# Pitting Max\_S **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 8, 2022, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074 "2022-02-08T00:26:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 57
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1121 "2024-09-12T02:01:47Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > @Max_S people are accusing you of some pretty awful things. Are you going to come in and defend yourself? Whose accusations would you have me read, that I haven’t already tried to defend myself from? Are _you_ now accusing me of something awful? ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1122 "2024-09-12T02:11:59Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > No, I can certainly see some of my younger self in Max. Not that there isn’t a nugget of truth here, but this sort of quasi-equivocation is the sort of things that leads to the media sane-washing of Trump’s utterly insane blather. So, I guess I’ve come around partially based on this. Trying to find the least thing defensible or sane in indefensible and insane people must be something almost naturally hardwired into us. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1123 "2024-09-12T02:22:29Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > So, even if he’s intelligent… I don’t understand why so many of you are still allowing for that possibility. He’s only intelligent to the extent that intelligence and sociopathy are often (wrongly) correlated in popular (factionalized) media, _a la_ Hannibal Lecter. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1124 "2024-09-12T02:31:10Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > Not that there isn’t a nugget of truth here, but this sort of quasi-equivocation is the sort of things that leads to the media sane-washing of Trump’s utterly insane blather. [shrug] What can I say? My engagement with Max has mostly been in P&E threads about things like Senate rules and other political processes. He can make a truly bewildering, excruciatingly detailed argument based on his interpretation of whatever set of rules he has decided should apply in a situation. But it’s all very, “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” It’s just not relevant to how things actually work. ---
**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:** [September 12, 2024, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1125 "2024-09-12T03:52:17Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > > [@ParallelLines](#): > > > > So, even if he’s intelligent… > > I don’t understand why so many of you are still allowing for that possibility. He’s only intelligent to the extent that intelligence and sociopathy are often (wrongly) correlated in popular (factionalized) media, _a la_ Hannibal Lecter. I think you’re slightly misunderstanding my point. Let’s try again. I don’t _-care-_ if he is, or isn’t intelligent. I acknowledge his stated lack of empathy/evil, and arbitrary way of determining what is or is not right/legal based on his mood and argument. As such, I disregard his posts on anything which has anything other than an entirely verifiable, factual piece of information. Which is practically impossible to find on any subject worthy of much ongoing discussion here of course. See the first paragraph of my quoted section right above the piece you quoted. He’s evil, he’s hypocritical, and both of those faaaaar outweigh any intelligence or lack thereof. Getting caught up in if he’s an idiot, a genius, or even a troll is secondary to the utter lack of character and how his posts cannot, and should not, be trusted. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1126 "2024-09-12T04:10:50Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Getting caught up in if he’s an idiot, a genius, or even a troll is secondary to the utter lack of character and how his posts cannot, and should not, be trusted. Respectfully disagree. As a utilitarian, I feel it’s important to emphasize just how _stupid_ evil can be. Utilitarianism gets a bad rap because people see “evil” and think “oh, well, that’s just utilitarianism: intelligent, sure, but devoid of empathy.” As if utility cannot account for empathy. As if the Nazis or various Confederate generals were fucking genius warrior poets _because_ they were genocidaires, eugenicists, and/or slaveholders. As if such crimes against humanity would have been perfectly fine endeavors if only a bunch of people hadn’t gotten sad over them and spoiled everything. Never mind how utterly stupid and counterproductive the Holocaust was, the extent to which eugenics is underpinned by pseudoscientific garbage, or how much human progress was hobbled by relegating large swathes of the population to manual labor without the opportunity for education. It matters that evil walks hand in hand with stupidity. People need to stop giving evil grudging respect under the flawed assumption that it is a sign or symptom of advanced intelligence. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1127 "2024-09-12T04:34:24Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I don’t think he’s intentionally a troll. I think he is. You don’t drop shit like “Trump won that debate” or “I would turn in Jews” or lynching apologia into a thread _unknowingly_. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1128 "2024-09-12T05:01:08Z")
> [@ParallelLines](#): > > Getting caught up in if he’s an idiot, a genius, or even a troll is secondary Well, except we don’t have rules about being evil. Trolling, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1129 "2024-09-12T11:44:42Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > You need to modernize to keep up with the times. Now you need to work in the dog running away but then you learn immigrants ate it, lost your job only to learn the immigrants took it, and too broke for a sex change operation only to learn immigrants get them free. > > That’s what I learned from the leading candidate on the Max\_S side of the aisle last night. I know this doesn’t scan well but let’s pretend that’s a metaphor for the right torturing reason into a shape that vaguely supports their bigotry, and not because I’m bad at songwriting. I was drunk the day I lost my job to an immigrant So I went to get my check from George Soros But before I could get to the clinic for my sex change My dog got eaten by a danged ole Haitian ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2024, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1130 "2024-09-12T12:42:34Z")
That earns you a thumbs up from a MAGA hat, shit eating grin wearing DJT! ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1131 "2026-06-19T01:56:20Z")
Has this deplorable POS been posting all this time? I just saw a post from him in the timeshare exit thread, and it’s about as dumb as you’d expect. At least it wasn’t 5000 words explaining why timeshare scammers are actually the good guys. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1132 "2026-06-19T03:40:56Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Has this deplorable POS been posting all this time? Wouldn’t know. I put him on ignore months (and probably years) ago. Maybe enough other people didd too? ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1133 "2026-06-19T22:51:48Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > Has this deplorable POS been posting all this time? I think he took a long break but has recently graced us with his return. > [@](#): > > I just saw a post from him in the timeshare exit thread, and it’s about as dumb as you’d expect. > > At least it wasn’t 5000 words explaining why timeshare scammers are actually the good guys. He now has a response to being called out on his misinformation: digging a deeper hole. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074/1134 "2026-06-26T22:29:26Z")
> [@Are atheists who aren’t materialists truly atheists?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-atheists-who-aren-t-materialists-truly-atheists/1030197/235): > > athiests Could you learn to spell this fucking word? I know you _can_ do it, try paying just a little more attention, yes? > [@Are atheists who aren’t materialists truly atheists?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-atheists-who-aren-t-materialists-truly-atheists/1030197/180): > > atheist [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-max-s/959074.md?page=56)