merjet

21 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Merlin apparently has never heard of a dictionary. Open any dictionary to any page and ALL terms have more than one definition.

[Blah, blah, blah about his gotcha gotcha gotcha and crusade.]

Scrabble might be interesting to him, though.

Has MSK ever seen a Scrabble dictionary? 

Earth to MSK. I have quoted Mencken three times recently as follows.

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” ― H. L. Mencken

That clearly is not about any dictionary.

However, the following is about one word in a dictionary, straw man. Look it up. MSK revels making straw men and then flaming them.

The Logic of Bell Curve Leftism #2

On 9/14/2020 at 8:03 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Tim Pool is not amused.

At least Tim Pool is grounded enough to not invoke “Marxist” or “Marxism” umpteen times and dismiss all other sources of Wokeness. Pool didn’t say “Marxist” or “Marxism” even once.

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” ― H. L. Mencken

15 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

It looks like the whole Marxist infiltration of the USA school system is going to take a serious fall. The jig is up when it is stated as clearly as it is by a President of the USA.

.....

President Trump even mentioned Howard Zinn as one of the evil ones.

 

Marxism is to MSK what burning fossil fuels is to climate alarmists -- the basis of numerous non sequiturs.

Trump clearly did not say "Marxist" in his tweet; he said "left-wing." He didn’t call Howard Zinn a “Marxist” either. MSK needs to indoctrinate Trump about a few things. 

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” ― H. L. Mencken

1 hour ago, Dglgmut said:

[New Zealanders] are the only ones avoiding the virus entirely.

Entirely??  Worldometers shows New Zealand with 362 cases per million population and 5 deaths per million population. That's very low. But >20% of the countries shown have fewer.

Do you think that a low level of international travel is at all relevant? 

The Logic of Bell Curve Leftism #1
 

Dr. Fauci Backed Controversial Wuhan Lab with U.S. Dollars for Risky Coronavirus Research
 

Dr. Li-Meng Yan is the subject of another story by NDTV, a TV station in India. 

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/chinese-virologist-li-meng-yan-claims-coronavirus-was-made-in-wuhan-lab-report-2295323

Ab8 COVID-19 Drug Breakthrough: Tiny Antibody Component Completely Neutralizes the SARS-CoV-2 Virus

On 9/13/2020 at 7:21 AM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

... let's look...

Oh, my. I make a calm, reasonable, 34-word request to MSK to consider more than his mere two presumptuous hypotheses – my hurt feelings or vanity. He took it as an opportunity to concoct a >300-word blast. Much of it is a hyperbolic narrative portraying me as "constantly" making personal attacks on him and nary a word about his personal attacks on me. Fair and balanced is not his style. The truth is that he is about as innocent as the schoolyard bully who always says, “He started it.”

He “constantly” dismisses what I say that he doesn't like by calling it a gotcha, gotcha, gotcha, or pettiness – his lingo for lack of any substance – or insinuating that my motivation is mere hurt feelings or vanity or loneliness.

Something else he does not mention in his hyperbolic one-sided narrative is the volume, degree of hostility, and absurdity of personal attacks. He cited one where I asked others to consider his motives. I believe that is much less hostile and absurd than his that follow.

“Vladimir Lenin used to call people who argued like this "useful idiots. … you are putting a smiley face on the Marxist rot underneath BLM" (link).

“Lenin would have loved you. That is, until he got the power he wanted. Then he would have had you shot. He wasn't good at tolerating gotcha arguments, much less gotcha qua gotcha” (link).

I frankly admit I do play tit-for-tat, often adding a little ad hominem to something more substantive when I get personally attacked. When he stops the personal attacks and sticks to the message, he will be treated likewise. We can erase the chalkboard clean this minute and see what ensues. That’s my white flag. If his “If you knock off that hostile personal shit, I will, too” is a white flag, we will see how long it stays up.

Most Obamacare health insurance co-ops shut down

Coronavirus -- NY Times biased statistic #2
 

21 hours ago, Dglgmut said:

I think he's connecting the dots.

“Connecting the dots” can be done very poorly at one extreme to very well at the other extreme. On the very poor end are conspiracy theories, which typically have lots of dots and the connections are mostly imagined. On the opposite end are elegant mathematical proofs. There are enough dots – none superfluous – that the proof is not immediately obvious, and the connections are rigorous.

22 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Your feelings are hurt?

I'm going to think on this.

If your feelings really are hurt, ...

If this is just vanity, ...

Take your time. But if you limit yourself to only those two hypotheses, then you will find dead-ends and not get far. Both focus on the messenger rather than the message.

Good luck.

5 hours ago, anthony said:

There is no "anti-racism"

America Is Anti-Racist

On 9/11/2020 at 7:01 AM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Merlin,

So?

Nobody here has claimed that, either.

LOL. It is one of your blusterous non sequiturs, to wit:

"But so long as professional basketball keeps promoting the virtue of institutional racism as one of its main marketing messages, it will keep losing money and audience. Not just any old kind of institutional racism, either. Marxist institutional racism (BLM).

I predict it will not be too long before the Marxist institutional racism promoted by professional basketball players and teams disappears from pro basketball courts and marketing" (link).

To readers: Ask yourself why MSK felt a need to include “Marxist” in the above? Did it clarify or confuse? Was it to slur NBA people? Something else?

When I proffered critical race theory and postmodernism as non-Marxist elements of Black Lives Matter ideas here, MSK’s reply swept both under the rug while using “Marxis_” 8 times.

Why did MSK post that mostly garbage article by Marxist Bertell Ollman if it wasn’t to slur NBA players as Marxists or dupes of Marxists? Which one matters little provided the gullible swallow MSK’s labeling.

The Trump campaign played a song about rich kids dodging the Vietnam War draft  Oops.

The song is "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival. I referred to it here.

23 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

But I do think Marxism is as dangerous as all get out

16 hours ago, Ellen Stuttle said:

YES, very dangerous.  Likewise, even more so, in Europe. (And, as I've said, an important ChiCom long-term goal of Covid is accelerating their power hold on Europe.)

I’ll recommend a book to Merlin, who seems not to get the Marxist undergirding and deliberate employment of gender, gay, and race studies and "empowerment."

Nowhere have I said Marxism isn't dangerous.

However, do you mean that the root of all the present danger (100%) is only Marxism? It is not even Neo-Marxism; only Marxism? None of it is critical race theory, postmodernism; only Marxism?

“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.” ― H. L. Mencken

You don’t get it. All social class divisions are not based on Marxism. Ideas of social class divisions predated Marx. Marx based class divisions on only economic factors. Social class divisions based on gender identity, sexual preference, or race are not part of Marxism. Ideas about social class divisions in more recent years include some from critical race theory and postmodernism – for example, the denial of real truth because power is all that matters.

I recommend this to you, especially these: https://newdiscourses.com/2020/07/woke-wont-debate-you-heres-why/

https://newdiscourses.com/2020/07/complex-relationship-between-marxism-wokeness/

Nobody here has shown a shred of evidence – only blusterous non sequiturs – that the minds of NBA players and other NBA people who support ‘black lives matter’ is based solely on Marxism. NBA players aren’t even economically oppressed. Being “woke” does not equal being a Marxist.

23 minutes ago, anthony said:

There's no edit function.

Click on the 3 dots near the upper right corner of the post (within 24 hours, I believe).

2 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

I thought it was clear I disagreed with the essay.

Funny you missed that since it was obvious...

[blah, blah, blah and more hogwash]

I missed nothing. Your mind-reading skills are pathetic.

I saw very clearly you were making another straw man. I said nothing about whether you agreed or disagreed with the stupid article. Funny how you missed that. Regarding your saying "I found something you will like", you want others to believe that "you" does not include me, but does include others for whom you didn't make the straw man? 

17 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Here you guys go.

I found something you will like.

[blah, blah, blah]

Oh, my. OL’s king of snark and logical fallacies posts one of the stupidest essays I have ever seen.

The first six paragraphs suffice to establish that. I won’t try to guess MSK’s whim to not quote them.

1 hour ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Lenin would have loved you. That is, until he got the power he wanted. Then he would have had you shot. He wasn't good at tolerating gotcha arguments, much less gotcha qua gotcha.  

There is it in full flower. MSK puts a smiley face on the devout Marxist and Soviet dictator V. Lenin.

Heh.

23 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

you are putting a smiley face on the Marxist rot underneath BLM.

Hogwash. Borrowing your notion of “logic” and turning the table 180 degrees, I made this. You put smiley faces on critical race theory and postmodernism by sweeping them under the rug.

I didn’t put smiley faces on Marxism, or critical race theory, or postmodernism.

I saw your switcheroo. It’s very clear that I wrote about NBA players, their awareness (or lack thereof) of Marxism, and why they support Black Lives Matter, the slogan or popular movement. Of course, this does not imply they wholly support the founders of Black Lives Matter and their political philosophy. Also, I said nothing about the founders. I won’t speculate about your motivation for whimsically deciding that the only thing relevant regarding the NBA is the ideology of said founders.

I have seen several things on the backs of NBA jerseys – Black Lives Matter (many), Equality, Say Her Name, I Can’t Breathe, Peace, Respect Us, Vote, Justice, Freedom, Liberation. I have seen not Marxism, nor the name of any BLM founder.    

21 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Trump warns schools teaching 1619 Project 'will not be funded'

As often the case with Trump, this is far more hype than substance. About 91% of K-12 public education is funded by state & local governments. Only 9% is by the federal government, and that goes through state education bureaucracies. Also, Trump doesn’t sign the checks or even decide the payees.

22 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

But so long as professional basketball keeps promoting the virtue of institutional racism as one of its main marketing messages, it will keep losing money and audience. Not just any old kind of institutional racism, either. Marxist institutional racism (BLM).

If pro basketball insists on keeping to this policy, I predict it will become like, say, volleyball in importance. Maybe shuffleboard.  

After President Trump's reelection, I predict it will not be too long before the Marxist institutional racism promoted by professional basketball players and teams disappears from pro basketball courts and marketing. Then maybe the money and audience will return to normal.

Some people think promoting Marxist institutional racism is a correct marketing plan for professional sports, though.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess...

That’s a lot of hyper hyperbole and propaganda.

There is an element of Marxism in Black Lives Matter. However:

1. Most of its Marxist origins has been removed from the Black Lives Matter website, and is otherwise not mentioned.

2. Racism, real or imagined, is the dominant idea of Black Lives Matter. And it is to eliminate it, not promote it like you say.

3. Marx is mentioned in this critical race theory page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_race_theory only twice – once in References and once in the Bibliography.

4. Propaganda saying that a person who supports BLM equally supports Marxism is hyper hyperbole. For many supporters of BLM, the meaning of “Black Lives Matter” is something pretty simple, such as police should not treat blacks more harshly than non-blacks, ceteris paribus. Others might include less inequality of income or wealth. The meaning of the slogan Black Lives Matter varies widely among people who support it.

About 80% of NBA players are black. When they went to college, it was mostly to improve their basketball skills, not intellectual ones with a STEM major or philosophy major. How much do they really know about Marxism? I suspect very, very little. If you asked LeBron James – who did no college – about changing player salaries to be far more equal based upon their need – Marx’s slogan “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need” – I’m very confident he would emphatically reject the idea.

NBA players have been peaceful protesters and have not advocated violence, looting, and killing.

Being that about 80% of players are black, I’m not at all surprised that NBA and league execs agree, or at least not disagree, with the sentiments of most players. An employer or organization that alienates its best employees or revenue makers does not reap rewards for the employer or organization.

13 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

I'm not the only one watching the NBA commit suicide.

Tim Pool is not quite as blind as you to the pertinent fact of weekday afternoon games. But he does sweep it under the rug when citing the 27% drop in viewers at 6:48.

Given your doomsday projection, are you willing to bet big $$ that the NBA will no longer exist in 2021? 2022? 2023? I will be glad to take the other side.