# 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:** 14
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/261 "2008-10-18T03:35:29Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > What’s more, the Census Bureau projects that we will add a hundred million people to our population over the next four decades, meaning that we must find sufficient capital to add infrastructure (roads, water pipelines, housing, schools, hospitals, courts, police, prisons, etc.) equivalent to twenty five cities the size of Los Angeles to avoid a disastrous decline in our standard of living. Almost all of the new population will be due to immigration. Where do you think our current standard of living came from? Immigrant labor, and brain draining other countries. Indian Americans, for example, make up 5% of all US physicians (and nearly all of them are first- or second-generation immigrants) despite making up only about 1% of the population. This has only been the most powerful country on earth for a little over half a century. We’ve got a while to sit at the top. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/262 "2008-10-18T03:37:52Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > I’m immensely offended. > > There _are_ insults other than pussy and eunuch. Crack a thesaurus! I don’t know who else can continue to stand this lacklustre wordsmithery. 😉 Well, those are the terms that most naturally occur to me when unpleasant necessity compels me to contemplate the existence of lefties. If it’s any comfort to you, “money grubbing pustules” and “rabid, avaricious weasels” are the terms that spring readily to mind when I can no longer ignore the existence of the bastards who ran AIG, Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac, and their ilk. I try to be creative, but it’s just so overwhelming, y’know? ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/263 "2008-10-18T05:28:21Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Where do you think our current standard of living came from? Immigrant labor, and brain draining other countries. Indian Americans, for example, make up 5% of all US physicians (and nearly all of them are first- or second-generation immigrants) despite making up only about 1% of the population. > > This has only been the most powerful country on earth for a little over half a century. We’ve got a while to sit at the top. The United States has been the world’s economic powerhouse throughout the 20th century, not just the last four or five decades. According to Paul Kennedy in _The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers_, in 1938 the US accounted for 28.7% of the world’s manufacturing output, with the USSR accounting for 17.6%, Germany 13.2%, the UK 9.2%, France 4.5% and Japan 3.8%.According to the same source, America accounted for 43.3% of the world’s manufacturing output in 1929. Economically, we were on top of the world for more than a century. No, we haven’t “got a while to sit at the top.” In every direction, our resources are stretched thin. We are no longer the world’s manufacturing powerhouse, and we offer no services to the world which can’t be matched easily by other countries. Currently, our high standard of living depends on the willingness of other nations to lend us money. I think you’ve grossly underestimated how quickly and catastrophically wealth and power can shift in the world. ---
**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 18, 2008, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/264 "2008-10-18T06:35:52Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Well, those are the terms that most naturally occur to me when unpleasant necessity compels me to contemplate the existence of lefties. If it’s any comfort to you, “money grubbing pustules” and “rabid, avaricious weasels” are the terms that spring readily to mind when I can no longer ignore the existence of the bastards who ran AIG, Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac, and their ilk. > > I try to be creative, but it’s just so overwhelming, y’know? Ah, there’s more than four insults in the world. At the very least, thinking up some new ones will be something to do while the country collapses down around your ears. How about some historical insults? I’m sure the history of your nation is replete with examples of amusing offensiveness. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Svinlesha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/22d042/32.png) [@Mr.Svinlesha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Svinlesha)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/265 "2008-10-18T11:49:48Z")
Please allow me to post a couple of examples of the decorum and civility of the right, such as it was before us evil lefty America-haters destroyed it with our drugs and free sexuality: [Example 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E&eurl=http://www.sadlyno.com/) [Example 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEucdhf4Us&eurl=http://www.sadlyno.com/) [Example 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPg0VCg4AEQ&eurl=http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/) And just a quick shout-out to **Hentor** : you’ve been fucking hilarious in this thread, man. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/266 "2008-10-18T12:23:40Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Ah, there’s more than four insults in the world. Yeah, but “dumb pussy” fits most of you so well. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/267 "2008-10-18T12:33:48Z")
> [@Mr.Svinlesha](#): > > Please allow me to post a couple of examples of the decorum and civility of the right, such as it was before us evil lefty America-haters destroyed it with our drugs and free sexuality: > > [Example 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E&eurl=http://www.sadlyno.com/) > > [Example 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEucdhf4Us&eurl=http://www.sadlyno.com/) > > [Example 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPg0VCg4AEQ&eurl=http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/) Has Jerry Springer ever shown any political ambitions? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/268 "2008-10-18T13:18:22Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > We’ve badly mismanaged our economy, we’ve lost control of our borders… One cannot lose what one never possessed. The United States has NEVER effectively controlled its borders. There was never a time in American history, not from 1776 to today, when it could effectively control ingress on its borders. ---
**Author:** ![Carson\_O\_Genic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Carson\_O\_Genic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carson_O_Genic)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/269 "2008-10-18T13:32:49Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Nah, my stupidity is genetically encoded. ``` That's an interesting comment. I have a personal theory that people are what they are genetically and can only make slight alterations in a pre-determined worldview. The alterations are only possible by careful perusal of fact and the sometimes uncomfortable tension of opposites. You don't seem stupid but strike me as willfully obtuse in this thread, wherein I wonder if you are "starving for attention". But since it seems there is a benefit for all, carry on. But! a question: are you promoting civility in your efforts here? ``` ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/270 "2008-10-18T14:09:10Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Has Jerry Springer ever shown any political ambitions? Yes. He was in local politics in Cincinnati, where he had a turn at mayor, and seriously considered running for Senator in Ohio back in '04, '06, one of the two. ---
**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 18, 2008, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/271 "2008-10-18T14:37:52Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > Yeah, but “dumb pussy” fits most of you so well. Well, that’s the beauty of the language - there’s not just one word or phrase that describes things well. Expand your horizons to the grand vistas of abuse that lie before you; a superior grasp of rudeness itself fights dumbness in both meanings of the word. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/272 "2008-10-18T14:53:22Z")
> [@Revenant\_Threshold](#): > > Well, that’s the beauty of the language - there’s not just one word or phrase that describes things well. I don’t know. Saying that someone is “being a Lonesome Polecat” might have a descriptiveness no other words can match. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/273 "2008-10-18T14:56:31Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I don’t know. Saying that someone is “being a Lonesome Polecat” might have a descriptiveness no other words can match. And it rhymes with my favourite swear word! ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/274 "2008-10-18T15:08:44Z")
> [@Mr.Svinlesha](#): > > Please allow me to post a couple of examples of the decorum and civility of the right, such as it was before us evil lefty America-haters destroyed it with our drugs and free sexuality: > > [Example 1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjxzmaXAg9E&eurl=http://www.sadlyno.com/) > > [Example 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itEucdhf4Us&eurl=http://www.sadlyno.com/) > > [Example 3](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPg0VCg4AEQ&eurl=http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/) I wonder if Starving Artist, who claims he so values civility and decorum, will repudiate these people and their behavior. Or are they OK as long as they are on his side? Why fight their ignorance if it gets them to vote conservative? ---
**Author:** ![Claptree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Claptree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claptree)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/275 "2008-10-18T16:10:50Z")
They are obviously no more than a minuscule portion of his party’s supporters, and therefore inconsequential. Unlike any liberal shouting something rude or, you know, political - they are typical of all liberals. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/276 "2008-10-18T18:51:12Z")
[QUOTE=Starving Artist] 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? [/QUOTE] That made me think of [this](http://www.spokesmanreview.com/library/civilrights/sitins/sitin.jpg) (photo taken in 1963). I reckon the level of crassness, impoliteness and vulgarity one experienced depended upon what part of society you were in. I think that point’s already been made, though. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/277 "2008-10-18T19:36:19Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > That made me think of [this](http://www.spokesmanreview.com/library/civilrights/sitins/sitin.jpg) (photo taken in 1963). I reckon the level of crassness, impoliteness and vulgarity one experienced depended upon what part of society you were in. > > I think that point’s already been made, though. I like this picture as well: > **[File:Little Rock Desegregation 1957.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Little_Rock_Desegregation_1957.jpg)** > > A photograph of Elizabeth Eckford attempting to enter Little Rock School on 4th September, 1957. The girl shouting is Hazel Massery. See Little Rock Nine for context. > http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAPcounts.htm > 4 September 1957 > Johnny Jenkins, United Press What a pleasant looking young lady that is shrieking racial obscenities as Elizabeth Eckford. Gosh, people were so much classier then. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/278 "2008-10-18T22:55:37Z")
It’s their fault for trying to hurry progress. They should have waited a couple/few decades before trying to sit at the whites-only counter, go to a white-only school, or sit in the white-only front of the bus. ---
**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 19, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/279 "2008-10-19T00:01:53Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > You guys are just constitutionally incable of honesty, aren’t you? It was the mindless homosexual promiscuity (cheered on by the left) that took place in the early eighties that was responsible for the spread of AIDS, not the ‘make love, not war’ movement fifteen years beforehand. They’re interrelated and there’s some overlap, but the AIDS epidemic was not a direct or predictable result of make love, not war…unlike most the other problems I mentioned which were easily predictable. Wow. Seriously dude, you should try to educate yourself. It was the “liberal” activists who tried to get the government to acknowledge there was a problem that needed solving, before it got entirely out of hand. But Ronald Reagan never even acknowledged the disease existed, until well after the epidemic was out of hand. And it was more likely to be liberals who agitated for sex education and condom distribution, and more likely to be righties who threw up every possible obstacle. It’s because gay sex had to take place in the dark, in secret, that AIDS became such a huge problem. If gays had been allowed to take their place in society, rather than shoved into the closet by the right, it’s quite possible they would have led more “normal” sex lives–nothing to rebel against–and it’s almost certainly true that more information would’ve been available to prevent the spread of the disease. Your problem is you don’t analyze a situation to find its root cause; you start wit the root cause–libruls–and then construct a weird Kevin-Bacony thing to connect just those two dots. Then you consider the problem “solved” and look no further. That’s really not the way it works. And it makes you the most intellectually dishonest poster in these parts. Well, next to Scylla, but you two mostly play exactly the same game. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/280 "2008-10-19T00:11:16Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I like this picture as well: > > [File:Little Rock Desegregation 1957.jpg - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Little_Rock_Desegregation_1957.jpg) > > What a pleasant looking young lady that is shrieking racial obscenities as Elizabeth Eckford. Gosh, people were so much classier then. Yep. [Here’s another one](http://www.ardemgaz.com/prev/central/central4.html), and [a few more](http://www.ardemgaz.com/prev/central/counts2.html), also from Arkansas in 1957. Of course, by the **Starving Artist** Theory of Historical Causation[sup]TM[/sup], those people were only provoked into their impoliteness by the overly-assertive liberals who just couldn’t wait for change to happen in its own good time. Therefore, of course, it’s still all the fault of the liberals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678.md?page=15)