Quote:

The Modfather said:
Ah, but nobody is catching on here, I know all this stuff, well, that is to say that I'm aware of many of the implications and so forth. But re-read the first line of my previous post, I'm engaging in this arguement because I want to. If I were actually upset about it I wouldn't post another word on the subject, I'd just go elsewhere. Which is what I suggested nowhereman do if he didn't like the topic, but see, he didn't go away and neither did I, so maybe both of us enjoy the hell out of a good flame now and then. If I don't liberally spice my messages with a ton of smiley faces take for granted the fact that if I seriously had a problem I'd just not post anything at all.

I don't define myself as gay at all, not even slightly, in fact that'd probably come last in a long list of terms and concepts I'd use to define myself, so no, that's not it. I just see an awful lot of the use of the word "gay" here (and plenty of other places these days) to mean something negative, this or that is "gay" now means it sucks. I propose we stop this and from now on say that something is nowhereman, so if you're playing a game online and something about it sucks, from now on, say it's nowhereman.

It is true that I don't fully grasp the idea that a person would come into a thread about astronomy for no other reason than to say it's pointless. I'm not seeing that as posing an opinion or an alternate point of view so much as trolling. If he'd come in and said "I just don't understand the fascination with this subject, could somebody please explain why it's important?" then that might make more sense. But that's not even close to what he said is it? What he initially posted was inflamatory and insulting to anyone who'd expressed an interest in the subject matter. What he said was that what we find interesting is pointless and any time we've spent learning about it was "wasted". What about that statement is there NOT to take offense to? In all truth, I don't care what he thinks and his "opinions" are truely what's worthless here. If the subject had no merit then it would not be a subject studied by the most intelligent human beings the world has ever known.

Which is how I get to the point where I define him as being dumb. Simply look at the people who would stand in stark contrast to what he has said. Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, et al, some of the most intelligent human beings that have ever lived would disagree with Nowhereman. Yet he not only makes this statement he makes it boldly and with some pride in the stance he's taken. This is how I'm defining him as being dumb. I don't need to defend the subject here or explain to anyone how it has benefitted anyone, myself included, that would be rather silly. He needs to justify his rediculious statements if anything needs to be justified at all.

He asks me what the reclassification of Pluto means to me in my life, as if this question somehow holds all the weight of "why is astronomy and astrophysics relevant". The reclassification of Pluto is just a small small statement in the much larger picture. What it means to me right now, today, is nothing at all. What it means in the grander scheme however could be quite a lot. To me it's a statement about the intelligence of the general population from the most learned down to the most ignorant. What is the jusitifaction for the reclassification of Pluto and does it make any sense? To my thinking it doesn't make any sense and it shows a lack of thought on the part of those who have made this decision. On the whole it shows that we as a race are dumbing down a bit here. "All in all it's just another brick in the wall". It's just one more example of stupidity winning out over intelligent thought.

It in fact goes in line with Nowhereman's entire point, that the subject is valueless. He'd probably get along well with those who'd agree that it's appropriate to reclassify Pluto, think as little as possible, do as little work as possible and turn your back on the things you either do not understand or are not very interested in.

But this whole line of thinking will bore poor Nowhereman, because it's about astronomy and that's pointless. He should never have been forced to learn anything at all about it. But he wants to know exactly what relevance it has to him or anyone at all for that matter. Hmm, okay lets try this.

A few hundred years ago there were people like him, they thought that the very idea that we should consider that the world was not flat and that we were not at the center of the universe was pointless, a waste of time, etc. Thankfully those people were proven to be idiots. But where would we be right now if the world listened to them instead of people taking the risks to find out the truth? Our future does not exist on this planet alone. If we intend to survive as a species we MUST venture beyond the boundaries of our own world. We have all but exhausted our natural resources, destroyed our ecology and we show every sign of devolving into a new dark age. People are not getting smarter, if anything, on the large scale people are becoming more and more stupid every year. You only need to pick up a newspaper, turn on the television or hit a few websites to see that this is the case. Yes, we have technological advances happening all the time, but it's the very small minority that are involved in those things while the vast majority are uneducated, ignorant individuals who think nothing of engaging in some of the most pathetic acts I have ever seen.

In my life I've seen this devolution happen very clearly. Just as one example I can use the simple act of going to the store. When I was younger, you could go to a store and be treated properly by individuals who knew their job. If you needed assistance there'd be someone who knew what to tell you. Now a days you can't even get the average worker to figure out "NO ONIONS ON THAT BURGER", they're just too stupid to handle that task. And this is just one example out of thousands I could present.

Thankfully I believe that natural selection will eventually weed out these lesser humanoids by having them walk in front of a truck or perhaps their brain stems will fly out their mouths and strangle them. Already many of them are doing us the favor of killing themselves off in drive-bys and gang wars. It's unfortunate that some innocent people do get caught in the crossfire there but in time hopefully they will wipe themselves out and we can be safe again and our species can once more evolve foreward. For now however, we have to deal with the ignorant types and those of us who recognize them for what they are need to realize that it's not safe to be around them because eventually they're going to self destruct.

So what I'm saying is, when nowhereman implodes, please can he do it in a thread full of bimbos in wet t-shirts and not in an astronomy thread? Hmm? Please?


And still you say my opinion makes me dumb, yet once again, you haven't actually told us what relevance this has had on your life or how it helps you be a better person!

You have yet to justify why billions of dollars are wasted on pointless research on what defines a planet, or is there life on Mars, when this money could be better spent on health care and education (something you harp on about, yet seem to have not learned how to spell and use punctuation).

You try taking the intelectual high ground, and berate those you feel educationally subnormal, yet you show yourself to be nowhere near as well educated as you think you are.

Snarf is shit. His death will be rejoiced!