# Starving Artist: Totally Insane? Or Just Almost? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 13, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678 "2008-10-13T05:04:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/1 "2008-10-13T05:04:05Z")
Can someone please explain this [post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10307736&postcount=19) to me? Kthx. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/2 "2008-10-13T05:07:47Z")
[Totally.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=10302175) ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/3 "2008-10-13T05:18:44Z")
Starving Artist is insane. My cite, from the last time I bothered reading anything he wrote, sums up his irrational and totally groundless hatred for liberals. Check out this [diatribe outlining how liberals have destroyed America](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10197255&postcount=211): > [@Starving Artist](#): > > You want to hold up 4,000 American deaths as evidence I’m evil? I’ll hold up millions of deaths over the last 40 years due to the permissive society you champion from drugs and drug-related crimes, not to mention many millions more whose lives have been ruined when someone in their family becomes a drug addict or is killed in a drug-related murder; from people raped and killed by criminals and murderers set loose on society by liberal judges and correctional systems; from drive-by shootings in gang-related killings caused by gangs that have been allowed to flourish, grow and propogate by liberal resistance to having them outlawed because to do so would be ‘racist’; from AIDS…deaths that are directly attributable to widespread homosexual promiscuity condoned and even encouraged by liberals in the early eighties; by second and third term abortion of perfectly sentient little babies who, with a little care and stabilization in the hospital, could have survived and been taken home way prematurely just like a full-term baby, and who instead are subjected to some of the most horrific deaths imaginable by the very same people who wail that using drugs on torturing, raping murderers is cruel because, who knows, they might feel something before they die. > > Etc., etc., etc…ad fucking nauseum! > > So yeah, I think if anybody in this country could be called evil it would be you guys, because millions upon millions of people in this country have suffered and died over the last 40 years because of you! The list of things he blames on liberals, from rape to AIDS to the drug problem to gangs, to baby killing, to the Republicans’ inability to find a classy dame to run for VP-- all the fault of liberals. Anyone else care to take on this vomit of idiocy? I sure don’t. And it wouldn’t do any good anyway. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/4 "2008-10-13T05:19:16Z")
To be ruthlessly fair, those opinions are unreasonable, but they are not irrational. Its unreasonable, but not irrational, to believe in a vast conspiracy. Such things have happened, they are not unknown. Believing so because your dog told you so…now _that’s_ insane! ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/5 "2008-10-13T05:22:12Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > To be ruthlessly fair, those opinions are unreasonable, but they are not irrational. > > Its unreasonable, but not irrational, to believe in a vast conspiracy. Such things have happened, they are not unknown. > > Believing so because your dog told you so…now _that’s_ insane! I disagree, because the points that he holds up as having formed his worldview are utterly imaginary; i.e., irrational. That’s the charitable view; on a bad day I call it simple dishonesty. But his blubbery sincerity makes it seem more like crazy than mendacious. Although they’re certainly not mutually exclusive. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/6 "2008-10-13T05:22:20Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > To be ruthlessly fair, those opinions are unreasonable, but they are not irrational. > > Its unreasonable, but not irrational, to believe in a vast conspiracy. Such things have happened, they are not unknown. > > Believing so because your dog told you so…now _that’s_ insane! I don’t know… saying that, because of the Democrats, women cannot be fashionable, classy, and sophisticated anymore is… it’s crazy. Saying that liberals encouraged gays to spread AIDS? Crazy. I’m sure there are more examples of the crazy, if you can hold your gorge down long enough to read that crap. ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/7 "2008-10-13T05:24:11Z")
Wow, he’s like the conservative **Der Trihs.** ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/8 "2008-10-13T05:25:20Z")
Don’t forget xtisme and good ol’ humpy. It’s sort of funny how these guys are just starting to realize that Obama may just pull this one out and they are getting more shrill by the minute. The great ACORN conspiracy and Obama the Marxist, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/9 "2008-10-13T05:29:34Z")
_ **xtisme** _ is an example of insanity? I think your nutbar detector may be a bit too strongly tuned. I would tend to say that **Starving Artist** is politer than **Der Trihs**. But that would be it, really. It is but a surface difference. ---
**Author:** ![BMax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bmax/32/4267_2.png) [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/10 "2008-10-13T05:35:59Z")
He’s not just talking about one person, He’s talking about everybody. He’s talking about form. He’s talking about content. He’s talking about interrelationships. He’s talking about God, the devil, Hell, Heaven. Do you understand… FINALLY? I hear the same things S.A. says coming from the mouth of my Reagan-worshipping dad, who believes that Jesus is literally coming back to fix everything and right all wrongs, and that the Democratic party is a Communist front and Bill Clinton is posessed by Satan, that Barack Obama is a crypto-islamist terrorist and possibly the Antichrist. I’m not saying that S.A. believes these things, but that I hear the same things he says coming from people who do. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/11 "2008-10-13T05:39:54Z")
I’m just guessing here, but I see a guy married to a lefty feminist for twenty years, and has yet to win an argument. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/12 "2008-10-13T05:40:59Z")
The quote in question being: > [@](#): > > No, Democrats are responsible for the fact that there are so few classy women (and men, for that matter) these days to begin with. Democracy, since it’s invention in ancient Greece, has coincided with the steady decline of civilization ever since. People who aren’t Democrats are far more classy, as evidenced by Saddam Hussein and Kim Il Jong. If it weren’t for us misbegotten Democrats, everyone alive would be really classy in military uniforms. Like those non-Democrats, Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Mao and Stalin. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/13 "2008-10-13T05:43:22Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I’m just guessing here, but I see a guy married to a lefty feminist for twenty years, and has yet to win an argument. Oh. So his batting average at home is the same as his batting average here, then? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/14 "2008-10-13T05:46:17Z")
Every time I see **SA** go off on his “Liberals ruined the whole world!” rant, I see him as either being 80 years old or having been raised by his John Birch Society grandparents. It’s just such an…old-fashioned way of thinking. Prior to encountering **SA** on here, I’d thought those accusations had gone extinct as the dinosaurs who believed them died of old age and related infirmities. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/15 "2008-10-13T06:25:17Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Starving Artist: Totally Insane? Or Just Almost? > > * * * > > Can someone please explain this post to me? > > Kthx. I admit I erred when I said that. I was responding to **Terrifel’s** characterization of my previous post and used his term by way of response. I apologize. I should have said _liberals_ are responsible for the fact that there are so few classy women (and men, for that matter) these days to begin with. 😃 Is there really doubt in anyone’s mind that today’s society is much more crass, impolite and vulgar than it was prior to the cultural revolution that began in the late sixties? Hell, many liberals readily acknowledge it themselves but claim it was necessary to eliminate racism, or sexism, or whatever othere ‘ism’ they’re using to excuse it that day. And on preview, not a conspiracy **luci** , just likemindedness. And **Ruby** , you’re pissin’ me off! And not only that, you’re lying out your ass! Nowhere did I say ‘liberals encouraged gays to spread AIDS’, and nowhere did I say that because of Democrats, women ‘cannot’ be classy. Rather, they are, exactly as I said, repercussions of the influence that leftie ideology has had on this country. And I stand by every word of that post, and the next person who tries to claim I’m EVIL because I’m gonna vote Republican, is very likely gonna get more of the same. And **Revenant Threshold** , I’m not only more polite than **Der Trihs** , I’m nowhere near as murderous either. You won’t see me hypothetically claiming I’d use whatever superpowers I might gain to kill every liberal I could find. (In fact, in my offscreen life most of my friends are liberals…they’re just not the wacko version that is de riguer around here.) And **jayjay** (who believe it or not, I find to be one of the most intellectually honest of leftie posters around here) I would point out that the ‘rant’ **Rubystreak** posted was my repsponse to being called evil one time too many because of my intention to vote Republican. The thoughts I expressed in that post are mostly thoughts I’ve not expressed around here because I thought that, even though AIDS, drugs, crime, et al. have been the result of liberal influence on society these last few decades, they were, in my mind, the unintentional but inevitable (barring AIDS, that is) consequences of that liberal influence. Basically, I’ve felt that airing them would be hitting below the belt. However, I got hit with this ‘evil’ shit for being a Republican one time too many and thought it would be a good idea to point out the tremendous and very real amount of pain, misery and death that has resulted from liberal influence on this country over the years. Further, it doesn’t bother me a bit that you find my way of thinking old-fashioned, because it isn’t. You only think so because (media rant follows) people who think as I do get virtually no exposure from the country’s news and entertainment media. But believe me, there are many, many millions out there who feel just as I do. (And you might be surprised to find that many more than you would ever think are college-age or just out of high school. I know a surprising number of them myself. Heartening, it is.) So I wouldn’t be feeling too smug and secure in my belief that anyone who recognizes and resents what liberals have done to this country is just an old fogey. This is that liberal eliteism that right-wing radio guys love to attack. You think that your way of thinking is the only way, save for a few right-wing crackpots. Then you’re astonished when you lose elections or barely win squeakers. Now, I’m tired of fighting these timeouts so I’ll leave the rest of you to pat yourselves on the back and congratulate each other over the wonderful changes you’ve wrought lo these many decades…or what I like to refer to as _‘The Trailer-Parking of America!’_ Good job, guys. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/16 "2008-10-13T06:42:20Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > And **Revenant Threshold** , I’m not only more polite than **Der Trihs** , I’m nowhere near as murderous either. You won’t see me hypothetically claiming I’d use whatever superpowers I might gain to kill every liberal I could find. (In fact, in my offscreen life most of my friends are liberals…they’re just not the wacko version that is de riguer around here.) I was under the impression that Der Trihs has said he would like to murder quite a number of people, but that he wouldn’t if he had the chance. Either way, you’re right, it is a difference, and I apologise for inadvertently calling you murderous. As for your rant, I think i’d tend to draw a difference between most Republicans and yourself. I don’t think you share all the same ideas, and I don’t think that disagree with you is necessarily disagreeing with the entirety of conservative thought. By disagreeing with you i’m not saying that all who aren’t liberal are crackpots. I think also that to dismiss people who believe your way of thinking is old-fashioned because they’re only hearing their side from the news media is a self-congratulatory view of quite massive proportions - you argue that liberals on the board think of their way of thinking as being the only way, while at the same time claiming that the same liberals do not think for themselves and only think what they do because of the media - so if they did not, they’d obviously agree with you to a greater extent, because your way is the only way. You seem to be pretty smug yourself. I don’t believe that that charge applies to all who think like you, nor all conservatives, nor all Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/17 "2008-10-13T07:21:50Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > I was under the impression that Der Trihs has said he would like to murder quite a number of people, but that he wouldn’t if he had the chance. Either way, you’re right, it is a difference, and I apologise for inadvertently calling you murderous. Okay, one more post and then I’m out of here. Thanks for your apology, though to be honest I never felt that you thought of me as a would-be murderous person. I just wanted to point out the extent to which it’s a grievous accusation to say someone is like **Der Trihs**. 😃 > [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > As for your rant, I think i’d tend to draw a difference between most Republicans and yourself. I don’t think you share all the same ideas, and I don’t think that disagree with you is necessarily disagreeing with the entirety of conservative thought. You are undoubtedly correct. > [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > By disagreeing with you i’m not saying that all who aren’t liberal are crackpots. I think also that to dismiss people who believe your way of thinking is old-fashioned because they’re only hearing their side from the news media is a self-congratulatory view of quite massive proportions… How so? I think you’re making a bigger deal out of that statement than it is. I’m merely saying that there are millions of people out there who very likely agree with much of what I’m saying, but people like **jayjay** are unaware of that because they never (or at least very rarely) see our point of view or our beliefs being aired in the news and entertainment media…or if they do it’s only to portray us as a small coterie of knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers that nobody pays much attention to. > [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > …you argue that liberals on the board think of their way of thinking as being the only way, while at the same time claiming that the same liberals do not think for themselves and only think what they do because of the media - so if they did not, they’d obviously agree with you to a greater extent, because your way is the only way. Not so. I’ve never said, nor even thought, that liberals don’t think for themselves. I don’t know where you got that idea. Again, what I’m saying is that liberals tend to think their way is the only way because it seems, based on what they see from the news and entertainment media, that most everyone thinks the same way they do. That’s what I mean by their thinking their way is the only way (at least in terms of this discussion. ;)). In other words, I’m not saying they think their way is the only way a person _should_ think…only that they get the impression from news and entertainment media that their way _is_ how everybody thinks. > [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > You seem to be pretty smug yourself. I don’t believe that that charge applies to all who think like you, nor all conservatives, nor all Republicans. Hopefully you don’t feel I’m so smug now that I’ve explained what I meant by my comments. And now I’m out. Goodnight, all. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/18 "2008-10-13T07:55:38Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Okay, one more post and then I’m out of here. > > Thanks for your apology, though to be honest I never felt that you thought of me as a would-be murderous person. I just wanted to point out the extent to which it’s a grievous accusation to say someone is like **Der Trihs**. 😃 It is at that. > [@](#): > > How so? I think you’re making a bigger deal out of that statement than it is. I’m merely saying that there are millions of people out there who very likely agree with much of what I’m saying, but people like **jayjay** are unaware of that because they never (or at least very rarely) see our point of view or our beliefs being aired in the news and entertainment media…or if they do it’s only to portray us as a small coterie of knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers that nobody pays much attention to. Well, my first point was that I don’t think there are that many who’d agree with you - on your general ideals, undoubtedly so, but not on that drug-related deaths are the sole fault of permissive standards set out by liberals, for example. Comparing you to **Der Trihs** was sort of along those lines; **Der Trihs** may certainly find there are many people who agree with atheism, but not for labelling of practically all of the American right as racists. It’s possible for someone to disagree with him yet not be slandering all liberals, and disagree with you yet not be slandering all conservatives. > [@](#): > > Not so. I’ve never said, nor even thought, that liberals don’t think for themselves. I don’t know where you got that idea. Again, what I’m saying is that liberals tend to think their way is the only way because it seems, based on what they see from the news and entertainment media, that most everyone thinks the same way they do. That’s what I mean by their thinking their way is the only way (at least in terms of this discussion. ;)). In other words, I’m not saying they think their way is the only way a person _should_ think…only that they get the impression from news and entertainment media that their way _is_ how everybody thinks. Let me put it this way. If the mainstream media over yonder has a great bias, it’s not likely to report this. So you must have got your information that it is from elsewhere - perhaps from alternate media, from personal experience, perhaps from unbiased information sources (to the extent that’s possible). Taking all of those together, it’s your opinion that the MSM is strongly biased. However, it is likewise your opinion that liberals don’t get to hear any other viewpoints because they only get their news from the MSM - yet they surely have access to the same alternate sources as you do, at least to some extent. And yet they are, according to you, content to listen only to the MSM, it seemingly never crossing their minds to look for these things nor purposefully not seeking them out. That’s where I got my accusation from; not from their only getting information from one place alone, but from your idea that they aren’t looking at other sources for whatever reason. > [@](#): > > Hopefully you don’t feel I’m so smug now that I’ve explained what I meant by my comments. I’m afraid I still do. It’s not what you believe that makes me think it, but more that while you’re certainly willing to admit your own ideals may not be the one true way, you’re certain in what you see as the flaws of others and seemingly putting yourself above and without them. If it helps at all, i’m guilty of smugness too. Goodnight, anyway. Although it’s morning here. Bleurgh. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/19 "2008-10-13T08:23:34Z")
…my biggest problem with **Starving Artist**? The bastard still owes me a beer! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/20 "2008-10-13T08:48:54Z")
**Starving Artist** is not insane at all, just mistaken if he really believes all that he says he believes. He’s also very talented and his interests indicate an intelligence that doesn’t spend all of its time asleep or at the computer. But keep in mind, **S.A.** , that I am one of those Democrat Babes. Don’t hurt me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678.md?page=2)