gdp's Comments

Evolved and Rational : A question for my readers

Tue, 9 Dec 2008 07:51:44 +0000

Okay, so I did some googling and found this paper: http://www.richardwiseman.com/resources/PAID-char... "Gender. A 2x2 ANOVA (superstition type x gender) revealed a highly significant main effect of gender: women tended to endorse both types of superstition to a greater extent than men .. Overall, positive superstitions were endorsed more than negative superstitions.... " And a UK survey, originally from The Sun (so, uh, maybe not so scientific) http://www.eauk.org/resources/info/statistics/ort... Some of the results analysed by gender... * Belief in ghosts - 30% of men, 38% of women * Belief in contact with the dead - 24% of men, 40% of women * Personal experience in fortune-telling, astrology, tarot cards and psychics/palm reading - 27% of men, 45% of women * Belief in restless spirits - 30% of men, 43% of women Reported in The Sun June 20th 2005 So maybe ER's premise has some weight to it. Anyone know of any research that points the other way?

Evolved and Rational : A question for my readers

Tue, 9 Dec 2008 07:29:20 +0000

Another idle notion (assuming the premise is actually true).... Women seem to bear the oppressive brunt of religion - curtailment of sexual/reproductive/everyotherkindof freedom and so on. So one could imagine it would be harder for a woman, after a lifetime of having sacrificed pretty much everything for her faith to admit it's all a load of bollocks. Cognitive dissonance kicks in hard - "If there's no God, I gave up ______ for nothing, so there MUST be God". The flip side is, of course, that bearing the brunt of oppression would make the women first to shout out "this is a massive load of bollocks"... But, sigh, I suppose that's what stoning is for. Grr. So we're back to dissonance. "If _I_ couldn't pick my husband/go to school/get a job, why should these kids get to? Naaah, God totally exists."

Evolved and Rational : A question for my readers

Tue, 9 Dec 2008 07:17:30 +0000

Skepticism is also helped a lot by scientific knowledge - something which our culture also pushes women away from... thank you "Math Is Hard" Barbie.... <kick> Now that I think of it, most (if not all) of the big name Creationists are male - Ham, Hovind, Dembski, Behe. But when I think of the people leading the fight against creationism, I think of Eugenie Scott and Barbara Forrest right away. (Yeah, I'm not ignoring Denyse O'Leary, I'm just.... ignoring her. For sanity's sake) It's like asking "Why are so many atheists/skeptics liberals?" It may seem like an idea, when you think of conservative fundie bible-bashers, but there's a lot of Deepak Chopra-loving anti-vaccination nonsense spouted at the Huffington Post.... So, I think this might be a good example of the logical fallacy of begging the question... I may be wrong. And if atheism/skepticism isn't split along gender, or politcal lines, then what? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say "Educational".... Any takers?

Evolved and Rational : A question for my readers

Tue, 9 Dec 2008 04:45:08 +0000

Is atheism/skepticism predominantly male? Or is theism/woo just predominantly female? <runs away> Naaah, I dunno... I'm not sure if it's an actual phenomenon, or confirmation bias, or insufficient sampling... Maybe it's a historical thing - in the prefeminist past when males held all the power/money, it would have been the males who would have had to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to stave off the predatory conmen.... Or perhaps there's an evolutionary advantage in women falling for stupid shit - there are some people who couldn't possibly breed without the help of a massive lapse of judgment on the part of some female... We could probably dream up a trillion 'just-so' stories to explain a phenomenon that may not actually exist... Hell, maybe the two sexes are equally predisposed to nonsense, but different kinds? For every insanely Catholic woman, there's a dude who thinks 9-11 was the work of aliens...

Evolved and Rational : Another reason to love the /i/nternet

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 22:55:06 +0000

Or necessary.... This idiot doesn't know what "hacking" even means. It's a creationist-like combination of ignorance, rudeness, and arrogance. What a waste of bits...

Evolved and Rational : Another reason to love the /i/nternet

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 22:39:59 +0000

Comments like "Uou(sic) are no better than people who support terrorists and murderers. Go away and leave the internet, hacker scum!"? You're serious?

Evolved and Rational : Another reason to love the /i/nternet

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 21:22:07 +0000

You didn't "disagree" - read your first post. You accused her of crime, insulted her on her own blog, and told her to get off the internet. Then you called a series of people smarter than you "stupid", and generally poked at a wasp's nest. Disagreeing with a position means presenting facts, not insults - drowning us with evidence, not wallowing in your own ignorance. You reap what you sow.

Evolved and Rational : Another reason to love the /i/nternet

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 07:40:06 +0000

How does YOUR ignorance make ME stupid? How does YOUR inflammatory post make ME stupid?

Evolved and Rational : Another reason to love the /i/nternet

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 07:35:32 +0000

Nobody does. That's no excuse not to understand ANYTHING about it. Your ignorance doesn't ennoble you, or grant you any moral high ground. All you've done is revealed that when you talk about computers, or hackers, or the internet, you don't know or understand what you're talking about, and your opinion will carry the zero weight it deserves. You're boxing SO FAR above your weight with this crowd it's not even funny.

Evolved and Rational : Another reason to love the /i/nternet

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 07:27:34 +0000

That was Wikipedia, not CrimialHackerPedia. COMMON KNOWLEDGE - YOU HAVE NONE

Evolved and Rational : Another reason to love the /i/nternet

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 07:26:24 +0000

What's all this? Jumping to conclusions, failing to judge the quality of evidence, severe spoon-fed media bias (zomg hackers are BAD), inability to differentiate between vastly different ideas (hacking = murder? Honestly?), pulling stuff out of context and making sweeping generalizations (you're all criminals), including fabricating evidence? ()When exactly did ER claim to speak for all atheists anyway?) Wrap it all up with a healthy dose of "Get off my internet" intolerance.... AND YOU CALL YOURSELF A RATIONALIST?

Evolved and Rational : Theistard thinks slavery is AWWRIGHT!

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:06:37 +0000

Or 'maiden' means 'virgin'?

Evolved and Rational : Theistard thinks slavery is AWWRIGHT!

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:15:25 +0000

"This is an issue I feel I have to address for many reasons. One thing that I have learnt in my 2 and half years as a born again Christian is that God is sovereign. In addition to that He does not need or want human advocates ." ... So why don't they ever just stop there? And 2.5 years? That's it? That means this idiot probably hasn't even finished reading the damn bible yet. (They can only read so much at a time before their lips get tired, you see) With a good 36 months under your belt, you certainly know more than millennia of progress. What's the name of the degree you'd get with 2 and a half years anyway? Oh, right, "Incomplete". This is clearly one of those particularly nasty fundies whose entire morality is dictated, who acts purely to avoid punishment, and cannot grasp why theft, murder, and slavery are harmful themselves. Oh, shit, this is THAT lady? <shudder> That poor, poor child...

Evolved and Rational : Theistards don't like me very much

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 04:49:37 +0000

Wow.... saw that Pascals Wager coming a mile away. And something tells me that's his best argument. If not only.

Evolved and Rational : Halloween costume ideas thread

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:15:36 +0000

Stuff a sock in your panties and go as a 'convincing crossdresser'

Evolved and Rational : How to be a typical fundie blogger

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:43:05 +0000

It came from God? Wow, you're seriously 150 years late for the party. God tells us live children are better than dead ones? You're saying it's God that tells the spider how to spin its web? God points the birds south in winter? God makes shit stink? You're worshiping a God of the gaps, and those gaps are long closed. It's very simple. Child-killing copropheliacs who couldn't feed themselves tended to die without offspring. So, the genetic predispositions for baby-eating, flying north in winter, and slamming your dick in a drawer tend not to pop up on average. Natural selection forged the mammal firmware, no god required. And WTF is the transcendent basis for the internet, computers, blogs, kippers, herpes, and New Country music? Just because something exists doesn't mean a miraculous transcendent perfect ideal exists. Your natural philosophy predates Darwin, it would seem your philosophy is stuck with Plato. What are you, 5000 years ol..... oh, I got it. Understanding now. Sorry. I mean, good luck with the campaign, Senator McCain.

Evolved and Rational : How to be a typical fundie blogger

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:39:04 +0000

Nah, to her it'd be more like being persecuted for Christ. She's probably frigging herself into oblivion just thinking about right now.

Evolved and Rational : How to be a typical fundie blogger

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:31:55 +0000

The argument isn't that morality doesn't exist, the argument is that GOD doesn't exist, nor is any god the source/dictator of morality. But you already know that, you're just being a dick. Or are you one of those sick fucks that's a scriptural typo away from a killing spree? Where's your outrage? Where's the "Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do to me”? The "as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise"? Not on the menu at the cafeteria today? Do you actually need a god to tell your guts to churn at the thought of children exploding? Some of us can figure out why that's not a helpful or pleasant thing all by ourselves, kthxbye

Evolved and Rational : How to be a typical fundie blogger

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:50:03 +0000

I'm too tired to get pissed off at the Christian lurrrve, it's the misuse of "poetic justice" that gets me... There's nothing remotely poetic about bombing a 'gay-friendly' school. For a group that's blown more irony meters than any other, the theistards just don't get it. "Poetic Justice" would be, say, if these idiots choke to death on some lobster. Or bleed to death after cutting themselves shaving. Maybe, bombing an abortion clinic with their teenage daughter inside. I don't advocate violence, just using words correctly.

Evolved and Rational : How to be a typical fundie blogger

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:38:38 +0000

In most theistard cases, step #4 is "Play the Victim". (Or 'Blame the victim'). I'm sure it's impending.