Bleeding from the Bunghole

[bovarchist]

Let's be clear: even if these is a small medical benefit to male circumcision, roughly equivalent to the small risk, that doesn't make it a zero-sum game. The foreskin is rich in nerve endings, and removing it cuts these away. Moreover, the continued tactile stimulation of the then-exposed glans, over time, reduces its sensitivity. The net effect is that the penis as a sex organ loses a significant amount of stimulatory function. This supports the notion that the prevalence of male circumcision in non-Jewish American households was originally to reduce male sexual pleasure and hence libido (the same reasons that are given today for proponents of FGM).

Non sequitur. Reducing stimulation or sensation does nothing to reduce libido; it simply prolongs the amount of time required to reach orgasm. So there's an argument FOR male circumcision. We can fuck longer!

[Lsuoma]

I have browsed the thread but found nothing on this:
How exactly is the potential reduction of HIV infection an argument for infant circumcision ?

By the time this "advantage" becomes relevant, the boy is old enough to decide for himself if he wants that procedure done or not.

Well, that's kind of outdated anyway because I believe a promising vaccine against HIV has passed it's first clinical trial with flying colors.

But it is supposedly safer to circumcise a neonate than it is an adult. That's not an endorsement for routine newborn circumcision, just saying doing it as an adult is way more complicated.

Circumcising an adult is more complicated because he/she/they/it/xhe can punch you in the face and tell you to get that knife away from their/sheir/hyr/hys genitals if they don't want a permanent alteration of the body.

All a baby can do is cry and wonder why someone is slicing up their body for no reason.

It gets worse. There are many substantiated instances of, e.g., babies catching herpes from a mohel. Now THAT'S fucked up!

[Cunning Punt]

Haha. You fucks cry about a few of us fighting about "geek culture" and gaming... while... you write three goddamn pages about fucking circumcision and David Silverman. Cunts!

Those are real things.

http://www.troll.me/images/futurama-fry ... -thumb.jpg

[Cunning Punt]

Poop. Quote error. We should argue about edit buttons.

[Suet Cardigan]

* Old joke alert *
I'm not going to take part in the circumcision debate - it's no skin off my nose.

[clownshoe]

Let's be clear: even if these is a small medical benefit to male circumcision, roughly equivalent to the small risk, that doesn't make it a zero-sum game. The foreskin is rich in nerve endings, and removing it cuts these away. Moreover, the continued tactile stimulation of the then-exposed glans, over time, reduces its sensitivity. The net effect is that the penis as a sex organ loses a significant amount of stimulatory function. This supports the notion that the prevalence of male circumcision in non-Jewish American households was originally to reduce male sexual pleasure and hence libido (the same reasons that are given today for proponents of FGM).

Non sequitur. Reducing stimulation or sensation does nothing to reduce libido; it simply prolongs the amount of time required to reach orgasm. So there's an argument FOR male circumcision. We can fuck longer!

Spot on. That's the gist of what I said on an earlier episode of our podcast.
To paraphrase myself "your wives are dreaming about the sex they could be having with us cut guys" ;)

[yomomma]

It gets worse. There are many substantiated instances of, e.g., babies catching herpes from a mohel. Now THAT'S fucked up!

Yeah, that's really horrible and messed up. Didn't New York ban this, or did that get shot down?

[bovarchist]

The push against homeopathy is probably an achievable goal if skeptics wanted to work together to get things done. I'm thinking along the lines of, allow herbal remedies because they have some benefit (sometimes), but get the water dilution stuff banned for good, because it's just a damn placebo.

Here is a really interesting article about what we would be up against, if you believe this to be an achievable goal:

http://www.salon.com/2011/05/02/alterna ... octors_oz/

Public opinions change with the damn wind. :lol: Look how fast mainstream public opinion on gays changed in the last twenty years. Or even better, immigration opinions in the last ten years. Inside of 4-5 years, public opinion on the Iraq war turned almost a complete 180 IIRC.

Mainstream public opinion on gays has changed very little in the last 40 years. The only thing that's changed is a much greater presence of homosexuality in popular entertainment. But since the 70s at least, gay has not been that big a deal unless you were a Bible-thumping redneck. And that's pretty much what the situation still is.

Remember Three's Company? The premise of that show was that it was MORE acceptable for a man to be gay than it was for him to be having casual sex with two women.

[yomomma]

Who is making the case that scientists believe FGM has some benefits?

Wasn't it debaser, JackRayner maybe?

I know they were trying to make the point that the some *medical* arguments for male circumcision could easily be applied to FGM. I disagree.

[Lsuoma]

Is there anybody on here above the age of 12 who doesn't spend half their life playing fucking games or dressing up as superheroes?

Me. Wanking.

[Guest]

It gets worse. There are many substantiated instances of, e.g., babies catching herpes from a mohel. Now THAT'S fucked up!

Yeah, that's really horrible and messed up. Didn't New York ban this, or did that get shot down?

WHY ARE YOU AGAINST RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?!?!?111!?!?!

I know that there are very few complications from MGM performed by a real doctor, but it just doesn't make sense. There are no benefits for anyone who has access to running water and condoms. As with any medical procedure, there must be freak complications that are in this case unnecessary. Can you imagine the guilt you would feel if your son died because you elected to have his genitals mutilated so he can "look like you?"

And seriously...how much time does a father spend looking at his kid's penis?

[ConcentratedH2O, OM]

@penis in a hat

http://docstudio.tvo.org/story/its-boy

It's a Boy is a witty take on male circumcision and how we in the Western world generally feel about it. Both comic and informative, It's a Boy questions how an ancient rite became normal medical practice in North America and other parts of the world. The film goes beyond the questions of right or wrong and takes us into a contemporary universe of purported paganism, tribal and family heritage. From New York to Jerusalem, we follow the filmmaker Danae Elon's personal journey where she is forced to ask: to circumcise or not to circumcise? It's a Boy is a story about the bondage of loyalties that drive our lives and the necessary compromise that leads a family to stay together.

Thank you, lovey.

[dogen]

Let's be clear: even if these is a small medical benefit to male circumcision, roughly equivalent to the small risk, that doesn't make it a zero-sum game. The foreskin is rich in nerve endings, and removing it cuts these away. Moreover, the continued tactile stimulation of the then-exposed glans, over time, reduces its sensitivity. The net effect is that the penis as a sex organ loses a significant amount of stimulatory function. This supports the notion that the prevalence of male circumcision in non-Jewish American households was originally to reduce male sexual pleasure and hence libido (the same reasons that are given today for proponents of FGM).

Non sequitur. Reducing stimulation or sensation does nothing to reduce libido; it simply prolongs the amount of time required to reach orgasm. So there's an argument FOR male circumcision. We can fuck longer!

/b/ regularly has discussions on cut vs. uncut, and cutfags seem to have reduced sensitivity. The evidence for the first underlined claim is thus well supported. (Seriously, though, if I forget to unroll my foreskin after a wash, I find it very uncomfortable when my glans brushes on my clothing, and after prolonged periods of time my glans becomes numb).

For the second underlined claim, I'm not claiming there is a logical link between the two, merely that this was one of the justifications proffered historically for circumcision. (Another approach was to make boys wear boxing gloves in bed. Would never have worked for me; my cock is so large I can reach the vinegar strokes even wearing oven mitts. But that's a story for another time).

[bovarchist]

If you're going to chop off the foreskin of an infant's penis for some vague reasons, why not carve off the appendix of those little fuckers? I mean, that would save some workdays when they're adults and the fucking things explodes, so it's a real benefit.

Please start opening babies' bellies right now - for a better future!

While we're at it, how about breaking baby girls' hymens so they don't have to worry about it later?

[John D]

Is there anybody on here above the age of 12 who doesn't spend half their life playing fucking games or dressing up as superheroes?

Me. Wanking.

Me wanked while thinkin about circumcision.

[clownshoe]

Is there anybody on here above the age of 12 who doesn't spend half their life playing fucking games or dressing up as superheroes?

Me. Wanking.

Fair call, you're 13.

[Lsuoma]

Haha. You fucks cry about a few of us fighting about "geek culture" and gaming... while... you write three goddamn pages about fucking circumcision and David Silverman. Cunts!

http://www.troll.me/images/futurama-fry ... -thumb.jpg

Not exclusive options.

[John D]

Sorry... I have to leave now. I am going to paint the faces on my 15mm Civil War Confederates.... painting faces, painting faces...

[dogen]

Who is making the case that scientists believe FGM has some benefits?

Wasn't it debaser, JackRayner maybe?

I know they were trying to make the point that the some *medical* arguments for male circumcision could easily be applied to FGM. I disagree.

You can't actually give a specific name, can you? I'll just leave this here, then.

[youtube]M5QGkOGZubQ[/youtube]

[Lsuoma]

It gets worse. There are many substantiated instances of, e.g., babies catching herpes from a mohel. Now THAT'S fucked up!

Yeah, that's really horrible and messed up. Didn't New York ban this, or did that get shot down?

No ban. From an April 2013 article:

Last year, the New York City Board of Health voted to require parents to sign a written consent that warns them of the risks of this practice. None of the parents of the two boys who were recently infected signed the form, according Jay Varma, deputy commissioner for disease control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

[yomomma]

You can't actually give a specific name, can you? I'll just leave this here, then.

:roll:

It was debaser who suggested it and JackRayner who tried to supply the "evidence". It's within the last three pages.

[JackRayner]

I think Silverman wants back on the Block Bot list. :lol:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x17/ ... 8d4f5a.png

[JackRayner]

I think Silverman wants back on the Block Bot list. :lol:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x17/ ... 8d4f5a.png

There's lots left out when you have someone blocked, apparently.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x17/ ... 1927b0.png

[AndrewV69]

There are good medical benefits for removing boobs. All women should weight in the risks and chop off those useless sacks of fat.

Discuss.

Though it is my opinion that only females 18 and older should be allowed the choice, removing their boobs will come with many benefits, such as:

• Eliminating the risk of breast cancer
• Eliminating the hassle of finding properly fitting bras [Improperly fitting, restrictive bras were a known leading cause for the rise of Feminism in the 1960's]
• Eliminating 63%of the lewd stares of sexist, misogynistic menz
• Eliminating the risk of having them honked by Andrew, should they make the mistake of hugging him

• Check.
• Hmmmm.
• Hmmmmmmm.
• WHAT! NO. LEAVE MA FUNBAGS ALONE!!!

[Service Dog]

But seriously folks...
put aside your disinterest in "geek" and "gamer" stuff for a moment, and consider this:

GenCon is big annual convention-- it doesn't matter what sort of convention.
It has been held since 1968, and 49,000 people attended this year.

The event is suffering from a Social Justice Warrior infestation.
Neo-feminists are attempting a hostile takeover, just like the Atheist & Skeptic conference circuit.

Here's an Adria Richards-wannabe who thinks selling DVDs of
Saving Private Ryan and Ilsa She-Wolf of the SS
is evidence of "militarism" and "nazi fetishism".
http://gmskarka.com/2013/08/20/when-nazis-get-rapey/

When he saw these novelty panties for sale, he alerted SECURITY...
http://i.imgur.com/K2zyIqR.jpg
"I could use a little sexual harassment"

http://i.imgur.com/QnhFAW9.jpg
"Get me drunk and we'll see"

Twitter outrage followed, and a claim that the underpants violated the Harassment Policy.

In the comments section, the gamer-commentariat declared that any WW2/nazi related merchandise is surely
also a violation of the harassment policy. (At an event founded for the purpose of re-enacting historic battles
on tabletop hex-grid maps, with toy soldiers, fer christssake.)

You may not care about cons outside of A/S, but the same neo-Feminist, drama-blogger, sex-police are running their same playbook in those other venues. I think that's worth knowing.

[dogen]

You can't actually give a specific name, can you? I'll just leave this here, then.

:roll:

It was debaser who suggested it and JackRayner who tried to supply the "evidence". It's within the last three pages.

Can you point to a specific post? Because I can't see it myself.

[yomomma]

dogen, well, I take part of that back. debaser actually came back and clarified and said that he believes there are no studies of the health benefits of FGM because they don't exist just as they don't exist with male circumcision.

So, again, I would all that believe that, why they think the entire AAP is trying to cover up American circumcision when they had a policy against for the last 10 years and circumcision in this country continues to rapidly decline.

On post 10938, I believe Rayner was trying to give some sort of "proof" in the context I interpreted it -- that you can find such information to support FGM, but that doesn't mean it's right. (I think that was his point.) In post 10974, I guess he was trying to say that studies don't exist because it's (FGM) is done largely on third world children and nobody cares about them, but we try to justify it cuz we're rich or something like that. But again, the implication is -- if studies were done and if it were done in the U.S. (again, speaking of FGM), we would try to find health benefits to justify it.

But that doesn't explain the reversal of position. Could it be that the evidence was re-evaluated and parsed out in a non-bias way, prompting the AAP to weigh what they believe the pros and cons to be, physically? And they still don't even support routine circumcision. The AAP just thinks that the harm is minimal enough that they don't have to have a policy against it. Now, we can all disagree with that, but I think it would be remiss for me to completely discount any benefit because I think it's unnecessary.

[dogen]

I think Silverman wants back on the Block Bot list. :lol:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x17/ ... 8d4f5a.png

There's lots left out when you have someone blocked, apparently.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x17/ ... 1927b0.png

Looks like Silverman is on the receiving end of a good Oosplaining! Serves him right for flaunting his non-strabismic privilege!

[yomomma]

okay, getting tired and didn't proof, boo.

second para s/b, if you all believe that, why do you think the entire AAP...

Also, I keep getting posts out of order, so some of the follow ups I missed and sometimes I see quoted posts that aren't showing up for me at all, so something funky is going on from a technical standpoint. For example, post 10937 didn't show up for me until well after I responded to several other posts after it. Very weird.

[AndrewV69]

PS - Question... are you all to young to have met any real neo-Nazis? Just askin.

I used to have coffee with nice chap from Austria all the time. I dunno if he was a neo-Nazis other than his casual and matter of fact hatred of Jews though.

I never bothered to mention I was part Jewish, had a few relatives with the right to return, and actually had a cousin living on a Kibbutz with his family.

I used to egg him on by making comments like "the reason so many of them are so smart is because for a long time a dumb Jew was a dead one".

Looking back ... I can see I really have been trolling in real life for a long time now. That reminds me of this one:

Q. What is Jewish for " Fuck you"?
A. Trust me. Trust me.

[AndrewV69]

PS Andrew never did honk Clarence's moobz:(

No vajayjay is the reason why.

[yomomma]

I never bothered to mention I was part Jewish, had a few relatives with the right to return, and actually had a cousin living on a Kibbutz with his family.

Can you be "part Jewish?" Is Judaism a race or a religion or both?

[yomomma]

I always think of Judaism as a religion, because you can convert to Judaism and if you convert, it doesn't mean your kids are half Jewish, if they decide not to follow the religion. Right?

[another lurker]

PS Andrew never did honk Clarence's moobz:(

No vajayjay is the reason why.

That's what you think.

[debaser71]

Who is making the case that scientists believe FGM has some benefits?

Wasn't it debaser, JackRayner maybe?

I know they were trying to make the point that the some *medical* arguments for male circumcision could easily be applied to FGM. I disagree.

No. It wasn't me at all. It was you, yomomma, saying that "if that's what I'm saying"...but no. that's NOT what I am saying. It was you missing the point (or rather me failing to make my point). Maybe I wasn't clear but I'm not retyping what I already wrote. Just go back one or two pages. Realize there is no "gotcha" thing going on. Your "if" speculation is wrong.

[JackRayner]

dogen, well, I take part of that back. debaser actually came back and clarified and said that he believes there are no studies of the health benefits of FGM because they don't exist just as they don't exist with male circumcision.

So, again, I would all that believe that, why they think the entire AAP is trying to cover up American circumcision when they had a policy against for the last 10 years and circumcision in this country continues to rapidly decline.

On post 10938, I believe Rayner was trying to give some sort of "proof" in the context I interpreted it -- that you can find such information to support FGM, but that doesn't mean it's right. (I think that was his point.) In post 10974, I guess he was trying to say that studies don't exist because it's (FGM) is done largely on third world children and nobody cares about them, but we try to justify it cuz we're rich or something like that. But again, the implication is -- if studies were done and if it were done in the U.S. (again, speaking of FGM), we would try to find health benefits to justify it.

But that doesn't explain the reversal of position. Could it be that the evidence was re-evaluated and parsed out in a non-bias way, prompting the AAP to weigh what they believe the pros and cons to be, physically? And they still don't even support routine circumcision. The AAP just thinks that the harm is minimal enough that they don't have to have a policy against it. Now, we can all disagree with that, but I think it would be remiss for me to completely discount any benefit because I think it's unnecessary.

No.

[debaser71]

dogen, well, I take part of that back. debaser actually came back and clarified and said that he believes there are no studies of the health benefits of FGM because they don't exist just as they don't exist with male circumcision.

If I said anything to imply the crossed out part, then I either misspoke, or you misunderstood. Whatever I wrote, I think you are reading into it in a way I did not intend. It's my fault, there, whatever.

My point is that they don't even do studies to try and legitimize FMG. But they do many studies on MGM to try and legitimize it. Make of that what you will. To me, it says a lot. YMMV.

[helenhighwater]

I always think of Judaism as a religion, because you can convert to Judaism and if you convert, it doesn't mean your kids are half Jewish, if they decide not to follow the religion. Right?

it can be both. it is cultural as well as religious. sometimes its hard to separate the two but there are humanistic jews who believe in nothing supernatural but still go through with all of the traditions just because they enjoy it.

[yomomma]

I always think of Judaism as a religion, because you can convert to Judaism and if you convert, it doesn't mean your kids are half Jewish, if they decide not to follow the religion. Right?

it can be both. it is cultural as well as religious. sometimes its hard to separate the two but there are humanistic jews who believe in nothing supernatural but still go through with all of the traditions just because they enjoy it.

Yeah, I get that. I guess I'm just trying to reconcile this in my head. You can convert to Judaism, but you can't convert to, let's say, Asian. Like you can't get up one day and decide your going to be Asian (race) when you're not, but how cool would that be?

But I understand what you're saying.

[helenhighwater]

I always think of Judaism as a religion, because you can convert to Judaism and if you convert, it doesn't mean your kids are half Jewish, if they decide not to follow the religion. Right?

it can be both. it is cultural as well as religious. sometimes its hard to separate the two but there are humanistic jews who believe in nothing supernatural but still go through with all of the traditions just because they enjoy it.

Yeah, I get that. I guess I'm just trying to reconcile this in my head. You can convert to Judaism, but you can't convert to, let's say, Asian. Like you can't get up one day and decide your going to be Asian (race) when you're not, but how cool would that be?

But I understand what you're saying.

hahahaha! convert to asian! that's great. i've never understood how they can reconcile race with religion, either. i mean, i get it. jews were a race of people that all followed some crazy god together back in the day and it is the rock of their racial history. i guess the best example that correlates....not well, but sort of in a shitty way.....is hawaiian. they have hawaiian gods and whatnot - even though most hawaiians are christian now. hmmm...maybe the fuck not. nevermind

can one convert to hawaiian?

[James Caruthers]

The most interesting thing happening right now is definitely the little fight between the block bot and Silverman. This might be a turning point for him, when he realizes what they're all about.

But probably not. :P

Unfortunately twitter seems to be coughing up a lung at the moment, so I can't get a link going.

[mikelf]

Is there anybody on here above the age of 12 who doesn't spend half their life playing fucking games or dressing up as superheroes?

*raises hand*

However, since my hobby is collecting baseball trading cards, I figure that I don't have much room to criticize.

[James Caruthers]

https://twitter.com/MrAtheistPants

Make sure to unblock the block bot temporarily if you want to cap or see the comments. I don't know who is running the block bot at the moment, since Oolon has claimed a few times that he's not the only one. Silverman seems a little confused by this as well.

If it IS Oolon arguing with Silverman, then one white cis male is telling another white cis male to check their white cis male privilege, which never stops being fucking hilarious.

[bovarchist]

I always think of Judaism as a religion, because you can convert to Judaism and if you convert, it doesn't mean your kids are half Jewish, if they decide not to follow the religion. Right?

Nope, if your mother's vagina is Jewish, then you're a Jew. --David Cross

[helenhighwater]

The most interesting thing happening right now is definitely the little fight between the block bot and Silverman. This might be a turning point for him, when he realizes what they're all about.

But probably not. :P

Unfortunately twitter seems to be coughing up a lung at the moment, so I can't get a link going.

i think silverman has some kind of agreement with the a+ crazies. he got taken off the bot rather quickly. i've held this assumption for awhile. i'm not sure if anyone else thinks he is working back room deals to keep his name clean...

[helenhighwater]

it could be why peezus and greta are speaking at aacon. drug deals? pz has the crazy pills...

[John D]

You may not care about cons outside of A/S, but the same neo-Feminist, drama-blogger, sex-police are running their same playbook in those other venues. I think that's worth knowing.

If it is not about cutting genitals or beta males it is not worthy of the geniuses in the Slymepit.

My Confederates now have faces.... very nice, and ready for First Bull Run (or Manassas to you Rebels).

[bovarchist]

These conferences should include a clause in their policies about removing those who try to ruin others' fun.

[ERV]

Yeah, I get that. I guess I'm just trying to reconcile this in my head. You can convert to Judaism, but you can't convert to, let's say, Asian. Like you can't get up one day and decide your going to be Asian (race) when you're not, but how cool would that be?

But I understand what you're saying.

hahahaha! convert to asian! that's great.

Havent I told you all about the black guy I dated who turned out to be Japanese? Not even joking.

I knew before he did, though.

Again, not joking :-/

[helenhighwater]

Yeah, I get that. I guess I'm just trying to reconcile this in my head. You can convert to Judaism, but you can't convert to, let's say, Asian. Like you can't get up one day and decide your going to be Asian (race) when you're not, but how cool would that be?

But I understand what you're saying.

hahahaha! convert to asian! that's great.

Havent I told you all about the black guy I dated who turned out to be Japanese? Not even joking.

I knew before he did, though.

Again, not joking :-/

that's awesome! reminds me of some corny disney movie about some african girl that moves to america and is adopted by some black family. turns out the african girl is from south africa and white.

[Linus]

PS - Question... are you all to young to have met any real neo-Nazis? Just askin.

How old do you have to be to meet a neo-Nazi?

[John D]

PS - Question... are you all to young to have met any real neo-Nazis? Just askin.

How old do you have to be to meet a neo-Nazi?

There used to be a butt-load of Neo-Nazis in my part of the country in the late 70s and early 80s. They are pretty hard to find now. I suspect the people who found that kind of thing interesting are now mostly Tea-Baggers.

[DeepInsideYourMind]

Twitter doesn't like services like the Block Bot:

Screen Shot 2013-09-19 at 2.03.08 PM.png

(108.77 KiB) Downloaded 148 times

Why are automated and bulk following/unfollowing services not allowed?

First, it’s worth clarifying that this policy change isn’t meant to prevent developers from building tools that surface potential accounts to follow or unfollow. However, the follow/unfollow action must happen one account at a time, not in bulk.

After hearing feedback from users who rely on third-party tools for follow management, we want to provide more context behind this policy change. Per the Twitter Rules, following or unfollowing large amounts of users in a short time period is considered to be a spam activity. Bulk and automated following behaviors are used by spammers to garner unsolicited attention and artificially inflate follower counts, frequently due to the perception that users should follow-back. In addition to spam, this behavior often leads to unusable timelines and direct messages inboxes. To discourage these activities, automated and bulk unfollowing is also disallowed.

We understand that there are people and businesses who have good intentions when they bulk follow/unfollow and who aren’t looking to engage in spam activities. However, to help us prevent spam and maintain a positive Twitter experience for users, we have disallowed all forms of this activity.

[Linus]

The most interesting thing happening right now is definitely the little fight between the block bot and Silverman. This might be a turning point for him, when he realizes what they're all about.

But probably not. :P

Unfortunately twitter seems to be coughing up a lung at the moment, so I can't get a link going.

i think silverman has some kind of agreement with the a+ crazies. he got taken off the bot rather quickly. i've held this assumption for awhile. i'm not sure if anyone else thinks he is working back room deals to keep his name clean...

Dude he scolded and ranted at Justin Vacula for like 10+ minutes straight. It's not surprising that that would buy him a little bit of leeway with these people. Justin, that mild mannered sweet heart, is pretty much the face of evil incarnate in their minds.

[helenhighwater]

The most interesting thing happening right now is definitely the little fight between the block bot and Silverman. This might be a turning point for him, when he realizes what they're all about.

But probably not. :P

Unfortunately twitter seems to be coughing up a lung at the moment, so I can't get a link going.

i think silverman has some kind of agreement with the a+ crazies. he got taken off the bot rather quickly. i've held this assumption for awhile. i'm not sure if anyone else thinks he is working back room deals to keep his name clean...

Dude he scolded and ranted at Justin Vacula for like 10+ minutes straight. It's not surprising that that would buy him a little bit of leeway with these people. Justin, that mild mannered sweet heart, is pretty much the face of evil incarnate in their minds.

justin is a quiet unhateful guy. i think silverman used him as a stepping stool :hankey: to ensure he wouldn't be targeted. he does have a lawsuit pending against him by a black woman after all.

[AndrewV69]

I never bothered to mention I was part Jewish, had a few relatives with the right to return, and actually had a cousin living on a Kibbutz with his family.

Can you be "part Jewish?" Is Judaism a race or a religion or both?

It can be both, either or. You can get tested for a genetic component if the whim grabs you and you wish to know the answer to the question Are you Jewish?.

Last I heard Netanyahu may require DNA tests to prove immigrants have a Jewish ‘bloodline’ so I would say some Jews subscribe to this notion.

Also some people who do population genetics also appear to subscribe to this notion. For example first a little background here where Razib notes that:

Today these Jews fall into three broad groups, the Ashkenazim, Sephardim and Mizrahim.

Which also references this Wikipedia entry and continues on with this plot:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/ ... ewpc21.png

Also note:

One of the most popular posts on this weblog focuses on the differences between Ashkenazi Jews and gentiles, in particular peoples of European descent. The figure to the left illustrates that white Americans who are gentile or Jewish are rather easy to distinguish genetically from each other. That Jews exhibit a particularly distinctive genetic signature may not be all that surprising, considering that medical geneticists have long known that there are diseases which are biologically rooted and heavily overrepresented among this population. Distinctive traits imply distinctive genes. And the demographic history of the Jewish people as attested to in the literary records can be fitted rather easily within the framework of many of the results coming out of the genetic studies.

If you did not click on the link above one of the things it links to is this open access paper titled "A genome-wide genetic signature of Jewish ancestry perfectly separates individuals with and without full Jewish ancestry in a large random sample of European Americans"

So I would say yes, you can be Jewish according to your genetics. Apparently lots of people in the medical profession have known about this for a very long time. So I am a bit surprised every time this comes up seeing as I can usually tell the difference between Ashkenazim and Sephardim at a glance.

Mind, I also have no problem (or at least I used to) seeing if someone was a Han, Korean or Japanese at a glance either. I can usually even tell if you are from mainland China vs overseas Chinese also (but that takes just a little longer) without being told.

[TheMan]

Yeah, I get that. I guess I'm just trying to reconcile this in my head. You can convert to Judaism, but you can't convert to, let's say, Asian. Like you can't get up one day and decide your going to be Asian (race) when you're not, but how cool would that be?

But I understand what you're saying.

hahahaha! convert to asian! that's great.

Havent I told you all about the black guy I dated who turned out to be Japanese? Not even joking.

I knew before he did, though.

Again, not joking :-/

Was it that small?

[AndrewV69]

PS Andrew never did honk Clarence's moobz:(

No vajayjay is the reason why.

That's what you think.

Hein? Oh! I see what you did there and I am not going for it.

[helenhighwater]

I think Silverman wants back on the Block Bot list. :lol:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x17/ ... 8d4f5a.png

There's lots left out when you have someone blocked, apparently.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x17/ ... 1927b0.png

Looks like Silverman is on the receiving end of a good Oosplaining! Serves him right for flaunting his non-strabismic privilege!

http://i936.photobucket.com/albums/ad20 ... 44c39d.jpg[/URL]

looks like dave is just learning about one of his employees being on the block bot

[James Caruthers]

https://twitter.com/MrAtheistPants

"Eye-opening day." And a comment about how he tries to help them and gets lumped in with harassers. Aratina Cage says it's no big deal though, because apparently the block system is "fickle." So because blocking doesn't always work well, it's no big deal if you get added to a big list of "abusers" and misogynists."

Seems like a legit line of reasoning.

Silverman is trying to be nice, but you can feel the waves of frustration coming off him as he tries to deal with these unreasonable SJW assholes.