for former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who was known as “the Hammer” on Capitol Hill, said Republicans need to start deconstructing Mr. Obama now. > > “Somebody from our side needs to start talking about Obama today. He’s a Marxist but a very smart one — he doesn’t let anyone know it,” said Mr. DeLay, who said he wanted to throw his shoe at the television set when the Republican candidates opted not to mention Democrats in their debates. ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/79 "2008-01-10T08:17:38Z")
[QUOTE=Giraffe] Also, it’s fine to dissect the original email and propose a rebuttal, but let’s lay off the “everyone email this to everyone they know!” part, OK? [/QUOTE] If you’ll note, it says that in the text of the **email** , only. It is **not** any part of what I addressed to my fellow dopers. Pleas re-read the OP if you are unsure. The reason those words are in the email recipients’ section of the text only is that it follows essentially the same plea by the shithead original author to do that, too, but to _his_ original audience. I frankly don’t see anything wrong there at all as far as what it says to we Dopers. Do you? ---
**Author:** ![ambushed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3bc359/32.png) [@ambushed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ambushed)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2008, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712/80 "2008-01-10T08:29:25Z")
[QUOTE=Martiju] [QUOTE=SpaceDog] I’m dogless in this fight too but I think it’s too much. There are people who’ll not believe the original (or do their own research) so you’re not convincing them. There are people who’ll believe the original no matter what, they’re a lost cause. [/quote] Yes, that was my point. Maybe we’re a little more fatalistic (cynical?) than **ambushed** … [/QUOTE] And the **third** category I’ve now elucidated several times? The literal excluded middle? That’s the audience my rebuttal is hoping to address, and I still very strongly believe they are open to being corrected. I’m plenty cynical, too, but apparently not nearly so much as many others here. What’s that old, overused old line? It may be overused, but it’s quite apropos in this instance: > [@English philosopher Edmund Burke](#): > > **The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.** I find it unfortunate to find such a very high level of cynicism from so many here, and against such a worthwhile goal that requires such a minor effort – or none at all! – but I guess this _is_ the Pit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-f-y-i-obama-email-and-provide-a-rebuttal-please-send-it-around/432712.md?page=5)