# Octopus here's your own thread to shit all over **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 6, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550 "2018-06-06T15:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 65
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1285 "2022-08-19T14:16:30Z")
Why did you do that to us? Why? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1286 "2022-08-19T18:14:08Z")
At first, I thought it would be harmless. In the spirit of the thread, I was thinking about **Octopus** and “words have no intrinsic meaning.” But I was wrong. Words mean what we collectively agree they mean and (Jefferson) Starship can go fuck themselves. I just got back from walking the dog. Unconsciously, I was whistling The Song That Shall Not Be Mentioned. People were throwing rocks at me. Karma got me. Maybe a chunk of granite, too. LONG LIVE ROCK! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1287 "2022-08-19T18:28:52Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > In the spirit of the thread, I was thinking about **Octopus** and “words have no intrinsic meaning.” > > But I was wrong. Words mean what we collectively agree they mean and (Jefferson) Starship can go fuck themselves. > > I just got back from walking the dog. Unconsciously, I was whistling The Song That Shall Not Be Mentioned. This one from Coheed and Cambria? (with lyrics directly taken from Justice Scalia’s dissenting opinions, focusing on Obamacare and same sex marriage, but they could just as easily be from Coheed’s own proggy purple pen. And it features him saying “words no longer have meaning.”) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7qrYegn5mtg/maxresdefault.jpg "Coheed and Cambria Sing Justice Scalias Dissenting Opinions") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qrYegn5mtg) ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1288 "2022-08-19T18:46:18Z")
Okay, that was PFF. ---
**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:** [August 19, 2022, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1289 "2022-08-19T20:23:49Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > ‘Make Allah Great Again!’ You joke, but cut away the patriotic/Christian/Muslim window dressing and the ideologies are shockingly similar. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1290 "2022-08-24T21:11:09Z")
Liberal? No. However, the disdain of freedom of speech and thought that the repressive theocracies share with the ‘progressive’ left is real and dangerous. Hive has been replaced with herd in this article. [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/opinion/herd-mentality.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/opinion/herd-mentality.html), however the general premise is similar to one I’ve been making. Glad to see left of center news finally seeing the threat ‘progressives’ pose to fundamental freedoms. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1291 "2022-08-24T21:14:24Z")
It took you 8 days to come up with this?? “I’m no longer calling you a ‘hive’. You are now a ‘herd’. And because the NYT published an editorial with this premise I get to dehumanize the Board via other animal references.” 🤪🤪🤪 You are not very good at this, are you? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1292 "2022-08-24T21:33:15Z")
Meanwhile, conservative governors and school boards across the country are banning books in schools, banning speech in schools about gay people, and much, much more… ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1293 "2022-08-24T22:33:32Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > However, the disdain of freedom of speech and thought that the repressive theocracies share with the ‘progressive’ left is real and dangerous. Bullshit. Please give one example of a Democrat supporting government censorship of ideas or speech. The publisher of Dr. Suess voluntarily deciding to no longer sell books that contain depictions that are now recognized as racist doesn’t count. On the other hand I can give [many](https://www.aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/a-tennessee-law-requires-doctors-to-lie-to-their-patients-were-suing) [examples](https://www.npr.org/2022/03/28/1089221657/dont-say-gay-florida-desantis) [of](https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/state-and-regional/republicans-strike-back-against-sex-ed-standards-with-parental-rights-bills/article_d1d8c48a-bcce-11ec-8358-c7c507b1cdb6.html) [Republicans](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-e&q=texas+banned+book) [doing](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2021/07/02/why-are-states-banning-critical-race-theory/) [this](https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/05/09/florida-banned-textbooks-math-desantis/). ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1294 "2022-08-24T22:47:43Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Glad to see left of center news finally seeing the threat ‘progressives’ pose to fundamental freedoms. I can’t read the article, so indulge me: what **fundamental freedoms** are ‘progressives’ posing a threat to? ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1295 "2022-08-24T22:48:07Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > Bullshit. Please give one example of a Democrat supporting government censorship of ideas or speech. The publisher of Dr. Suess voluntarily deciding to no longer sell books that contain depictions that are now recognized as racist doesn’t count. > > On the other hand I can give [many](https://www.aclu.org/news/reproductive-freedom/a-tennessee-law-requires-doctors-to-lie-to-their-patients-were-suing) [examples](https://www.npr.org/2022/03/28/1089221657/dont-say-gay-florida-desantis) [of](https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/state-and-regional/republicans-strike-back-against-sex-ed-standards-with-parental-rights-bills/article_d1d8c48a-bcce-11ec-8358-c7c507b1cdb6.html) [Republicans](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-e&q=texas+banned+book) [doing](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2021/07/02/why-are-states-banning-critical-race-theory/) [this](https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/05/09/florida-banned-textbooks-math-desantis/). ( Get ready for a subject change or goal posts to be moved or for this to be all blamed on your reading skills… ) ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1296 "2022-08-24T23:17:41Z")
Heck I read the article and can’t figure out what fundemental freedoms progressives are posing a threat to. Here’s a gift link > **[Opinion | The Herd Mentality Is All Around Us. I Still See Hope for Diversity...](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/opinion/herd-mentality.html?unlocked_article_code=QkkydjEAFy3n8whAtps-6sCEKE3taw5rD_qD-uoV6YJLCybG92dRKRqEXZ0P3KuK1qyrsN2jZdRLJV4uj-zGk4R_jlEhcuiZFnt-WguXgQ2QHGCAAJoAnx097ABDLd5i3N_QhaP-6WM9RgrnzTieAiaR_9YjnSkF_1ZG6D8DKFkMjg6HtwgrMZpyHRSihWPnHHjkcECQVNB1Mb_tVJBSZfj08zdAxeThHJr3olJR8fyoPKS1lUA9AaA3mVOYTbXeSM-tBrhZwpEhwX-LiRP-P832niQUFMDKft8eJc_3fsoou_KfAS8cztOsV__KOMsF5Mnf9NzUsDs&smid=share-url)** > > Moral courage (and the word “like”) can help us grapple with uncertainty. The only bits that I can come up with is that among the people who are are overly secure in their own little bubbles are… > the people who cannot be budged from the fantasy that the former president Donald Trump won the 2020 election, the people fashioning themselves as eternal victims of undifferentiated masses of white people ever badgering Black people with microaggressions and the people who appear motivated to attempt to kill someone in the name of a religious leader’s declaration. The results of these impulses vary greatly in impact and import, but to differing degrees they’re all symptoms of the same preference of being part of a herd even at the expense of coherence. Which translates through the Octopus filter as as “black people mentioning micro aggression are just as bad as suicide bombers.” The entire rest of the article is about how much better we are getting about promoting diversity, although acknowledging that certain training methods work better than others. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1297 "2022-08-24T23:21:22Z")
I suspect Octo read the headline, saw something he interpreted as a criticism of Blacks, and didn’t actually read anything else. If he did read it, that’s even worse because he clearly didn’t understand it. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2022, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1298 "2022-08-24T23:32:50Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > > [@octopus](#): > > > > Glad to see left of center news finally seeing the threat ‘progressives’ pose to fundamental freedoms. > > I can’t read the article, so indulge me: what **fundamental freedoms** are ‘progressives’ posing a threat to? John McWhorter’s latest book is titled _Woke Racism_ and deals with his theory that certain elements of the cultural left have taken “anti-racism” too far, to an extent that it’s sometimes counterproductive. This NYT op-ed by McWhorter appears to a sort of sidebar to the ideas in that book. I, too, cannot figure out what @octopus is on about. Which is not unusual; our betentacled troll routinely misrepresents cites, either obfuscating facts in an inky cloud of flailing tentacles, or else getting them exactly backwards. As for the specific question of what fundamental freedoms evil progressives are a threat to, I would presume it’s the fundamental freedom of theocrats to establish rigid and punitive theocracies, as exemplified by enlightened conservative cultures like the Taliban that I presume are much favoured by our behatted pink cephalopod. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1299 "2022-08-24T23:40:39Z")
It’s John McWhortor who has joined Diamond & Silk as well as Candace Owens in the increasingly crowded market of rage-filled African-American conservatives grifting on the white market. McWhortor’s most famous contribution to the Discourse is _Woke Racism: How a New Religion has Betrayed Black America_, published in 2021 and immediately latched onto by the WRight as “Look, see?” material. The following Amazon review excerpts much more of the book than would be allowed here, so I submit the following, surprisingly blase, review for further understanding of where the writer of the NY Times _opinion piece_ cited above stands on these issues: > **[Check out this Amazon review of Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R27RHA1BW3HFE2/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_rvw_ttl?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0593423062)** > > A CONDEMNATION OF LIBERAL RACIAL IDEAS AS “BEYOND REASON,” ETC. ETA: A Jutai-jatsu move by Wolfpup! Anyway, I think I can quote this, from the Forward of his book: > [@](#): > > “This book is not a call for people of certain ideology to … see the folly of defenestrating people for disagreeing with them. **My assumption is that the people in question are largely unreachable by arguments of that kind.** Rather, this book is a call for the rest of us to understand that people of a certain ideology are attempting to transform this country on the basis of racism… My main aims will be: 1. To argue that this new ideology is actually a religion in all but name… 2. To explain why so many black people are attracted to a religion that treats us as simpletons. 3. To show that this religion is actively harmful to black people… 4. To show that a… liberal… agenda for rescuing black America need not be founded on … this new religion. 5. To suggest ways to lessen the grip of this new religion on our public culture… I want to reach those on the fence… I want them to commit to …what I seek” helping make things better for real people.” (Pg. ix-x) **Emphasis mine** , JT ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1300 "2022-08-24T23:50:01Z")
Anyway, I still find it funny as all hell that Octy hid from this thread all butthurt that “hive” had been taken away from him (another one of my accomplishments in that 2 hour span), and 8 days later his solution was to return with… “herd”. 😆 ---
**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:** [August 24, 2022, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1301 "2022-08-24T23:56:32Z")
To be fair, @JohnT, McWhorter describes himself as **[“a cranky liberal Democrat”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McWhorter#Social_and_political_views)** but he does have many views that are decidedly conservative, and he’s been characterized as a “radical centrist” – i.e.- someone politically centrist (which in the American context to me means pretty damn conservative) while also espousing radical views about institutional and social reform. More to the point, having read several of his books, my view is that McWhorter is a passionate and highly opinionated character **who is often wrong about a lot of things**. > [@JohnT](#): > > Anyway, I still find it funny as all hell that Octy hid from this thread all butthurt that “hive” had been taken away from him (another one of my accomplishments in that 2 hour span), and 8 days later his solution was to return with… > > “herd”. He may have nine brains, but none of them actually work. ---
**Author:** ![omenran](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omenran/32/3318_2.png) [@omenran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omenran)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1302 "2022-08-25T01:34:26Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > More to the point, having read several of his books, my view is that McWhorter is a passionate and highly opinionated character **who is often wrong about a lot of things**. I mostly know if McWhorter from Lexicon Valley, a podcast about language, where his education and learning seem have been directed. But outside of that I can easily see him as you wrote in your post. > [@JohnT](#): > > his solution was to return with… > > “herd”. Octo _herd_ your complains and has changed accordingly. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1303 "2022-08-25T01:50:32Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Anyway, I still find it funny as all hell that Octy hid from this thread all butthurt that “hive” had been taken away from him (another one of my accomplishments in that 2 hour span), and 8 days later his solution was to return with… > > “herd”. > > 😆 It IS kinda funny. I reported “hive mind” being dehumanizing a few days ago. I explicitly said that it was a goof, though. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2022, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550/1304 "2022-08-25T01:54:23Z")
So, instead of being compared to insects that are bound together in a group for food and procreation, we’re being compared to grazing mammals who stand around in a field, are often slaughtered for food and, depending upon the species, shit where they eat. Yeah, that’s so much better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550.md?page=64) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/octopus-heres-your-own-thread-to-shit-all-over/815550.md?page=66)