Nerds. Nerds EVERYWHERE...

[Matt Cavanaugh]

My main gripes with Ehrman are two . He:
1) recycles entire chapters;

2) accepts as given that Jesus was real and was active during the admin of Pilate. Cuz it sez so in the gospels, which Ehrman more than anybody (esp. in Forged) has shown to be mid- late 2nd century pastiches.

It's like saying, well in GLADIATOR, Maximus fights the emperor Commodus. And we know Commodus was real and when he reigned, so Maximus was real, too.

Any hoo, Ehrman is a good speaker, so check out his youtubes.

[Matt Cavanaugh]

And yeah, Vridar'd blog is very good, with lots of links to other good stuff.

[Badger3k]

My main gripes with Ehrman are two . He:
1) recycles entire chapters;

2) accepts as given that Jesus was real and was active during the admin of Pilate. Cuz it sez so in the gospels, which Ehrman more than anybody (esp. in Forged) has shown to be mid- late 2nd century pastiches.

It's like saying, well in GLADIATOR, Maximus fights the emperor Commodus. And we know Commodus was real and when he reigned, so Maximus was real, too.

Any hoo, Ehrman is a good speaker, so check out his youtubes.

He has been decent in some of the debates I've heard. Been a while, though. He also has a bunch of teaching company lectures on the subject too. Worth it if you like his books, but a lot of the same material is covered, as his usual pattern.

In other news, PZ commiserates on the shooting of an instructor by a 9-year old. Well, not quite...

He does say this, so he might have learned something from the Williams debacle:

This is terrible on all levels.

My sympathies go out to the family of the dead instructor.

Note - he said nothing about using this tragedy to take attention off Ferguson, but then again, PZ is something of an anti-gun nut, just not to the extent that Laden is. He has this to say:

But I mostly feel awful for the girl. She was asked to operate heavy industrial machinery — make no mistake, that’s what these modern weapons are — with minimal instruction, at a venue called “Bullets and Burgers” that caters to a casual tourist crowd and that minimizes the dangers of these weapons. An automatic machine gun is NOT a toy, it is not a fun plaything, it is not something to entertain tourists during lunch.

And now, because her family were caught up in a gun culture that thinks deadly weapons are fun and sporting, she gets to live with a lot of guilt for the rest of her life.

Heavy machinery? WTF? I agree that a nine-year old should not have an Uzi in her hands. I know kids her age use them in various parts of the world, but I think she should have used something smaller with less recoil, especially if the girl was untrained (which is the implication I get here, need to check the article). The instructor should have been holding it to help her steady it, at the least. In my opinion, of course. My nieces go the the range with my brother, and they enjoy responsible shooting. They learned from an early age to respect them as the deadly things they are. So I agree that it's not fit for entertainment of non-shooters unless there are safeguards (weapons locked in place so they can't move too far, etc).

The first quote is also a bit facepalm-worthy:

hexidecima
27 August 2014 at 11:03 am
it is a horrible thing. I do not see such things as “accidents”, something that no one thinks will happen and no one is at fault. This was intentionally playing with deadly things and we all know what deadly things do.

Accident:

noun
1.
an undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss; casualty; mishap:
automobile accidents.
2.
Law. such a happening resulting in injury that is in no way the fault of the injured person for which compensation or indemnity is legally sought.
3.
any event that happens unexpectedly, without a deliberate plan or cause.
4.
chance; fortune; luck:
I was there by accident.
5.
a fortuitous circumstance, quality, or characteristic:
an accident of birth.
6.
Philosophy. any entity or event contingent upon the existence of something else.
7.
Geology. a surface irregularity, usually on a small scale, the reason for which is not apparent.

Derp. But dictionaries are bad. :doh:

[cunt]

Follow the trail of blood back about ten or twelve pages.

Thanks. I hoped for lols but was just reminded me that the Slymepit is unhealthy as fuck.

[Opyt]

You know, I suspected cunt would return when his name got mentioned a few pages ago.

[Badger3k]

You know, I suspected cunt would return when his name got mentioned a few pages ago.

Someone had to say it three times to a mirror in a dark room, or so I heard. It must be true, it was on the internet!

[cunt]

Say "i'm a skeptic and this shit is important" into an internet echo chamber 20 times a day and you'll become a total fucking twat.

[Dave]

Say "i'm a skeptic and this shit is important" into an internet echo chamber 20 times a day and you'll become a total fucking twat.

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/4894481152/h0B561613/

[Badger3k]

CFI has a press release on government-led prayer: [urlhttp://www.centerforinquiry.net/newsroom/town_ ... ns_secula/]here[/url]

Guess which newest-Internet-PTSD fellow is the contact point for this. Poor guy, I guess he will have to block so many people to keep his sanity.

[cunt]

Say "i'm a skeptic and this shit is important" into an internet echo chamber 20 times a day and you'll become a total fucking twat.

https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/4894481152/h0B561613/

[youtube]UwUPO023aPc[/youtube]

[Pitchguest]

Not good enough. Simply having a programmed ability to attack women in games is misogyny in itself. Women in games should be specially protected, either simply made invulnerable, or an instant game over if you kill them. That's true gender equality.

The logic of the position of people like Paul Fidalgo seems to suggest that games should have some sort of programmed inability to harm female characters.

While that sounds sexist in itself (treating men and women differently), there is the added problem of transphobia.
Why do we assume that the apparently male characters are men?
Can't the also be transwomen?

And if we say "No the fucking well can't, they're all men, right?", aren't we erasing the existence of transwomen from society?

In other words, the only way we can prevent the possibility of committing virtual violence on women game characters is to eliminate the possibility of committing violence on ANY character. Remember, if you are virtually killing hundreds of 'men' in Call of duty, the chances are that you are statistically likely to have killed a virtual transwoman too!

So, ban all violent games.
Problem solved!

It will take a little getting used to but I can already just about see the brave new world of gaming in my minds eye.

Battlefield 6 - Mission to Farmville
or perhaps,
Candycrush of Duty.

Fidalgo doesn't seem to understand about the emersive game experience.

In many games the type of character you are is determined by you.

You can play it as the classic hero, the anti-hero, even going so far as being the embodiment of evil.

It is the players world and the players choice. Hence the immersive experience. Having characters that you cannot interact or bring harm to removes the illusion of being the master of your own destiny in these worlds.

This is all cartoon violence. It isn't real and nobody except SJW's thinks it is real.

Do a little research Fidalgo (and no watching a Sarkeesian video isn't unbiased research)

Center for Inquiry ...my ass !

Fidalgo isn't the only one. Apparently all these people who should know better, like Anthony Burch (writer of Borderlands 2), don't seem to understand it either. Or perhaps because they don't want to. And really, I really don't give a shit about Anita Sarkeesian the person. What I care about are the things that flow carelessly and deliberately out of her mouth.

[Opyt]

Badger3k:

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.centerforinquiry.net/newsroom/town_of_greeces_new_prayer_policy_may_exclude_the_nonreligious_warns_secula/]here[/url]

makes "here"

[Opyt]

Bingo Pitchguest.
You summed up just about every anti-Sarkeesian argument. Ever. It also sums up just about all of my Anti-SJL in video games sentiments as well.

[BlueShiftRhino]

I'm sorry that I missed the (brief) mention of Lara Croft's (version 1) triangular boobs. One thing that I noticed when forced to watch Kim Possible with my kids is that Kim's boobs are pointed while those of all other female characters are rounded. Interestingly, my daughter noticed this, too, but my son did not (but that's an N of 2 with an age confound, so let's not write the Psych Review article or make the video yet, nor send my son off for pray-the-gay-away therapy).

Anyhoo, it's interesting (to me) because I'd like to know why they did it. I doubt that it's an accident. Are they trying to stop folks from "objectifying" Kim by making her less attractive? Are they trying to make you aware that you're staring at the boobs of a cartoon teenager? Or are they training boys to prefer girls with triangular tits by having Kim be the only likeable character in the show? Seriously ... what's up with that?

[cunt]

Why the fuck would they even want to train boys to prefer girls with triangular tits? What kind of agenda is that?

[Pitchguest]

Why the fuck would they even want to train boys to prefer girls with triangular tits? What kind of agenda is that?

The Illuminati.

[Ericb]

I'm sorry that I missed the (brief) mention of Lara Croft's (version 1) triangular boobs. One thing that I noticed when forced to watch Kim Possible with my kids is that Kim's boobs are pointed while those of all other female characters are rounded. Interestingly, my daughter noticed this, too, but my son did not (but that's an N of 2 with an age confound, so let's not write the Psych Review article or make the video yet, nor send my son off for pray-the-gay-away therapy).

Anyhoo, it's interesting (to me) because I'd like to know why they did it. I doubt that it's an accident. Are they trying to stop folks from "objectifying" Kim by making her less attractive? Are they trying to make you aware that you're staring at the boobs of a cartoon teenager? Or are they training boys to prefer girls with triangular tits by having Kim be the only likeable character in the show? Seriously ... what's up with that?

She wears a sports bra because she beats people up a lot?

[Za-zen]

Why the fuck would they even want to train boys to prefer girls with triangular tits? What kind of agenda is that?

Patriarchy dumbass

[Dave]

Why the fuck would they even want to train boys to prefer girls with triangular tits? What kind of agenda is that?

The Illuminati.

Madonna's fan-club?

[BlueShiftRhino]

She wears a sports bra because she beats people up a lot?

My experience with sports-bras is that they make boobs platykurtic, not leptokurtic.

[cunt]

Did I miss the discussion on which My Little Pony character is the most fuckable?

[Ericb]

https://www.google.com/#q=why+does+kim+ ... ave+pointy

[Old_ones]

Anita Sarkessian has no knowledge whatsoever how video games work, or stories in general. Also, rain wets concrete and if there is a shotgun over the couch, then it must be fired by the end of the story. Everything in a story should be functional, either directly or indirectly (as a red herring), and the elements support the story, not the other way around. In that sense, her basic premise that some video game character must have personality otherwise they were just mere objects not just falls apart: it explodes -- like a house of cards. Well, you get the idea. I understand why her videos are popular and a talking point, but at the same time deep down hope we just have an emperor's clothes situation where everyone sees it, but nobody says anything due to bully tactics of the social justice warriors.

I think she knows more than she lets on, because I don't believe for a second that she is making any of her commentary in good faith. She started with the conclusion she needed in order to market her crap, and proceeded to go about "proving" it in the simplest and easiest way possible. Not surprisingly she uses the same approach that violent video game alarmists of the 90s employed. She parades around a bunch of "shocking" anecdotes sans context and uses it to support her preferred narrative.

If she'd been doing this shit in the 90s I bet she would have done a piece on how you can control a male character who violently abuses women in fighting games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter 2 and Killer Instinct. She could have done a mean montage of Ryu and Kano punching Chun-Li and Sonya Blade in the face. Maybe she will still do that; its not much more intellectually dishonest than the rest of her dribble.

Considering that she, before she decided to milk gaming, told an audience that she was NOT A GAMER? That she didn't like games?

The woman is almost completely ignorant and most of what she's done is plagiarized, taken way, way, way out of context or just flat-out wrong.

Maybe I worded that badly because I don't actually believe that Sarkeesian is very knowledgeable about video games. Clearly she knows enough to find games to take offense to, but I doubt she has spent more than the bare minimum of time learning about them. On the other hand I don't believe that she doesn't understand how basic plots work (as Aneris suggests) because she doesn't come off as a drooling moron. It doesn't take a genius to understand that putting a lot of attention into into the developing minor characters that don't advance the plot is a bad idea. I think she is griping about character development because it is a convenient way to have something to gripe about to her audience.

Thunderf00t pointed out a while back that she went off on Hitman because of scene where you could beat up dancers and she erroneously claimed that you were encouraged to beat the girls. I don't believe for a second she did that because she doesn't understand how open world games work. Not only is it not that difficult a concept to understand, but there is no obvious reason why someone would mistake "you have a lot of freedom to choose how you act in this environment" for "you are encouraged to act in the most abusive way this game will allow". If she was able to find that title and figure out that it has a specific setting in it where you can beat women, then how would it be possible for her to understand nothing else about the game? I don't think she honestly believes that Hitman encourages you to attack the dancers (who are in no way related to the mission); I think she said that because she is a lying sack of shit, and because a misrepresentation of the game was more helpful to her narrative than a fair representation would have been.

[Spike13]

Fidalgo isn't the only one. Apparently all these people who should know better, like Anthony Burch (writer of Borderlands 2), don't seem to understand it either. Or perhaps because they don't want to. And really, I really don't give a shit about Anita Sarkeesian the person. What I care about are the things that flow carelessly and deliberately out of her mouth.

The writer who's game cover features a mask wearing psyco aping a dual wielding suicide pose is upset about violence?

Although playing both borderlands I can say that the writers may not understand an immersive gaming experience.

(The games were fun though, had exellent intro music, ams well, claptrap.)

[Spike13]

Why the fuck would they even want to train boys to prefer girls with triangular tits? What kind of agenda is that?

Because the major sponsor of the show has an entire warehouse full of Madonna pointy torpedo bras.

[Spike13]

Why the fuck would they even want to train boys to prefer girls with triangular tits? What kind of agenda is that?

The Illuminati.

Madonna's fan-club?

Damnit.... Nijeed'

[BlueShiftRhino]

https://www.google.com/#q=why+does+kim+ ... ave+pointy

I have way too much faith in humanity. It never occurred to me to see if there had been any discussion of KP's boob on the popular parts of the web. What the fuck is the use of a site like this one, then? Please don't say that it's only for hawking t-shirts.

[Badger3k]

Badger3k:

Code: Select all

[url=http://www.centerforinquiry.net/newsroom/town_of_greeces_new_prayer_policy_may_exclude_the_nonreligious_warns_secula/]here[/url]

makes "here"

Appreciate the fix. I must have deleted something when I put it in and didn't notice it. Damn. If only there was a way to prevent that... :doh:

[Badger3k]

Maybe I worded that badly because I don't actually believe that Sarkeesian is very knowledgeable about video games. Clearly she knows enough to find games to take offense to, but I doubt she has spent more than the bare minimum of time learning about them. On the other hand I don't believe that she doesn't understand how basic plots work (as Aneris suggests) because she doesn't come off as a drooling moron. It doesn't take a genius to understand that putting a lot of attention into into the developing minor characters that don't advance the plot is a bad idea. I think she is griping about character development because it is a convenient way to have something to gripe about to her audience.

Thunderf00t pointed out a while back that she went off on Hitman because of scene where you could beat up dancers and she erroneously claimed that you were encouraged to beat the girls. I don't believe for a second she did that because she doesn't understand how open world games work. Not only is it not that difficult a concept to understand, but there is no obvious reason why someone would mistake "you have a lot of freedom to choose how you act in this environment" for "you are encouraged to act in the most abusive way this game will allow". If she was able to find that title and figure out that it has a specific setting in it where you can beat women, then how would it be possible for her to understand nothing else about the game? I don't think she honestly believes that Hitman encourages you to attack the dancers (who are in no way related to the mission); I think she said that because she is a lying sack of shit, and because a misrepresentation of the game was more helpful to her narrative than a fair representation would have been.

Referencing Fidalgos idiotic tweet about "why put it in there if you don't want them to do it" (paraphrasing, of course). It's like when you tall a kid...just because the man gives you an uzi, it doesn't mean you need to shoot it at his face. Too soon?

[BlueShiftRhino]

Never too soon for 2nd Amendment Darwin Awards

[Badger3k]

I'm sorry that I missed the (brief) mention of Lara Croft's (version 1) triangular boobs. One thing that I noticed when forced to watch Kim Possible with my kids is that Kim's boobs are pointed while those of all other female characters are rounded. Interestingly, my daughter noticed this, too, but my son did not (but that's an N of 2 with an age confound, so let's not write the Psych Review article or make the video yet, nor send my son off for pray-the-gay-away therapy).

Anyhoo, it's interesting (to me) because I'd like to know why they did it. I doubt that it's an accident. Are they trying to stop folks from "objectifying" Kim by making her less attractive? Are they trying to make you aware that you're staring at the boobs of a cartoon teenager? Or are they training boys to prefer girls with triangular tits by having Kim be the only likeable character in the show? Seriously ... what's up with that?

Never noticed the boobs - it was the mouth that stuck out for me (stuck in my head? Don't know how to phrase that without sounding pervy, so the hell with it!). Damn you Betty Rubble! :drool: :shifty:

[Spike13]

Old ones,

She went after what she felt was low hanging fruit for 12 grand.

Couple of videos, not much work, good bank, absorb the accolades of the usual SJW's

For 12,000 you can mail it in without too much flack.

Instead she got 120,000... After the celebration of the sudden windfall dispersed, she must have realized that she had to come up with something, either good hard research(ha, ) or repeated piles of cherry picked bullshit.

She has yet to display any real trend of misogyny in main stream gaming.

[Spike13]

Never too soon for 2nd Amendment Darwin Awards

I thought it was the Dick Cheney shootin' iron safety award

[Badger3k]

Never too soon for 2nd Amendment Darwin Awards

I thought it was the Dick Cheney shootin' iron safety award

Somewhat appropriate given the avatar you use. :lol:

[cunt]

I might have to check up on it but i'm fairly sure that madonna pyramid boob reference-jokes are older than I am and I was born in the mid 80s.

[Opyt]

Haha.
Poor Sargon of Akkad, trying to understand the Peezus response to the Aron Ra response to 6oodfella.
[youtube]djBZn0l9kC0[/youtube]

[another lurker]

Why the fuck would they even want to train boys to prefer girls with triangular tits? What kind of agenda is that?

Quantum mechanics.

[Dave]

I might have to check up on it but i'm fairly sure that madonna pyramid boob reference-jokes are older than I am and I was born in the mid 80s.

Shaddap. In my day, we had to walk barefoot, in the snow, uphill both ways, just to get poked in they eye by a pyramid boob. AND WE THOUGHT OURSELVES LUCKY! You kids dont know how easy you have it with your rounded boobs and fancy shit like that.

[BlueShiftRhino]

The Heisenboob uncertainty principle? The complement to Schroedinger's Rapist?

[Opyt]

bovarchist:
Yeah, I'm not big on Fat Albert personally. But I'm pretty sure that most of the spoofing and parodies Animaniacs did was out of love.

[another lurker]

I like 50s, 60s style pointy boobs:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/ ... 34x426.jpg


http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3re0 ... o1_500.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_94wGm5Prdv0/T ... (1954).jpg

I love the look because it's both sexy and demure. None of that ass hanging out of tiny shorts slut-look. Not that latex shorts are bad (I have a couple pair) but, there is something to be said for subtlety.

[cunt]

Hmmm.. I like the look because they aren't wearing a bra.

[Spike13]

Haha.
Poor Sargon of Akkad, trying to understand the Peezus response to the Aron Ra response to 6oodfella.
[youtube]djBZn0l9kC0[/youtube]

That was good!

I'll have to put him on the you tube watch list.

[Spike13]

I like 50s, 60s style pointy boobs:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/05/ ... 34x426.jpg


http://38.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3re0 ... o1_500.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_94wGm5Prdv0/T ... (1954).jpg

I love the look because it's both sexy and demure. None of that ass hanging out of tiny shorts slut-look. Not that latex shorts are bad (I have a couple pair) but, there is something to be said for subtlety.

Godamnit.....cold shower time....

[James Caruthers]

I've figured out who Social Justice Warriors are.

They start out as those insufferable children who delight in telling tales and getting other kids into trouble.

In middle age, they're conservative "think of the children" (but have forgotten what being a child was like) decency campaigners who wonder why there has to be so much bad language and sex on TV.

In old age, they're the crabby old bats who burst your football if you acidentally kick it into their garden and complain that young people today have no respect.

You know the type. Self-righteous moral busibodies who always know best and hate the world for not living up to their standards. SJWs are these people as young* adults.

(*and older ones who like to think they're "down with the kids". Hi PZ/Oafie!)

This.

I tried to read through Shanley's twitter, but my brain started to hurt after about the 2nd tweet. Everything she says is so incredibly wrong and stupid, it boggles the mind. But one thing I did notice was the attitude, which was pure "judgy bitch casting down judgement from on high." Everything that isn't infested with her ideology is bad and evil and wrong, and even the shit that is social justice is wrong and evil because it isn't ENOUGH social justice for her.

Which usually amounts to her complaining because the demographics of people who support her worldview contain too many penis-owners. :roll:

[JacquesCuze]

Watson celebrates Women's Equality Day by ranting about MRAs.

[youtube]S-0ZA4W0RRU[/youtube]

Transcript here:
http://skepchick.org/2014/08/happy-wome ... -military/

Now, MRAs have an argument that I've considered mostly wrong and mostly lame, that is that men's right to vote is linked to the draft.

But the more I read Watson's essay and research it, the more I realize that the MRA claim is distorted but in many ways true.

First note: Vandalization of Wiki Women's Equality Day page by MRAs

The wiki page was vandalized for one hour with the addition of the silly claim that men's right to vote is linked to the 'requirement of consignment'. That was done at 15:09 GMT and removed about 70 minutes later

http://wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblam ... =asc&user=

The IP of the vandal reveals tons of vandalization: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:12.165.188.130

Nevertheless to Watson, this was an MRA doing this. Not just a vandal, or more likely just a troll. But okay, it was an MRA.

Second note: What her essay reveals about Watson

Her article demonstrates a loose grasp of the facts, a loose grasp of history, and is incoherent. That is from the points Watson makes we have to conclude the opposite of her major thesis:

Loose Grasp of the Facts:

Nor does the right to vote have anything to do with conscription, which is the requirement to register for military service in case of national emergency. Though the draft is technically still in place in the US, no one actually signs up for it anymore (EDIT: my mistake. Compliance is about 87% nationwide. Thanks Ryan)

Loose Grasp of History: In her essay she says

August 25, was Women’s Equality Day. On that day in 1920, women finally won the right to vote in the United States. That’s right – the US has only been a democracy for 94 years. Some would argue it’s still not

Let's take a look at that "Some would argue it’s still not"

Elimination of the poll tax:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-fou ... nstitution

The Twenty-fourth Amendment (Amendment XXIV) of the United States Constitution prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. The amendment was proposed by Congress to the states on August 27, 1962, and was ratified by the states on January 23, 1964.

Elimination of literacy tests:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. §§ 1973–1973bb-1)[7]:372 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.[8][9] It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the American Civil Rights Movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections.[8] Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act allowed for a mass enfranchisement of racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Act is considered to be the most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever enacted in the country.[10]

The Act contains numerous provisions that regulate the administration of elections. The Act's "general provisions" provide nationwide protections for voting rights. Section 2, for instance, prohibits any state or local government from imposing any voting law that results in discrimination against racial or language minorities. Additionally, the Act specifically outlaws literacy tests and similar devices that were historically used to disenfranchise racial minorities.

I find it amazing that celebration of Women's Equality Day doesn't recognize that 45 years AFTER Women's Equality Day, the US was still struggling to make sure that black men & women were able to vote.

Sort of turns Women's Equality Day into White Women's Equality Day

Incoherent:

The US draft began in 1861 at the start of the Civil War. This of course was nearly 100 years after men first started voting in the US. Originally the only voters were primarily wealthy white landowning men, but as the years progressed each one of those adjectives was forcibly removed from the requirements by marginalized people. But even at the start of the draft, there was no law prohibiting elderly and infirm men from voting because they were unable to serve in the military. All wealthy white landowning men got to vote, period.

So not only did men vote prior to the draft existing, but in the 1970s during the Vietnam War, people protested the fact that the draft age was 18 but the voting age was 21. In other words, men weren’t able to vote because they went to war – men were going to war who had no ability to vote and hence change their fate.

She acknowledges that since the founding:

+ Mostly, only landowners could vote
+ Up until the 70s, men going to war could not vote

+ She forgets that until 1965, many black men (and women) could not in practice, vote

Nevertheless,

Democracy to Watson is when women are given the right to vote (and mainly white women can participate)

August 25, was Women’s Equality Day. On that day in 1920, women finally won the right to vote in the United States. That’s right – the US has only been a democracy for 94 years. Some would argue it’s still not

By her own arguments, I would think she would have to claim that the US wasn't "Democratic" until 1965 and that clearly young men and minority men and women are more oppressed with respect to voting than women.

Third note: So what about that MRA claim that men's voting is linked to the draft?

There is clearly no explicit linking of the vote to the draft.

However,

+ The requirement to register for Selective Service is only for men
+ Failure to register for Selective Service IS a felony http://www.sss.gov/FSinternet.htm (though it hasn't been prosecuted since 1986) punishable by up to 5 years in prison (and $250K fine)
+ Almost all states prohibit felons from voting during their incarceration. Only two states allow prisoners to vote.
+ Three states prohibit all felons from ever voting
+ Eight states more prohibit some felons from ever voting, though it is doubtful that would apply to failure to register
+ 20 states prohibit voting until after probation has been served
+ Four states prohibit voting until after parole has been served
+ In 13 states, a felon can vote upon release from prison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_disenfranchisement
https://www.aclu.org/maps/map-state-cri ... ement-laws

At first glance, I think the ramifications of that felony conviction are pretty strong evidence that men's voting IS linked to the draft.

In addition, the Feds and most States take away from those who fail to register:

+ driver's licenses
+ state and federal jobs
+ college funding
+ job training

And if you're an immigrant, becoming ineligible for citizenship.

So what can I say, reading Watson's essay and doing a bit of research helps convince me that men's rights to vote IS linked directly to the draft in significant ways that women's right to vote is not.

[another lurker]

Godamnit.....cold shower time....

Quantum bosoms.

I am just gonna put 'quantum' in front of everything, makes me sound smarted, rite?

:cdc:

[Spike13]

I've figured out who Social Justice Warriors are.

They start out as those insufferable children who delight in telling tales and getting other kids into trouble.

In middle age, they're conservative "think of the children" (but have forgotten what being a child was like) decency campaigners who wonder why there has to be so much bad language and sex on TV.

In old age, they're the crabby old bats who burst your football if you acidentally kick it into their garden and complain that young people today have no respect.

You know the type. Self-righteous moral busibodies who always know best and hate the world for not living up to their standards. SJWs are these people as young* adults.

(*and older ones who like to think they're "down with the kids". Hi PZ/Oafie!)

This.

I tried to read through Shanley's twitter, but my brain started to hurt after about the 2nd tweet. Everything she says is so incredibly wrong and stupid, it boggles the mind. But one thing I did notice was the attitude, which was pure "judgy bitch casting down judgement from on high." Everything that isn't infested with her ideology is bad and evil and wrong, and even the shit that is social justice is wrong and evil because it isn't ENOUGH social justice for her.

Which usually amounts to her complaining because the demographics of people who support her worldview contain too many penis-owners. :roll:

I actually feel sorry for her and those like her( that is if she isn't taking the piss)

Can you I imagine going through life everyday miserable, pissed off,suspecting everyone you see as a potential attacker instead of a potential friend?

How lousy must that life be?

Lets ask cunt.

[James Caruthers]

Speaking of the last Tomb Raider game:
I could not help but notice that every white male in it dies and every named character that is not a white male survives.
So it is essentially a SJW utopia.

Also with regard to Lara's tits I will point out that the supposed sexualisation of Lara in the first three Tomb Raider games was more in the minds of its feminist critics than in the game. The graphics of the time were not good enough to produce a sexy character. Her boobs were literally a single very sharp triangular based prism. TR4 and TR5 did round her a little bit (and gave her just a little bit of personality) but it really isn't until TR: Legend (or arguably near the end of Angle of Darkness) that Lara can rightly be considered sexy. In what might possibly be a coincidence it was in TR:AoD and TR:L that Lara finally got some serious character development.

It seems Ms. Croft's personality evolved with her graphics.

Also, new Lara's tits aren't really any smaller when contrasted against her new body type, and she wears just as much if not more makeup. They exchanged Baywatch Model Lara for Hipster Model Lara, but same difference really. :lol:

Still, the game was pretty enjoyable, minus the roller coaster sections which became really contrived near the end. Not to mention the arena battles against 40 enemies at a time, which were pure tedium.

[dog puke]

Godamnit.....cold shower time....

here you go...
[youtube]S-0ZA4W0RRU[/youtube]

[deLurch]

Look at movies - you get reviewers who go gaga over some foreign film (as Cartmen might say, about cowboys eating pudding), but it gets panned at the box office because it's not what people want to pay money to go see. Reviewers often think of themselves and their opinions as the most valuable. Sometimes they seem to not understand that we may read them for info on the game but take their opinions for what they are. I saw Fez (had a chance to get it for free or at a reduced price) but after looking at it I just wasn't interested in it at all. It's the whole, 'uncultured masses' type thing, and we poor peons just don't understand what we should like or what is good for us.

I can thoroughly understand that as you watch more & more movies, that your appetite for things you have seen before and mindless cliché's go way down. So their taste may stray to something a bit more different. But it also explains why teen movies are so popular. It may be the first time that teen has seen that gag or cliché so they think it it marvelous.

[dogen]

She wears a sports bra because she beats people up a lot?

My experience with sports-bras is that they make boobs platykurtic, not leptokurtic.

Kurtosis changes are just a side effect. It's all about shifting the mean in the opposite direction to gravity.

[Spike13]

Godamnit.....cold shower time....

here you go...
[youtube]S-0ZA4W0RRU[/youtube]

AARRGGHH!

Warn me when you're going to do that!

I almost had an Innie!!!!

[dogen]

https://www.google.com/#q=why+does+kim+ ... ave+pointy

I have way too much faith in humanity. It never occurred to me to see if there had been any discussion of KP's boob on the popular parts of the web. What the fuck is the use of a site like this one, then? Please don't say that it's only for hawking t-shirts.

Stephen's medical care is pretty expensive... he's got to pay the bills somehow.

[Pitchguest]

Fidalgo isn't the only one. Apparently all these people who should know better, like Anthony Burch (writer of Borderlands 2), don't seem to understand it either. Or perhaps because they don't want to. And really, I really don't give a shit about Anita Sarkeesian the person. What I care about are the things that flow carelessly and deliberately out of her mouth.

The writer who's game cover features a mask wearing psyco aping a dual wielding suicide pose is upset about violence?

Although playing both borderlands I can say that the writers may not understand an immersive gaming experience.

(The games were fun though, had exellent intro music, ams well, claptrap.)

The first Borderlands was written by someone else, not Burch. But if the kind of presentation of women that Sarkeesian criticises/cherrypicks in her video is any indication, she might (and if she's consistent, should) aim her eye of Sauron onto Borderlands 2 as well, considering the portrayal of Moxxi had arguably even more innuendo than the previous one.

Also, the thing in her most recent one that bugs me is how she shows scenes of women getting beat up or killed as a demonstration of her Women as Background Characters in games. Most of them being open world as well where choice is everything. She shows a scene from the first Bioshock where a ghostly figure talks to you in an alluring fashion, the spiritual remnant of a woman long dead, leading you into a room where the woman lies dead on a bed. She says the problem with this is the way the woman is dressed. Mind you, she doesn't show why this particular woman is significant or why it's shown. She just says, look at how she's dressed, isn't that sexist? And how you're apparently supposed to experience stimulation at the sight of the mildly dressed carcass.

(Except if you played it all the way through, you'll find out she wasn't just some nobody. And the room you find her in is a bedroom so applying logic she may have been wearing a nightgown or a negligé or something along those lines, and this was a husband killing her wife in cold blood because of reasons you find out if you actually play the game. You can't just show it out context and frankly, to say it exists just to titillate the gamer [in a sexual way] is insulting.)

Then she shows scenes from the unofficial sequel, Bioshock 2, where dead men and women are strewn across a place called The Pink Pearl Bordello where she complains about "eroticised female bodies" where we are supposed to notice the discrepancy between the "distinct lack of sexual presentation" between the men versus the women. To which I would say, yeah. Because it's a fucking bordello. It's a ridiculous criticism to expect a similar presentation, if any, of the women wearing quote unquote "sexy" clothing to appeal to the johns coming there and the johns themselves. And frankly, in the scenes she showcases I find nothing sexual about the women seemingly being impaled with stakes and their faces rearranged with needle and a string. Now granted it's been a while since I played Bioshock 2 (wasn't one of the better ones in the series I can tell you that, felt more like filler), however I seem to recall there's a few male prostitutes in there as well. But I think my point still stands: it's a fucking brothel. Does she expect them to dress conservatively? Or better yet, does she expect the game developers to dress them conservatively (in a game based in the 60's, in an underwater "paradise" helmed by the offspring of Ayn Rand)?

--

Then she presents another game, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (a sequel to Assassin's Creed 2), where the objective is to kill a guy offing nameless courtesans in the street. Well, there certainly is that aspect. But then there's the other aspect where the courtesans later help you and they don't just become "background decoration" for which to look pretty, and much later there's a scene where instead of the courtesans taking shit, they fend for themselves. Which is not, by the way, due to the intervention of the named character, Ezio Auditore, but his sister, Claudia.

Ah, feminism in action! Except, no. Because they're still dressed in revealing clothing, they're still prostitutes and they still (sometimes) exist as a way just to lure the guards away from places (so you can loot stuff or finish missions). There's also the caveat that Brotherhood was the game that introduced female assassins for the first time, something that the previous games did not have. Did that at least get a mention? Of course it didn't. Not important. Sexualisation of female characters as background decoration. Priorities.

Some of the games I still haven't played, like Watch Dogs, GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption, however some people have already mentioned how she misrepresented the trafficking portion of Watch Dogs as simply sexual arousal when the objective in fact is to shut it down. The purpose of the auction was to show the sleaziness of the perpetrators, but it seems even sleaze should not exist in games - at least with female actors at the forefront - according to Anita Sarkeesian. Now I have hopes that game developers won't give her any mind or if they do they will at least get wise to her bullshit. But if not, we may be experiencing a time where developers won't realise their vision if their vision includes to some extent the suffering of virtual women or women in revealing clothing, not as the only trait but as a subset, out of fear they might suffer backlash that could potentially ruin their career. Which might sound hyperbolic, but this whole thing with Zoë Quinn, how that played out and how vulnerable people not wise to their tactics are (Fine Young Capitalists)? Makes you think twice.

[James Caruthers]

Cabal (if that really was you lol skepticism):
It's not "irony", but it's also not "the gaming community"; it's just the SJL element of it.
Dick Strawkins:
I'd say that there are only a handful of games where you death toll isn't higher than that of a small battle. And most games that center around shooting people also have a death toll higher than the "worst years" of both OIF & OEF (Iraq & Afghanistan) within the first two or three missions. But that's just nitpicking.

Yet it's a sin to ask about all the male characters who get killed by the character. In my play through of the latest Hitman, I killed only the men (except for the woman in the first mission), including stuffing them in crates and other things. If there were female guards or targets, then they would get treated the same. It's the equality they say they want - women and men to be treated the same. But they don't want that, they want that special privilege. About the only ones without a huge death count are some platformers and some artistic games like Flow (I believe that's the name). You don't kill people in music and dancing games too (well, most, there was one or two that used that as a gimmick). But Sarky doesn't care about them - she admits she doesn't play and really doesn't like shooters and combat games, and they provide the best fodder for the gravy train. I wonder how long it will be before she is invited to blog at FtB.

Hitman games are purely egalitarian.

Let me explain, once and for all time:

I'm using Blood Money as the standard, because it's the best Hitman game ever made.

It is always bad to kill someone who isn't your target, and the game doesn't discriminate between men and women. They all devalue your score the same way.

If a woman is the target, you kill the woman. If a man is the target, you kill the man. There is no sexual violence and the female targets are not treated any differently. Some female targets will recognize you and attack you pretty much on sight, and the same is true for some male targets. Many levels have a nice mix of female and male targets (A Murder of Crows features an assassination squad you have to stop, made up of two men and one woman.)

There are realistic depictions of sexy women in places you would expect to find them: such as in a playboy grotto, at a swanky casino and in a flashy theme nightclub. But the game is never ordering you to ogle these women, and the graphics are kinda primitive anyway, so there'd be no point if you were so inclined. :lol: Most of the women are choosing to wear those clothes (nightclub culture), and you do not find immodest or slutty women in levels where it would not be appropriate, such as the rehab clinic.

With all of that FEMINISM I've just pointed out, Blood Money still manages to be hugely fun to play.

Of course, you have the FREEDOM to go around killing women and only women by bashing their heads in with a bloody hammer, but that's on YOU. You can also teabag corpses in Blood Money, but that doesn't mean the developers created a pro-necrophilia video game.

[Za-zen]

Watson celebrates Women's Equality Day by ranting about MRAs.

[youtube]S-0ZA4W0RRU[/youtube]

Transcript here:
http://skepchick.org/2014/08/happy-wome ... -military/

Now, MRAs have an argument that I've considered mostly wrong and mostly lame, that is that men's right to vote is linked to the draft.

But the more I read Watson's essay and research it, the more I realize that the MRA claim is distorted but in many ways true.

First note: Vandalization of Wiki Women's Equality Day page by MRAs

The wiki page was vandalized for one hour with the addition of the silly claim that men's right to vote is linked to the 'requirement of consignment'. That was done at 15:09 GMT and removed about 70 minutes later

http://wikipedia.ramselehof.de/wikiblam ... =asc&user=

The IP of the vandal reveals tons of vandalization: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:12.165.188.130

Nevertheless to Watson, this was an MRA doing this. Not just a vandal, or more likely just a troll. But okay, it was an MRA.

Second note: What her essay reveals about Watson

Her article demonstrates a loose grasp of the facts, a loose grasp of history, and is incoherent. That is from the points Watson makes we have to conclude the opposite of her major thesis:

Loose Grasp of the Facts:

Nor does the right to vote have anything to do with conscription, which is the requirement to register for military service in case of national emergency. Though the draft is technically still in place in the US, no one actually signs up for it anymore (EDIT: my mistake. Compliance is about 87% nationwide. Thanks Ryan)

Loose Grasp of History: In her essay she says

August 25, was Women’s Equality Day. On that day in 1920, women finally won the right to vote in the United States. That’s right – the US has only been a democracy for 94 years. Some would argue it’s still not

Let's take a look at that "Some would argue it’s still not"

Elimination of the poll tax:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-fou ... nstitution

The Twenty-fourth Amendment (Amendment XXIV) of the United States Constitution prohibits both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax. The amendment was proposed by Congress to the states on August 27, 1962, and was ratified by the states on January 23, 1964.

Elimination of literacy tests:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_Rights_Act_of_1965

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. §§ 1973–1973bb-1)[7]:372 is a landmark piece of federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting.[8][9] It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the American Civil Rights Movement on August 6, 1965, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections.[8] Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act allowed for a mass enfranchisement of racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the Act is considered to be the most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever enacted in the country.[10]

The Act contains numerous provisions that regulate the administration of elections. The Act's "general provisions" provide nationwide protections for voting rights. Section 2, for instance, prohibits any state or local government from imposing any voting law that results in discrimination against racial or language minorities. Additionally, the Act specifically outlaws literacy tests and similar devices that were historically used to disenfranchise racial minorities.

I find it amazing that celebration of Women's Equality Day doesn't recognize that 45 years AFTER Women's Equality Day, the US was still struggling to make sure that black men & women were able to vote.

Sort of turns Women's Equality Day into White Women's Equality Day

Incoherent:

The US draft began in 1861 at the start of the Civil War. This of course was nearly 100 years after men first started voting in the US. Originally the only voters were primarily wealthy white landowning men, but as the years progressed each one of those adjectives was forcibly removed from the requirements by marginalized people. But even at the start of the draft, there was no law prohibiting elderly and infirm men from voting because they were unable to serve in the military. All wealthy white landowning men got to vote, period.

So not only did men vote prior to the draft existing, but in the 1970s during the Vietnam War, people protested the fact that the draft age was 18 but the voting age was 21. In other words, men weren’t able to vote because they went to war – men were going to war who had no ability to vote and hence change their fate.

She acknowledges that since the founding:

+ Mostly, only landowners could vote
+ Up until the 70s, men going to war could not vote

+ She forgets that until 1965, many black men (and women) could not in practice, vote

Nevertheless,

Democracy to Watson is when women are given the right to vote (and mainly white women can participate)

August 25, was Women’s Equality Day. On that day in 1920, women finally won the right to vote in the United States. That’s right – the US has only been a democracy for 94 years. Some would argue it’s still not

By her own arguments, I would think she would have to claim that the US wasn't "Democratic" until 1965 and that clearly young men and minority men and women are more oppressed with respect to voting than women.

Third note: So what about that MRA claim that men's voting is linked to the draft?

There is clearly no explicit linking of the vote to the draft.

However,

+ The requirement to register for Selective Service is only for men
+ Failure to register for Selective Service IS a felony http://www.sss.gov/FSinternet.htm (though it hasn't been prosecuted since 1986) punishable by up to 5 years in prison (and $250K fine)
+ Almost all states prohibit felons from voting during their incarceration. Only two states allow prisoners to vote.
+ Three states prohibit all felons from ever voting
+ Eight states more prohibit some felons from ever voting, though it is doubtful that would apply to failure to register
+ 20 states prohibit voting until after probation has been served
+ Four states prohibit voting until after parole has been served
+ In 13 states, a felon can vote upon release from prison

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felony_disenfranchisement
https://www.aclu.org/maps/map-state-cri ... ement-laws

At first glance, I think the ramifications of that felony conviction are pretty strong evidence that men's voting IS linked to the draft.

In addition, the Feds and most States take away from those who fail to register:

+ driver's licenses
+ state and federal jobs
+ college funding
+ job training

And if you're an immigrant, becoming ineligible for citizenship.

So what can I say, reading Watson's essay and doing a bit of research helps convince me that men's rights to vote IS linked directly to the draft in significant ways that women's right to vote is not.

See you're what's wrong with the atheist skeptic movement. You aren't supposed to think about what a twatson or snarkeesian says. You're supposed to cheer them on as victims of oppression taking it to the man. Facts schmacts, what is important is getting behind the team for justice. Sure they may get everything they talk about wrong, and sure they may not know their subject matter. But what's important is they have the courage to say it.

Can we fix it?!
Yes we can! Get with the program massagonist.

[James Caruthers]

That reminded me of Scarface. In that game, you couldn't kill bystanders. You had conversations with them, often just asking about their lives or having them thank you or something similar. You built up good will. At first it was a bit odd, but it did make for more immersion in the game world and it was fun to go around and do that. At least I liked it. Plus, the recreation of the club was fantastic.

You can kill bystanders in that game if you play as someone other than Tony.

[James Caruthers]

Best resource for viewing this disparity is Metacritic, a site online which collects both pro reviewer, and gamer reviews for games.

The disparity between the two is sometimes astounding, and blatantly shows the cock sucking symbiotic relationship that exists between devs and review sites. Anyone who is an actual gamer has known pro reviewers have been junk for a couple of decades, they have just abandoned any pretence of being objective.

A shining example is Rome 2. Take a look at the scores on metacritic, then ponder how much free shit and promises of trips here, and exclusives there, and "yeah I know your partner, are they looking for an in." Were handed out.

Mass Effect 3 was another good mainstream example.

[another lurker]

Postal 2 is one of my favourite games, and reviewers shat all over it because the game isn't PC. Eagerly awaiting Postal 3.