# Tomndebb is lame **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 6, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056 "2009-01-06T06:25:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/61 "2009-01-07T06:44:02Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > No, it means that I don’t conform to an artificial norm that in fact nobody conforms to. The DSMIV has lots of definitions of nuts for particular diseases, so few of them having determinedly ignorant as a criteria (even in other words) that drawing a Venn diagram of your hypothesis has almost no overlap. But if I’m a nut, and you’re arguing with me, what does that make you? A nut baiter? If so, are you masterful at it? What’s next, you equate yourself to Galileo? ---
**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:** [January 7, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/62 "2009-01-07T07:02:29Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > What’s next, you equate yourself to Galileo? Referring to Venn, his diagrams and their use in one instance is equating? Okay. I’ve seen a documentary by Galileo. I’ve read a book by Einstein on Relativity (for the mass public) and one by Stephen Hawking. I’ve quoted Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. I’ve done bad Brando impressions. I admire Ghandi and Churchill. I’ve spun a Louis Armstrong disc. You seriously think that my mentioning the name of an analytic device means you think that I think that I’m the guy who invented it? You, Ekers, I like. You can come over to my house sometime and hump my spare pillow. ---
**Author:** ![Yeticus\_Rex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a698b9/32.png) [@Yeticus\_Rex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeticus_Rex)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/63 "2009-01-07T07:10:18Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Debb’s not here, man… No man, I’m Debb!..\\\…psst, c’mon man…open up the door! I think the mods just saw me… ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/64 "2009-01-07T07:50:43Z")
Yep…Puppy kicking next time. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/65 "2009-01-07T12:09:39Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Was **Lekatt** banned? Did I miss it? Or have we just not had any threads about NDEs to attract him? He’s posted a few times in the “Which bit of you is you?” thread and the “Evidence Against Religions” thread. He doesn’t seem to be around as much as he used to, though. Maybe he’s noticed everybody got tired of his act years ago and that most people are just pointing and laughing at him. Or maybe he just hasn’t had any interesting bad dreams - I mean, Near-Death Experiences - lately. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/66 "2009-01-07T12:37:45Z")
Unfortunately, he’s like our Der Trihs, although without the venom. I’ve almost stopped posting in the religion threads because he inevitably comes in and yanks everything away from everyone in order to wax poetically about mystical things. I actually like Lekatt on a personal level, but it is truly frustrating trying to debate in a thread he’s in. As soon as he shows up, it seems like everyone turns en masse in his direction, and having a reasonable discussion becomes nearly impossible. He (along with Der Trihs) is a perfect example of what Daniel Dennett (my favorite atheist philosopher) was talking about when he said, “There’s nothing I like less than bad arguments for a view that I hold dear.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/67 "2009-01-07T14:23:49Z")
Clearly I misspoke. Galileo wasn’t this clueless. ---
**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:** [January 7, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/68 "2009-01-07T18:43:53Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > (too late for editing) The [del]love[/del] non-hate in this thread for **Tom** from all political fronts is is touching, but the old newspaper adage that, if everybody hates you, you are doing your job, says he ain’t doing it. Where’s the hayt? 😉 Either that or the consensus is correct that you just aren’t getting anything right. It’s not a matter of hate, its just one more dumb decision. I don’t hate tomndebb for this. I do hate injustice. I am perturbed (stirred but not shaken) that having shown that he says he does another standard for others, denies having said it, accuses me of misconstruing what he wrote when it was clear, without admitted he miswrote it that he is one of the mass of humanity incapable of admitting error. For that I bear him no ill will. It’s a very human trait. But your old newspaperman’s adage bears some thought. Tomndebb is a very highly informative poster, particularly on theological matters, on the same level as Polycarp. But as a mod, my thread is hardly the first on his C average in moderating. Yeah, I know we need good moderators, and it doesn’t pay, and Ed Zotti is far more thin skinned and histrionic, etc, and we are better off with him not moderating at all even though he is a wonderful man. Editors aren’t conciliators, they are bitches who get the writers to meet deadling. But if I don’t complain when I think it’s too heavy handed, he’ll think it’s fine etc. When a thread is started that accuses, directly or indirectly (but mostly directly) Democrats and FDR and Jews of conspiring to bomb Pearl Harbor (why the Japanese government gets off Scot free in these theories, I’ll never know), it’s fair to make a slam back. I’m not under the impression that I made a perfect post. But I don’t like refraining from slinging mud at Republicans. I despise Pelosi and Reid because they have this attitude too. If you play nice when they play sly and dirty, you lose in the long run. It’s politics and its not nice all the time. I love the line they gave Connery in _The Untouchables_ “They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way! And that’s how you get Capone. Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?” If someone starts a thread with that article and that subject, they should expect to have the direct and implied insults answered. And if it had been me moderating, I would have shut the thread down based on the Anti-Semitism and told the OP to start again with an non-Anti-Semitic article on the same subject, there are plenty out there. It’s fair to FDR and the Democrats to bring this up, but it’s not fair to lump Jews in with it. But that, of course, isn’t the subject of the thread, Tomndebb didn’t screw up on the Anti-Semitism thing other than to take the OP’s disclaimer seriously, and maybe it was meant seriously. ---
**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:** [January 7, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/69 "2009-01-07T18:53:57Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > I typed them very accurately and your willful misunderstanding of the meaning does not interest me. I was not posting for your benefit, anyway, but to those of the TM who could understand the points I was making. Then why bother with this post? Shirley all the Teeming Millions interpreted it the same way? Your way? It’s simply not what you wrote, even if you meant something else. It is a perfectly reasonable interpretation that you don’t heavily mod those people because others ignore them. That’s what you wrote. I assure you that I don’t willfully misinterpret what you’ve written. But I do interpret it based on what I see. Of all people, you must know that interpreting writing can lead to coming to opposite conclusions. I am somewhat comforted to know that you now feel that you apply the same standards even to posters who are ignored (I don’t ignore those posters, and by the way, isn’t it against board rules to indicate who you use the formal ignore function on, but I gather that was not what you were referring to, but rather skimming their posts.) I hope all people get equal application of the rules. For me, order is a subset of justice. Order without an attempt at justice is despotism, and I don’t think that people want order without an attempt at justice. Justice, of course, isn’t perfect. But its the best people trying to be honest and fair can do. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/70 "2009-01-07T19:01:31Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > But if I’m a nut, and you’re arguing with me, what does that make you? A nut baiter? If so, are you masterful at it? Oh, honey. It doesn’t make him a nut baiter: it makes him a Master Baiter. \ ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/71 "2009-01-07T19:40:30Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Then why bother with this post? Shirley all the Teeming Millions interpreted it the same way? Your way? It’s simply not what you wrote, even if you meant something else. It is a perfectly reasonable interpretation that you don’t heavily mod those people because others ignore them. That’s what you wrote. I assure you that I don’t willfully misinterpret what you’ve written. This is a fairly common response. When ever you disagree with him, it is always because you misinterpreted him, and it is always on purpose. He has trouble with the idea that someone could disagree with him in good faith. I documented some of his foolishness [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9302085&postcount=138). Or [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7225175&highlight=tomndebb#post7225175). _:shrugs:_ There’s no point in arguing with him, unless it amuses you - he never admits a mistake, and all his contradictions are somebody else’s fault. Regards, Shodan ---
**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:** [January 7, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/72 "2009-01-07T22:22:06Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > This is a fairly common response. When ever you disagree with him, it is always because you misinterpreted him, and it is always on purpose. > > He has trouble with the idea that someone could disagree with him in good faith. > > I documented some of his foolishness [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=9302085&postcount=138). Or [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=7225175&highlight=tomndebb#post7225175). > > _:shrugs:_ > > There’s no point in arguing with him, unless it amuses you - he never admits a mistake, and all his contradictions are somebody else’s fault. > > Regards, > Shodan He’s clearly no dummy, but failure to admit mistakes/miscommunications is not an uncommon human trait. I would think that looking at a few theological disputes (of which he is a praiseworthy expert and educator) would lead one to believe that perhaps even God doesn’t communicate clearly, because his adherents don’t all get the same meaning. Meaning itself is worthy of a lifelong discussion, and many philosophers do. The clearest writing I have ever done were instructions 20 years ago for my mother to turn on and use a computer for word processing and spreadsheets. I tried my best to make my instructions clear, detailed and unambiguous. Yet despite my best efforts and revisions, I was summoned every 20 minutes because my instructions were not clear. And my Mom is no dummy either. Arbitrating or moderating isn’t easy either. I don’t like doing it, and I make peole angry when I do. I admit I might be totally wrong, and that this is a rule evenly enforced and my reasons for attacking Republicans could be wrong. But I in good faith don’t think that is the case. I think that was what the OP did, perhaps unwittingly. Having seen the Pearl Harbor/FDR canard countless times over the years, perhaps I am conflating what earlier people meant or I thought they meant. But in my own judgment, those denials are bs: the Pearl Harbor/FDR canard is, in my judgment, always an intentional attack on Democrats in general except when in a scholarly work. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/73 "2009-01-08T09:21:33Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > One of the unfortunate byproducts of “wacky” sitcoms like _Dharma and Greg_ is the mass impression that nuttiness is cute and/or endearing. It’s not. Being a nut means you’re determinedly ignorant and there are few things more shameful, I feel, for a member of _homo sapiens sapiens_ to be. I suppose so, but I can’t help but thank Second Stone for leading me to that thread and **edvincison**. The “Egyptian pharoahs fell from the sky and blamed the Jews” conspiracy hypothesis is kind of endearingly nutty. It’s got a great beat and you can dance to it, too. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2009, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056/74 "2009-01-08T11:11:13Z")
Yeah, there’s some weapons-grade crazy in that thread, isn’t there? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tomndebb-is-lame/480056.md?page=3)