# Right of reply thread for Scissorjack's Cultural Heresy **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2008, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369 "2008-03-31T12:14:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/41 "2008-04-01T20:31:24Z")
This may be a trite point, but a lot of the things being mocked in that thread aren’t sacred cows - they’re things everybody makes fun of. I mean, come on. “How will that tattoo look when you’re old?” Give me a break. That’s not puncturing a sacred cow, it’s repeating something your grandma said. Tats are scared to very few people and it’s very common to make fun of them. If they were a scared cow, nobody would have coined the term “tramp stamp.” ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/42 "2008-04-01T23:10:30Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] This may be a trite point, but a lot of the things being mocked in that thread aren’t sacred cows - they’re things everybody makes fun of. I mean, come on. “How will that tattoo look when you’re old?” Give me a break. That’s not puncturing a sacred cow, it’s repeating something your grandma said. Tats are scared to very few people and it’s very common to make fun of them. If they were a scared cow, nobody would have coined the term “tramp stamp.” [/QUOTE] Yeah…I think some of us have forgotten what we are even posting about. Like me for instance…I think in the other thread I confessed to liking Titanic…how the hell is that a sacred cow? Unless, maybe, I was thinking of the ‘sacred cow’ of certain movie snobs’ ideas?.. Anyways…yeah…Dr. Seuss was a genius, and that is final. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/43 "2008-04-01T23:15:18Z")
I thought admitting you liked that movie was pretty bold compared to some of the posts in that thread. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2008, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/44 "2008-04-01T23:47:03Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Tats are scared to very few people and it’s very common to make fun of them. If they were a scared cow, nobody would have coined the term “tramp stamp.” [/QUOTE] If tattoos were scared cows, nobody would want one on their back in the first place, I imagine… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/45 "2008-04-02T01:51:20Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] In [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=461842) thread, **Scissorjack** invites people:OK, I respect the ‘no right of reply’ thing, within the constraints of that thread, … [/QUOTE] WTF is meant by ‘no right of reply’ and can a poster enforce rules just because he’s the OP? (He can ask the thread get closed, and it might be.) ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/46 "2008-04-02T02:34:06Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] WTF is meant by ‘no right of reply’ and can a poster enforce rules just because he’s the OP? (He can ask the thread get closed, and it might be.) [/QUOTE] Think of it as a game he’s explaining the rules of. He’s inviting you to play along. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/47 "2008-04-02T02:54:33Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] can a poster enforce rules just because he’s the OP? [/QUOTE] In all the time I’ve been here, it’s been understood that the OP has a right to set conditions in a thread, within reason. Asking that a thread not devolve into an argument is sensible, given how threads in this forum sometimes end up. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/48 "2008-04-02T04:32:46Z")
I feel the need to say that science fiction is wonderful, WONDERFUL, and the masters are the masters for a reason. I picked up a bunch of cheap old paperbacks at the used book store featuring some of the old heavy-hitters, and those books were fantastically entertaining. So there. 😛 And as a 41 year old woman, I truly enjoy the Harry Potter books. I know they are quite formulaic, but J.K. Rowland has a style that I really enjoy - her books are like junk food for my brain. Yummy! I just read “The Golden Compass” series, and enjoyed those, too. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/49 "2008-04-02T04:59:38Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] I feel the need to say that science fiction is wonderful, WONDERFUL, and the masters are the masters for a reason. I picked up a bunch of cheap old paperbacks at the used book store featuring some of the old heavy-hitters, and those books were fantastically entertaining. So there. 😛 And as a 41 year old woman, I truly enjoy the Harry Potter books. I know they are quite formulaic, but J.K. Rowland has a style that I really enjoy - her books are like junk food for my brain. Yummy! I just read “The Golden Compass” series, and enjoyed those, too. [/QUOTE] I just bought a crate of old SF 'zine from the 70’s. I am looking forward to the many hours of reading pleasure. But you had up until the very end- Golden Compass was OK because of the interesting world and imagery, but he’s not a very good writer other than that, and the other two were depressing crap. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/50 "2008-04-02T05:40:33Z")
[QUOTE=Maeglin] Speaking generally, the idea that we have some sort of democracy of opinions is one of the worst things about our “free” society. I am welcome to take an opinion on, say, the law of gravity. But if it is based on nothing more than my observation or sensation, then quite frankly, it is pretty uninteresting and should be given little consideration. Yet for the arts, we have accepted for unfortunate reasons that because art is “subjective”, one person’s view is as valuable as any other’s. [/QUOTE] The key difference, though, is that those who believe “Hamlet doesn’t work for me” may be perfectly correct, whereas those who believe “Gravity doesn’t work for me” end up splattered on the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/51 "2008-04-02T06:58:22Z")
[QUOTE=Frylock] Think of it as a game he’s explaining the rules of. He’s inviting you to play along. -FrL- [/QUOTE] That was the idea, yeah - I wanted people to toss out their cultural iconoclasms without having to defend outraged disagreement in point-by-point detail, to try and keep it reasonably lighthearted and not too turgid or heated. I’ll leave it to others to decide what constititutes a sacred cow or not, but kicking a cultural icon like Dr Seuss is fun just for the :eek: factor: I wouldn’t take it too seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/52 "2008-04-02T14:12:00Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] I\ But you had up until the very end- Golden Compass was OK because of the interesting world and imagery, but he’s not a very good writer other than that, and the other two were depressing crap. [/QUOTE] I can see where you’re coming from. Something about them really touched me, though. To each their own and all that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/53 "2008-04-02T14:18:49Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] If tattoos were scared cows, nobody would want one on their back in the first place, I imagine… [/QUOTE] :smack: The odd thing is, I’ve talked about getting new tattoo of a sacred chao. After reviewing my last post, I’m glad I haven’t done it yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/54 "2008-04-02T14:21:18Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth] WTF is meant by ‘no right of reply’ and can a poster enforce rules just because he’s the OP? (He can ask the thread get closed, and it might be.) [/QUOTE] I think it’s fair enough to ask that in the thread (and that’s why I started this one) - it would be too easy for **Scissorjack** ’s original thread just to get bogged down in arguments about whether this or that deserves to be so summarily dispatched. Generally speaking, I think the OP does have the right to define the bounds of discussion (and I think there has been mod/admin support of such a notion, although please don’t ask me to find it) - it’s not so much a case of asserting authority, as merely predefining what will be relevant and what will be _irrelevant_ within a given thread. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2008, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/55 "2008-04-02T15:05:00Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] This may be a trite point, but a lot of the things being mocked in that thread aren’t sacred cows - they’re things everybody makes fun of. I mean, come on. “How will that tattoo look when you’re old?” Give me a break. That’s not puncturing a sacred cow, it’s repeating something your grandma said. Tats are scared to very few people and it’s very common to make fun of them. If they were a scared cow, nobody would have coined the term “tramp stamp.” [/QUOTE] Exactly what I was thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/56 "2008-04-03T19:39:29Z")
Well I think the criticism of Elvis is way off the mark. If anything, he’s underrated. So far ahead of his time that it’s hard to understand now. Imposter? Hard to be an imposter when you’re the original. As for the tatoo issue, yea it’s not really a sacred cow. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/57 "2008-04-03T20:13:58Z")
[QUOTE=Lochdale] Well I think the criticism of Elvis is way off the mark. If anything, he’s underrated. So far ahead of his time that it’s hard to understand now. Imposter? Hard to be an imposter when you’re the original. As for the tatoo issue, yea it’s not really a sacred cow. [/QUOTE] Well, it has inspired the thread [Can we quit with the grouching about tattoos?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=462227), and since none of the other topics mentioned in the “sacred cow” thread inspired their own thread\* complaining about how people mentioned their favorite topic… it seems as if a nerve _was_ touched. Not to mention the number of times tattoos have been brought up in _this_ thread. 😉 \*There was that Dylan/Led Zep clarification thread, but it wasn’t really a “People: stop unfairly complaining about Dylan/Led Zep!” topic. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/58 "2008-04-03T20:16:54Z")
[QUOTE=Maus Magill] It’s simple = some people find watching them fun. Unfortunately for me, watching NC State lose again is not fun. At all. [/QUOTE] I respectfully disagree sir/madam. Watching NC State lose is one of the finer joys in life. As for the Shakespeare thing, I couldn’t understand his plays until I was in my twenties. They’re too mature for high school students, IMO. (Although Romeo and Juliet might not be. That play is unmitigated drek anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/59 "2008-04-03T21:04:31Z")
Sports = grown men being paid to pay children’s games. WTF? The vast majority of sports were invented by grown men, to be played by grown men. The children play them in emulation of the grown men. > [@](#): > > **Baseball** > Its NOT the “American game”-its boring and slow..it was made for TV commercial breaks. Again, WTF? It was invented in the 19th century, before TV and even radio. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369/60 "2008-04-03T21:22:28Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] I can see where you’re coming from. Something about them really touched me, though. To each their own and all that. 🙂 [/QUOTE] My fav of the trilogy is The Subtle Knife. The last one–forget it. I could barely finish it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/right-of-reply-thread-for-scissorjacks-cultural-heresy/443369.md?page=4)