# 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:** 23
**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 21, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/441 "2008-10-21T00:02:18Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > Nah, knowing SA I’m betting he’s saying all liberals are fags. You would be wrong about that. > [@Dissonance](#): > > Or maybe all fags are liberals. And about that. > [@Dissonance](#): > > I mean it’s only uncivil or vulgar if liberals are saying it. And about that. > [@Dissonance](#): > > Why those poor, polite, upstanding conservatives in the 50s must have been driven to scream nigger and using profanities by dint of those liberals doing it first! And about that. Cool! A fourfecta of ignorance! I haven’t seen that since the last time **Hector** posted…oh, wait, his was only a trifecta. You win! ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/442 "2008-10-21T00:17:20Z")
**Siege** , check out that book **Mr. S** cited a page or so back. It kinda helped me understand that mentality of “betray your child to prevent blackening the family name”. See, my brother-in-law is like that. My husband has broken free of that mind-set, thank Og. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/443 "2008-10-21T00:19:39Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Still, given the fact that I’m fourty 😉 plus years out of school and have endured decades of liberal-induced sloppiness of language, I’ve been told by at least two college students of my acquaintance that being around me is like being around an English professor. This despite the fact that my grasp of spelling, grammar and rules of sentence construction is tenuous at best. > > Doesn’t speak well of the education students get by the time they arrive in college these days, does it? Then you need to start hanging out with less dumb-asses. Most people I know my age and younger are quite articulate. Of course, I work for a publishing company, but still - most people have _always_ been “sloppy” with language. It has nothing to do with politics. I bet you’d get different readings on how literate college graduates who majored in English Lit were compared to those who majored in Business. Does that mean the business majors (who are generally more conservative than English majors) are responsible for turning this country into dipshit illiterates? ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/444 "2008-10-21T00:21:31Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > [cheap shot]Did they teach children the difference between “forth” and “fourth”? “Was” and “were”? “Dumas” and “dumbass”?[/cheap shot] I think you missed one - post #347, _breech_ rather than _breach_. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/445 "2008-10-21T01:08:43Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > I think you missed one - post #347, _breech_ rather than _breach_. He said, “Once more into the breech…” I think he meant that - he was explaining the source of his impairments. There must have been some sort of complications at his delivery. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/446 "2008-10-21T01:12:56Z")
Born backwards, losing ground ever since. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/447 "2008-10-21T01:21:56Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > He said, “Once more into the breech…” I think he meant that - he was explaining the source of his impairments. There must have been some sort of complications at his delivery. Shakespear, baby. 😉 [QUOTE=King Henry V, in Shakespear’s Henry V, Act III, 1599] Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. (etc.) [/QUOTE] Lots of fun lines in that. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/448 "2008-10-21T01:40:39Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > The old liberal you quote is a motorcycle-gang leader named Johnny, played by Marlon Brando, in Stanley Kramer’s THE WILD ONE. Just thought you’d like to know. Yes. 1953. I’m aware. The Hell’s Angels were founded in '48, you know. Back when things were more ‘civil’. ---
**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 21, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/449 "2008-10-21T01:58:49Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > I think you missed one - post #347, _breech_ rather than _breach_. Don’t blame me, [blame Google](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=&as_epq=once+more+into+the+breech&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=off). I thought it didn’t quite look right at the time so I Googled it. Look at the top listing. And now, back to the kitchen… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/450 "2008-10-21T02:22:20Z")
Yeah, Google was much better back before the hippies fucked it all up… ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/451 "2008-10-21T02:23:54Z")
[Damned hippies are at it again.](http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200881020067) > [@](#): > > A dead bear was found dumped this morning on the Western Carolina University campus, draped with a pair of Obama campaign signs, university police said. > > Maintenance workers reported about 7:45 a.m. finding a 75-pound bear cub dumped at the roundabout near the Catamount statute at the entrance to campus, said Tom Johnson, chief of university police. > > “It looked like it had been shot in the head as best we can tell. A couple of Obama campaign signs had been stapled together and stuck over its head,” Johnson said. > > University police called in N.C. Wildlife Resources officials to remove the body and help in the investigation. Bear season is currently under way in Western North Carolina. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/452 "2008-10-21T02:24:19Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Don’t blame me, [blame Google](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&as_q=&as_epq=once+more+into+the+breech&as_oq=&as_eq=&num=10&lr=&as_filetype=&ft=i&as_sitesearch=&as_qdr=all&as_rights=&as_occt=any&cr=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&safe=off). I’ll cut you some slack on that one. Most folks seem to get it wrong. I probably only notice it 'cause of all my work with dams. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/453 "2008-10-21T02:24:53Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Again with the Beatles. I point out how liberalism in this country over the last forty years has led to death and misery from drugs, crime, AIDS (by dint of liberal-championed over-the-top promiscuity that would never have been condoned by heterosexuals), and abortion - and which far outweighs the death and misery caused by the Iraq war and/or racial lynchings - and aside from a few weak protestations to the contrary, what you guys choose to focus on is civility and the Beatles? Drugs. > **[Opium Den Scene From Once Upon A Time In America](http://knickerbockervillage.blogspot.com/2008/05/opium-den-scene-from-once-upon-time-in.html)** > > from wikipedia An opium den was an establishment where opium was sold and smoked. Opium dens were prevalent in many parts of the world in th... Remember Opium, SA? [http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/narcotics\_arrests\_show\_sharp\_ris.htm](http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/narcotics_arrests_show_sharp_ris.htm) [http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/youthscrossing51.html](http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/youthscrossing51.html) How about some heroin, instead? [http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/bigsnag.html](http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/bigsnag.html) Crime. Birth of the Mexican Mafia, the Italian one being in full swing. (Don’t worry! Hoover insisted they didn’t exist!) > **[America 1950-1959: Law and Justice Summary](https://www.bookrags.com/history/america-1950s-law-and-justice/sub1.html)** > > This detailed study guide includes chapter summaries and analysis, important themes, significant quotes, and more - everything you need to ace your essay or test on America 1950-1959: Law and Justice! Homicides are a good measure of crime, right? 5.1 per 100,000 in 1960, 5.6 per 100,000 now. Of course, population is a little more dense now. But it’s the fall of civilization despite that. > **[Home](https://bjs.ojp.gov)** > > The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is the United States' primary source for criminal justice statistics that cover a wide range of topics. Oh, but you’re going to point at the hump between 1960 and 2000? That’s fine. > **[The First Measured Century: Book: Section 12.1](http://www.pbs.org/fmc/book/12crime1.htm#crimchart1)** > > Source Notes Source Abbreviations | Entire contents of Section 12.1 of the FMC book. What about the one between 1900 and 1950? Hm. Okay, let’s look at percentage of population in jail for various things. We’ve gotten better at catching crooks… > **[The First Measured Century: Book: Section 12.6](http://www.pbs.org/fmc/book/12crime6.htm)** > > Entire contents of Section 12.6 of the FMC book. Weird. Seems about even. > **[Home](https://bjs.ojp.gov)** > > The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is the United States' primary source for criminal justice statistics that cover a wide range of topics. Does seem to have been a spike in the 70s, but it’s coming back down and has been for a while. So, misery due to drugs and crime… no. Not to mention, of course, the vast increase in reportings of crimes to A: the police, and B: from the police to a central location, between 1950 and 1970. Promiscuity! Hey, that’s a good one! > **[Gene Expression: Your generation was sluttier](https://www.gnxp.com/blog/2008/06/your-generation-was-sluttier.php)** STDs spiked in the 50s. Promiscuity was higher… but people weren’t sicker for it. That’s right. For the last twenty years, people been less promiscuous than at any time since the 50s. Clearly, civilization is declining. As far as abortion… Clearly, they didn’t do that in the 50s. > **[Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society](https://books.google.com/books?id=YMUola6pDnkC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6)** > > "This ambitious undertaking touches all bases, is highly accessible, and provides a solid starting point for further exploration." —School Library JournalThis three-volume reference presents a comprehensive look at the role race and ethnicity play in... Or maybe they did. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/454 "2008-10-21T02:30:02Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Yes. 1953. I’m aware. The Hell’s Angels were founded in '48, you know. Back when things were more ‘civil’. But, surely there was Federal legislation passed outlawing those biker gangs, since there were no liberals in power to oppose such things? CMC +fnord! _The Wild One_ was inspired by a real life [biker “riot”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollister_riot). ---
**Author:** ![Scylla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Scylla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scylla)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/455 "2008-10-21T02:36:12Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > 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. That was just uncalled for. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/456 "2008-10-21T02:43:20Z")
And if you think I’m a liberal, SA, you’re so sickeningly wrong that is becomes highly amusing. I’m a paleoconservative. I disagree with specific issues of my fellow paleoconservatives, because I view the past slightly differently than they do. For example, I believe that throwing the government the hell out of my house is far more important than preserving the sanctity of marriage. I know exactly how weird certain things were in the past, and they worked just fine that way. I also think that this country was built on the backs of immigrants like my Irish ancestors that came over in 1700, following Increase Mather. I know exactly what sort of hell they raised, from rebelling _again_ (Whiskey Rebellion) to being nearly hung as witches (Increase’s son and my grandmother’s family, after being founders of New Salem… hell, my great something grandfather’s house is still standing there, reconstructed as a founder of New Salem. I tell you, his court records are fun to read.) to fighting for our country’s freedom, again, and again, and again, and again. And for the freedom of other countries, in ways that wind up being too bizarre to explain. We been horse thieves and millers. I’m even the descendant of one of the first US Marines, who went and raided England under John Paul Jones. (And my Irish blood is amused to hell by that.) But the one thing my study of family history has told me is that things were not _better_ back then. Or worse. It was the _community_ that made it so. A sick community makes for a sick country, and a well community makes for a strong one. We’ve had sick communities before. New Salem being one of them. And it’s something that’s repeated in America, time and time again. The McCarthy Red Scare. The 1990 Satanic Cult Scare. That’s something that ain’t worth keeping. So, I say to you, mister lightweight, take a damn good look at what you say is better. Take a damn good look at what you say is responsible for the decay of society. Cause if you think the _real_ Hell’s Angels cut their hair neater than Marlin Brando, and if you think The Wild One was a patch on the real shit that happened in this country, you’re just damn wrong. I’m a conservative, all right. But that doesn’t mean I’ll approve of the Alien and Sedition act just because it happened a long time ago. It means that I want to look at the past, see what made this country that I love great, and _keep it strong_. You just want to curl up under a blanket and let Mr. Government protect you. Sounds like a liberal to me. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/457 "2008-10-21T03:45:18Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > A fourfecta of ignorance! … You win! No way! What’s my prize? I mean gosh, you’ve been such a fountain of wisdom on providing cites for your strawmen. Eh, engaging you intellectually as an honest debater is an excercise in futility, sorry so much for mocking you. You know it’s funny, I remember engaging Mr. Svinlesha in an honest debate about the use of atomic bombs on Japan as one ‘liberal’ to another on opposite sides of the issue way back before the SDMB went to pay to post. I seem to recall that we actually moved each other’s views on things by actually providing and being willing to read each other’s cites. Funny how actually backing up your position can do that. Oh yeah, just to prove to you that I’m left of right, you’re a total fucking moron. Rome and all that. ---
**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 21, 2008, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/458 "2008-10-21T04:14:51Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > Drugs. > [Knickerbocker Village: Opium Den Scene From Once Upon A Time In America](http://knickerbockervillage.blogspot.com/2008/05/opium-den-scene-from-once-upon-time-in.html) > Remember Opium, SA? > [http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/narcotics\_arrests\_show\_sharp\_ris.htm](http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/narcotics_arrests_show_sharp_ris.htm) > [http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/youthscrossing51.html](http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/youthscrossing51.html) > How about some heroin, instead? > [http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/bigsnag.html](http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e1950/bigsnag.html) > > Crime. Birth of the Mexican Mafia, the Italian one being in full swing. (Don’t worry! Hoover insisted they didn’t exist!) > [America 1950-1959: Law and Justice Research Artilce from American Decades | BookRags.com](http://www.bookrags.com/history/america-1950s-law-and-justice/sub1.html) > Homicides are a good measure of crime, right? 5.1 per 100,000 in 1960, 5.6 per 100,000 now. Of course, population is a little more dense now. But it’s the fall of civilization despite that. > [Home | Bureau of Justice Statistics](http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/totalstab.htm) > Oh, but you’re going to point at the hump between 1960 and 2000? That’s fine. > [The First Measured Century: Book: Section 12.1](http://www.pbs.org/fmc/book/12crime1.htm#crimchart1) > What about the one between 1900 and 1950? > > Hm. Okay, let’s look at percentage of population in jail for various things. We’ve gotten better at catching crooks… > [The First Measured Century: Book: Section 12.6](http://www.pbs.org/fmc/book/12crime6.htm) > > Weird. Seems about even. > [Home | Bureau of Justice Statistics](http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/tables/viortrdtab.htm) > Does seem to have been a spike in the 70s, but it’s coming back down and has been for a while. > > So, misery due to drugs and crime… no. > Not to mention, of course, the vast increase in reportings of crimes to A: the police, and B: from the police to a central location, between 1950 and 1970. > > Promiscuity! Hey, that’s a good one! > [Gene Expression: Your generation was sluttier](http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2008/06/your-generation-was-sluttier.php) > STDs spiked in the 50s. Promiscuity was higher… but people weren’t sicker for it. > That’s right. For the last twenty years, people been less promiscuous than at any time since the 50s. Clearly, civilization is declining. > > As far as abortion… Clearly, they didn’t do that in the 50s. > [Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society - Richard T. Schaefer - Google Books](http://books.google.com/books?id=YMUola6pDnkC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6) > Or maybe they did. You win the thread and you didn’t even make a funny. Seems… wrong, somehow. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2008, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/459 "2008-10-21T04:28:59Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > … see what made this country that I love great, and _keep it strong_… Keep in mind that the things that make a country great can also lead to its destruction. Japan’s pride, industry and military valor won her an empire. Got her nuked, as well. If by “great”, you mean living up to and honoring a revolutionary heritage of democratic equality for its people, that can be done with the budget of Belgium and the military might of Costa Rica. > [@](#): > > ..You just want to curl up under a blanket and let Mr. Government protect you. Sounds like a liberal to me. I fully expect to depend on my fellow citizens for my general security, as I fully expect them to rely on me. I fail to see how that weakens either of us. Quite the opposite. ---
**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 21, 2008, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678/460 "2008-10-21T04:56:51Z")
**Dissonance:** I remember that! I learned a lot over the course of that discussion. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-totally-insane-or-just-almost/467678.md?page=24)