I think my head is going to explode
If this wasn't scripted, then I think a small part of my trust in humanity died tonight.
I went over to my parents' home this evening to do a little bit of work on their computer (they've been having some problems with an application that runs in the background and seems to be gobbling up system resources). In payment for this service, my parents bought me dinner. While eating, my parents watched a reality show I'd never heard of until tonight.
It was called 'Beauty and the Geek.' As near as I can tell, the show pairs up academically gifted young men (engineers, technology Ph.D's, and the like) with somewhat dimmer, but pretty, women. The women are given tests in which they have to perform a task (after the guys have taught them for a while) like putting together electronics. The guys have to perform a task equally out of their normal skill base (after some tutoring from the women), such as getting women's phone numbers or engaging in an effective workout.
In the episode my parents watched, the announcer/narrator/host guy told the guys what their task was, and then turned to the assembled women. Their dialogue was so classic that it surely must have been scripted. It went like this:
Host: "This, ladies, is a toolbox. It contains... Shocker! Tools."
Girl 1 to Girl 2: "What're tools?"
Girl 2 to Girl 1: "What's shocker?"
I went over to my parents' home this evening to do a little bit of work on their computer (they've been having some problems with an application that runs in the background and seems to be gobbling up system resources). In payment for this service, my parents bought me dinner. While eating, my parents watched a reality show I'd never heard of until tonight.
It was called 'Beauty and the Geek.' As near as I can tell, the show pairs up academically gifted young men (engineers, technology Ph.D's, and the like) with somewhat dimmer, but pretty, women. The women are given tests in which they have to perform a task (after the guys have taught them for a while) like putting together electronics. The guys have to perform a task equally out of their normal skill base (after some tutoring from the women), such as getting women's phone numbers or engaging in an effective workout.
In the episode my parents watched, the announcer/narrator/host guy told the guys what their task was, and then turned to the assembled women. Their dialogue was so classic that it surely must have been scripted. It went like this:
Host: "This, ladies, is a toolbox. It contains... Shocker! Tools."
Girl 1 to Girl 2: "What're tools?"
Girl 2 to Girl 1: "What's shocker?"
posted by The Academian | 9:03 PM
3 Comments:
just read the comments regarding the holmes post, just to be clear, I don't know mrs. marcia dentist, though she sounds hot, with great breasts. Also, there was an article in the Times about a week ago concerning a leading Jewish advocate espousing my position regarding those who deny the legitimacy of the Jewish state. Finally, thanks for putting me in the top of your bad things for the year list, that meant a lot, in a rather sad way. I almost feel bad about calling you an anti-semite.
I really hope the Academian doesn't waste the energy it would take to produce the customary 10-page response to this crap.
This is a perfect example of why I prefer people to sign off their comments with a name if they don’t have a user ID with which to post. I have to try to figure out who is talking to/insulting me by matching obscure clues from their comments. In this case, since it self-references a previous post (one calling me an anti-Semite), I can infer (assuming the poster isn’t lying) that this particular comment leaver is Alana.
My apologies if you aren’t the Alana who is acquainted in some unknown fashion with Mrs. Marcia Dentist of my literary discussion fame. Since virtually nobody happens across my writings without coming to them through an acquaintance of mine, and since Alana is an unusual enough name, I felt justified in inferring that you were the Alana who occasionally posted comments on the aforementioned Mrs. Marcia Dentist’s blog. I take your words that you are not this person at face value and apologize for my prior misidentification.
I also apologize for my absence and delay in responding. I have been absent from my writing in this forum for more than a week working on several side-projects (my novel, an essay, building some furniture with my father, and catching up on some reading of non-law school related materials). It is likely that I will continue to be absent from this forum for another week or so (apart from a posting this evening).
That you found other people (even someone who is a leading Jewish advocate) who are willing to support your position is not surprising to me. If I have ever led anyone, yourself included, to believe that my positions are the only positions that anyone in the world holds, then I wish to stem that miscommunication now. I am well aware that most people in the world, even educated people, do not share many of my views on a wide variety of issues. Nonetheless, truth is not found by consensus. My critique still stands until countered, and until countered lays heavy upon the intellectual rigor of anyone wishing to hold the views it critiques. Insults as to my character, however, do not deny the validity of, or impinge upon the strength of, my critique.
I didn’t put you at the top of my list of bad things that happened to me as an attempt to make you feel badly (or feel better – I can’t quite tell how you meant that statement to be read). None of the bad things in that listing were presented in any particular order. I suppose I should have presented them in an order of some kind, but to do so would require me to rank my troubles in some fashion, and I’m ill prepared to do that at this time.
I’ll take what I can get as far as an apology, and I’ll accept even the matter as closed based upon you ‘almost’ feeling badly about demeaning my character. If you wish to continue discussing whether a critique of national policies of the State of Israel is equivalent to an attack on the Jewish faith, I’m more than willing to continue that line of inquiry.
As for you, Lorax, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it takes me very little energy to respond to issues, generally. As a rule, most of my writings are things about which I have spent considerable time thinking, and I am fairly well-prepared to respond to critiques and arguments placed into the arena.
I’m not sure how to take your comment, Lorax. I can sensibly read it to myself both in an indignant voice and in a sarcastic voice. If I take your words at face value, then I disagree that the comments of the first poster in this list were crap. No venture into intellectual discourse is wasted if undertaken with sincerity and honesty. If I take your words as being something more akin to sarcasm (in that you expect me to ‘waste the energy’ to produce a response and denigrate me for doing so), then I suppose I fulfilled your desire.
Either way, I will continue to post replies in a reasoned, nuanced way to arguments and disagreements as to my views and thoughts. As a rule, once beyond the elementary-school level where disagreements can be answered with a ‘nuh-uh,’ defending a position in a debate requires something more than a single sentence. I usually provide my full argument (rather than just a conclusion) both for my own benefit (so that I can ensure that my argument is internally consistent and not taking into account assumptions that might be unjustified) and so that others reading can engage in a similar analysis. As with any problem, the destination is only half the journey. The path taken to reach that end-point is just as important, and if I reach a correct conclusion through fallacious reasoning, that needs to be exposed and corrected.
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