Had Your Flu Shots Yet?

[Kimmo]

The counter argument is 100% religiously based, of course. We're God's chosen ones, separate and above the rest of the universe, which was put here solely for us, so what could go wrong? Would God let anything really bad happen? Of course not.

 

Remember, every sperm (or sperm+egg) is sacred.

 

The truth, of course, is that there is a glut of humanity on this planet. As we rapidly automate everything - most especially innovation and invention - we're increasingly finding out that we can, indeed, do more with fewer people in a far less damaging way. We'll either have to depopulate voluntarily, or nature and human nature will do that job for us.

 

how many did you get to the other day? i hope you saved some for the two of us.

 

outlets, yay!

[rob]

Why are your replies so emotive, kimmo?

[Kimmo]

I'm reminded of the classic Texan rebuttal

 

"Well, you argue just lahk a faggit"

 

ah man, i'm expressing my sincere love for you, and you have to go turn it into a homosexuality thing.

 

i just like you as a friend.

[Kimmo]

Why are your replies so emotive, kimmo?

 

you bring out the tiger in me. rrroarrr.

[Kimmo]

I hear the Ford Pinto argument a lot. BTW, a total of six people were injured or killed in Pinto burning incidents prior to Ford's recall.

 

The argument has several critical flaws:

 

1) It ignores opportunity cost - could the resources spent fixing the Pinto's exploding gas tank have been used making Ford cars safer in some other way for a much larger population of future crash victims? Litigation often skews the cost side of the cost benefit equation in instances like this - essentially replacing human misery (of not doing using those resources to address more pressing safety issues for a much larger population) with the monetary penalties from a handful of large litigation awards.

 

2) In incidents like this, more relevant factors are often ignored as time goes on. For example, 3 out of the 6 total people injured or killed in Ford Pintos actually lost their suit due to the more relevant factors of alcohol impairment coupled with unsafe driving conditions. Similarly, death statistics are often inflated over time - 57 versus the actual figure of 6, for example. Both figures are tiny as compared to the 50K + traffic fatalities per year that were occurring at the time. It was hardly the car industries biggest problem, but media attention certainly changed that pretty quickly.

 

3) What got Ford into PR trouble was not that the Pinto was particularly unsafe - people were dying in many other car models in much greater numbers, but that Ford was aware of possible weaknesses in the design beforehand and so performed a macabre cost/benefit analysis regarding its gas tank design decisions which compared payout out an estimated 125M in litigation awards with beefing up the design. That analysis was famously leaked by Mother Jones and the rest is history.

 

The Pinto debacle was a very different situation than today's vaccine 'controversy'.

 

but seriously, because i love you as a friend, substitute something else for pinto. i'm sure you can find one that supports my argument.

[rob]

substitute something else for pinto. i'm sure you can find one that supports my argument.

 

Is that how you do it?

 

[Kimmo]

The counter argument is 100% religiously based, of course. We're God's chosen ones, separate and above the rest of the universe, which was put here solely for us, so what could go wrong? Would God let anything really bad happen? Of course not.

 

you really like to pick the extremes to support your didactics.

 

bong toke bob 101.

[rob]

If every american right now swallowed two aspirins, hundreds would die. We should ban aspirin.

 

Along with vaccines.

[Kimmo]

substitute something else for pinto. i'm sure you can find one that supports my argument.

 

Is that how you do it?

 

it's the wake and bake baby when i open my eyes.

 

no bob, like this:

 

ddt, vioxx, ummm seat belts, corvair?

 

please, feel free to add to the list, since you understand the principle now.

[rob]

no bob, like this:

 

ddt, vioxx, ummm seat belts, corvair?

 

please, feel free to add to the list, since you understand the principle now.

 

Oh, I see now. So vioxx and ddt = bad. That means vaccines are, too. Brilliant!

[rob]

seat belts, lol. This thread is the gift that keeps on giving.

[Kimmo]

no bob, like this:

 

ddt, vioxx, ummm seat belts, corvair?

 

please, feel free to add to the list, since you understand the principle now.

 

Oh, I see now. So vioxx and ddt = bad. That means vaccines are, too. Brilliant!

 

if you do stop toking (assuming this is the problem), you will actually be able to recover your critical thinking skills.

 

but possibly only up to a point. the longer the initial problem has existed, the harder the recovery. but, this is no excuse to not try, because some damage can absolutely be reversed. it might take time, possibly a year or more, but it's worth it.

[matt_warfield]

The counter argument is 100% religiously based, of course. We're God's chosen ones, separate and above the rest of the universe, which was put here solely for us, so what could go wrong? Would God let anything really bad happen? Of course not.

 

Remember, every sperm (or sperm+egg) is sacred.

 

The truth, of course, is that there is a glut of humanity on this planet. As we rapidly automate everything - most especially innovation and invention - we're increasingly finding out that we can, indeed, do more with fewer people in a far less damaging way. We'll either have to depopulate voluntarily, or nature and human nature will do that job for us.

 

I agree wholeheardely. My opinion is that we need about 1 billion people on earth. Instead we have China and India with a billion each and we go on from there.

 

Crocodiles have 2% of their youngsters reach adulthood. But we worry about every single opportunity to procreate.

 

I recall a Playboy cartoon from the 80's which shows a man being arrested for masturbating, wasting his opportunity to have yet another child.

Edited November 14, 2012 by matt_warfield

[Kimmo]

Crocodiles have 2% of their youngsters reach adulthood. But we worry about every single opportunity to procreate.

 

hey bong toke bob, through deductive reasoning i think, this guy's saying we should be like crocodiles; waddayathink?

 

 

[tvashtarkatena]

The Corvair controversy, unlike the Pinto, was a total fabrication by Nader that was debunked by a comprehensive DOT study - all the damning details on wiki, of course. It did sell Ralph's bullshit book, though, so somebody benefited.

 

Nader's just another one of the progressive darlings whose personal behavior doesn't stand up to even the most watered down ethical scrutiny. I actually know people personally who worked on his last campaign. Funny thing - Nader stiffed them when payday came around. He's a shitheel opportunist who will grab a paycheck where he can get one - most recently from FOX news. Yeah, real stand up guy concerned with getting at the truth.

 

PS - Ralph's Corvair scam had nothing to do with seatbelts.

Edited November 14, 2012 by tvashtarkatena

[KaskadskyjKozak]

how many did you get to the other day? i hope you saved some for the two of us.

 

outlets, yay!

 

Let's hope he's using a conductive metal with no protective shielding to test those outlets.

[tvashtarkatena]

The counter argument is 100% religiously based, of course. We're God's chosen ones, separate and above the rest of the universe, which was put here solely for us, so what could go wrong? Would God let anything really bad happen? Of course not.

 

Remember, every sperm (or sperm+egg) is sacred.

 

The truth, of course, is that there is a glut of humanity on this planet. As we rapidly automate everything - most especially innovation and invention - we're increasingly finding out that we can, indeed, do more with fewer people in a far less damaging way. We'll either have to depopulate voluntarily, or nature and human nature will do that job for us.

 

I agree wholeheardely. My opinion is that we need about 1 billion people on earth. Instead we have China and India with a billion each and we go on from there.

 

Crocodiles have 2% of their youngsters reach adulthood. But we worry about every single opportunity to procreate.

 

I recall a Playboy cartoon from the 80's which shows a man being arrested for masturbating, wasting his opportunity to have yet another child.

 

990 women to 10 million men would be about the right ratio. Men who...fail to keep up would, of course, need to be culled.

 

I envision very few hubbies stumbling home shitfaced in such a world.

 

Plus, women would run things. Cheeerist, THAT would be an improvement.

 

Utter the phrases 'legitimate rape' or 'God's will' at your own risk, gentlemen.

Edited November 14, 2012 by tvashtarkatena

[rob]

 

if you do stop toking (assuming this is the problem), you will actually be able to recover your critical thinking skills.

 

but possibly only up to a point. the longer the initial problem has existed, the harder the recovery. but, this is no excuse to not try, because some damage can absolutely be reversed. it might take time, possibly a year or more, but it's worth it.

 

What is shocking to me is that you can't even defend your position with anything other than emotive, unsubstantive and ad hominem responses. You should maybe go for a walk and clear your head -- don't worry, we all think you're really smart and we'll give you another chance! Life is hard, isn't it?

[tvashtarkatena]

Googlephobia kills.

[tvashtarkatena]

I'm reminded of some crusty old Whitey Tighties on FOX yesterday - and even a youngish blogger - God I fucking hate bloggers - who still parrot the 'pot as a gateway drug' and 'legalization will increase crime' arguments.

 

That's what 2 generations of propaganda will do for ya.

 

Interestingly, not a single member of the public raised either those concerns out of the many hundreds of folks I spoke to on the topic.

 

Yes, folks, the modern conservative movement: hip to be square, cool to be stupid.

[ivan]

The "herd"? Why am I not surprised that you view people as cattle?

have you read "guns germs and steel?" basic premise is that diseases that afflict mankind today came largely from herd species we domesticated (excepting tropical ones like malaria), and those diseases flourished amongst people b/c we have a lot in common w/ said critters - thus, yeah, we are a herd species.

 

that said, why diss on herds? cows r tasty!

[tvashtarkatena]

Isn't it your party that views women as reproductive chattle, KKK? Or have you defected recently? Or is the abortion issue really not about forcing women to have children they neither want nor are prepared to raise, and making the birth control that would prevent that as difficult as possible to get?

 

Or have I somehow misinterpreted the GOP's ant-abortion anti-birth control agenda?

 

Oh wait, neither abortion nor birth control appear ANYWHERE in the GOP's 2012 platform. Funny...that's all GOP candidates seem to talk about, and that's at the very heart of the GOP's legislative social agenda - with more than 500 anti-abortion and birth control measures in federal, state, and local legislative bodies just last year.

 

Hmmmmm. Probably just a typo.

 

I like a party that lies through omission to confuse less informed voters. When you're selling a turd in an shoe box, the least you can do is put a bow on it.

 

 

Edited November 14, 2012 by tvashtarkatena

[JosephH]

The "herd"? Why am I not surprised that you view people as cattle?

Dude, get some edjumacation before spouting: herd immunity.

[Kimmo]

seat belts, lol. This thread is the gift that keeps on giving.

 

yea, seat belts. revolutionary.

 

you may not know this, bob, but once upon a time in amerika there weren't seat belts in cars. amazing, huh?

 

then people kinda figured out that hey, maybe cars would be safer if there were seat belts. this didn't keep some from complaining about their implementation, no. i mean really, most people didn't die because there weren't seat belts, only some, so what's the big deal?

 

 

[Kimmo]

I'm reminded of some crusty old Whitey Tighties on FOX yesterday - and even a youngish blogger - God I fucking hate bloggers - who still parrot the 'pot as a gateway drug' and 'legalization will increase crime' arguments.

 

i know, right?

 

everyone knows pot improves critical thinking skills, reasoning ability, and humor too.

 

just look at bong toke bob.