Got this from the Cruel site of the day.
It’s a quiz.
There are a series of quotes. Some of them come from The Unabomber’s Manifesto. Some of them come from Al Gore’s Earth in the Balance.
The quiz is to read each quote, and then determine which fruitcake; Al Gore or the Unabomber wrote it.
I took it and scored a 25%.
The similarities between what these two say is scary. I’m voting for the Unabomber in '04.
Here’s the quiz:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ken_crossman/Gore.htm
Al Gore wrote a book. Has Bush even read a book?
Are you seriously suggesting Bush can’t read, or just being a jerk? Did you look at the quiz? I’ve actually read Earth in the Balance. Have you?
Huh.
I got 17%.
you know, neither this nor the other threads about “do the republicans want just a one party nation” kind of thing really do anything towards eradicating ignorance, let alone having civil debates.
Maybe I just wasn’t around enough folks in the prior elections, but damn it’s gotten ugly, rude etc.
we’ll be having an inaugeration soon, and a new president will take office. It’ll probably be Bush, but either way, more than half of the country will be able to honestly say “don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for him”. This has been a conentious election (yes, I know I was in some heated exchanges, tried to keep myself civil at least, though). Despite all of the finger pointing and accusations of wrongdoing, in order for this country to continue to thrive we must work together.
That’s all I have to say.
Wring:
I guess you didn’t do very well on the quiz either.
Little fuzzy on the Iliad/Odyssey, Scylla and Charybdis. Which one sucked down Greek seamen?
You know, this might actually be one quiz in Net even more skewed than that 10-question quiz libertarians use to try to make converts, and that´s not small effort. It´s easy to take quotes from Earth in Balance that sound most radical and compare them to more moderate quotes from The Unabomber Manifesto. (When someone who holds views that may cause him to kill or otherwise harm people composes those views into a manifesto, it may not actually be all rant and diatribe.)
Also, considering that part of Unabomber Manifesto was about those loathsome leftists, you could take few of those “leftist” quotes and compare them to some conservative ideologue. Rush Limbaugh comes to mind.
That would be Charybdis, the whirlpool.
Scylla was a beautiful and kind nymph, whose Beauty and good nature incurred the jealousy of the Gods. She was turned into a monster for revenge. I very much identify with the idea of greatness being forced into the mundane, ugly, and hateful (especially sincer you haven’t responded to the Op.)
More importantly, Scylla’s a rock. On his good days, anyway.
I commend your thick skin and sense of humor. Well said!
(Now, about that beautiful nymph stuff…)
I’ve been getting a lot of election-related humor in my email on both sides. And despite my strong opinions on who is on the right side of the Florida issues, I’ve been able to chuckle at it all.
I find the reaction of a few people in this thread more than a little telling.
Thanks for the link, Scylla. Too funny!
Well, of course you do, Milo. And we’ve been so very grateful that you’ve been able to cast your watchful, unbiased, nonpartisan eye over the proceedings. :rolleyes:
…You did chuckle at the “What a Wonderful World This Will Be” parody, dincha? Lemme pop over to that thread right now and see if you expressed your appreciation at the light-hearted humor. Too funny!
I’d repeat my assesment that this and the “Wonderful World” thread actually belong in the Pit, but I accept Gaudere’s well-reasoned arguments to the contrary.
Besides, if they were in the Pit, I’d actually have to look at them. Bleh.
(Wonderful words, wring. And given the FLSC ruling, we’ll see soon enough whether I was being naive/optomistic regarding my expectations for the Florida legislature.)
Actually, Gadarene, I didn’t chime in on the “Wonderful World” thread, cuz I didn’t think it was all that funny.
Now, I’ve got a couple of excellent slams on Bush that are hilarious in my email. Email me and I’ll send them to you.
And quit being so partisan. It’s unseemly. :rolleyes:
I have little doubt that the same little trick could be done with excerpts from the speeches of George W. Bush and David Duke…or Jessie Jackson. Surely there must be some fancy Latin name for this sort of propaganda. (I wish I’d paid more attention when I took Logic in college.)
grin I’m gonna treat that as a joke instead of a jibe, because I prefer to think of you as an accomplished self-parodist, Milo, rather than simply a parody.
And I’ll respectfully decline your offer to e-mail me Bush jokes. Frankly–and this may sound prudish–I think the overwhelming bulk of election humor on both sides has been puerile, immature, and embarrassingly uncivil. The same goes for political threads started solely for the purpose of taunting, whether they’re directed at Republicans or entitled (oh, I don’t know) Hey Democrats, Whine Here.
Cheers. 
Some would certainly argue the latter, my dear, but I was going for the former.
A teensy bit unfair there, in that I later admitted my regret for the direction that thread took, in the thread itself, just before it was locked. Wanted it to be a little bit more light-hearted than it ended up.
I do think there’s an issue out there with Democrats thinking they inexplicably corner the market on intellectual superiority. Hence that thread’s full and actual title. As evidence, I would point to the fact that The Left has parodied as bumbling and dumb every Republican president since at least Eisenhower – with the possible exception of Nixon, who helped them out by being paranoid and megalomaniacal.
And who knew we would end up with this mess and rancor a month after that election-night thread? My God; the entire national media got who won the U.S. presidency wrong twice, easily the biggest blunder in the history of news reporting, and it isn’t even mentioned now, because so much other historical stuff has happened.
Gee, have we peed on Scylla’s cornflakes enough yet? Sorry, m’man. Back to the frivolity.
(BTW, I got 50% on the quiz. Do I win?)
Note to self: elucidator’s kind of cool.
Elmer and others:
Of course the logic is false. The Unabomber beleives the best way to accomplish these goals is by blowing up people through. Gore thinks the best way is by blowing up ballots in selective democratic…
::slaps self::
sorry.
It occurs to me that the Unibomber may well have read and been influenced by Gore’s book before writing his manifesto. If it’s true that a madman was moved to acts of violence by something he read (and, perhaps, misinterpreted) this puts Earth in the Balance with such distinquished company as the Bible, the Koran and the lyric sheet for The Beatle’s White Album.
Elmer:
Now that’s an interesting idea. I wonder which came first though.
Wouldn’t it be interesting if Al Gore’s book was inspired by the Unabomber’s manifesto?