The most uninteresting internet talking points

[Travis Retriever]

Responding to someone with some bullshit like, "Well there are people who have it worse!"
http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-worst-things-people-do-when-trying-to-help/ #5 on that kills it for me.

[Travis Retriever]

"MAH GENETICS!"
In the bodybuilding and lifting communities, a few too many people use "bad genetics' as an excuse to take 'roids.  I hate to break it to these people, but how well you respond to those drugs is also genetic.  So if they're as genetically screwed as they make themselves out to be, they're just going to be wasting their money (and possibly risking their health) by taking them.

"MAH FUNCTIONAL LIFTS!/FUNCTIONAL STRENGTH!"
>>functional
vague flowery term that means nothing.
I see that word thrown around so often by folks so often in the fitness communities it might as well be a cliche'.  What does that even mean, especially if you're not an athlete? If I have bigger muscles, that allows them to exert more force, which IS functionality in the most general sense of the word.

[Ibrahim90]

Isn't that basically the same argument as "without the state we wouldn't have the internet"?

yeah, only it's with civilizations instead...

[Travis Retriever]

So I posted these in fail quotes, but I think it's even more germane to this topic:

(After explaining that I am confused by a social rule or asking how I should know how to do this or that related to social skills, etc):
"Um, common sense?"
You're right OP, I just need to magically get something that doesn't even have a coherent meaning to be better at understanding social norms.  Just like to be better at your job, you just need to synergize your paradigms, you fucking tool.  Excuse me for not being a fucking psychic.  Seriously, if you don't any specific, useful actually helpful advice to give, then fuck off with your cliche'ed cop outs.

I've long relegated "common sense" to the same bin as Carl Jung's "Collective Unconsciousness," "well it wasn't meant to be," and "God works in mysterious ways." and other brands of cop out responses from people who seriously need to keep their cake holes shut.  With staples and hot glue if necessary.

It reminds me of the more outdated phrase, "Street smarts."  Okay, so maybe there might be something to that, in terms of being able to survive on the streets, or having social skills, charisma, and not getting a knife in your gut while taking a midnight summer stroll through the Southern Bronx. But in that case, call it by it's proper name:  Charisma, social skills, etc.  And, even better, give real advice on how to get some.

The folks telling you "hur dur common sense!"? This is the same guy who tells their homeless friends, "um, money bro? Get some of it."

[dallen68]

So I posted these in fail quotes, but I think it's even more germane to this topic:

(After explaining that I am confused by a social rule or asking how I should know how to do this or that related to social skills, etc):
"Um, common sense?"
You're right OP, I just need to magically get something that doesn't even have a coherent meaning to be better at understanding social norms.  Just like to be better at your job, you just need to synergize your paradigms, you fucking tool.  Excuse me for not being a fucking psychic.  Seriously, if you don't any specific, useful actually helpful advice to give, then fuck off with your cliche'ed cop outs.

I've long relegated "common sense" to the same bin as Carl Jung's "Collective Unconsciousness," "well it wasn't meant to be," and "God works in mysterious ways." and other brands of cop out responses from people who seriously need to keep their cake holes shut.  With staples and hot glue if necessary.

It reminds me of the more outdated phrase, "Street smarts."  Okay, so maybe there might be something to that, in terms of being able to survive on the streets, or having social skills, charisma, and not getting a knife in your gut while taking a midnight summer stroll through the Southern Bronx. But in that case, call it by it's proper name:  Charisma, social skills, etc.  And, even better, give real advice on how to get some.

The folks telling you "hur dur common sense!"? This is the same guy who tells their homeless friends, "um, money bro? Get some of it."

Or telling someone that same homeless "get a job", as if you just go to job mart and pick one up.

[tnu]

OK this one has come up a few times.

When somebody says they don't like something (Like a movie, book, painting etc) and think it's not a good movie/book/painting/idea etc someone else smugly responds

"OK. Well I'd like to see you do better!"

[MrBogosity]

OK this one has come up a few times.

When somebody says they don't like something (Like a movie, book, painting etc) and think it's not a good movie/book/painting/idea etc someone else smugly responds

"OK. Well I'd like to see you do better!"

There's got to be a name for this fallacy. I see it all the time: you debunk climate change denial, and they come back with "Where's your PhD in climatology?" You debunk economic garbage, and they say, "Where's your Nobel Prize in economics?"

[Altimadark]

There's got to be a name for this fallacy. I see it all the time: you debunk climate change denial, and they come back with "Where's your PhD in climatology?" You debunk economic garbage, and they say, "Where's your Nobel Prize in economics?"

Sounds to me like it's an implied Argument from Authority; "You're a non-expert, you don't know" implies "They're an expert, they must know better..." An Argument against Nonexperts/Nonprofessionals?

[MrBogosity]

Sounds to me like it's an implied Argument from Authority; "You're a non-expert, you don't know" implies "They're an expert, they must know better..." An Argument against Nonexperts/Nonprofessionals?

It's partly that, but it's also the implication that if you can't do it yourself, you're incapable of judging. Like, I can't tell who the world's strongest man is unless I can lift 1000 lbs or something.

I don't need to be able to belt out Nessun Dorma to know when someone's a bad singer.

[dallen68]

It's partly that, but it's also the implication that if you can't do it yourself, you're incapable of judging. Like, I can't tell who the world's strongest man is unless I can lift 1000 lbs or something.

I don't need to be able to belt out Nessun Dorma to know when someone's a bad singer.

The same idea kinda applies to:

1. Racism/sexism/other things: Just because I'm not (fill in whatever it is here), doesn't mean I don't know what injustice is. It also doesn't mean I can't tell when you're making it up/doing something that's causing it.

[evensgrey]

The same idea kinda applies to:

1. Racism/sexism/other things: Just because I'm not (fill in whatever it is here), doesn't mean I don't know what injustice is. It also doesn't mean I can't tell when you're making it up/doing something that's causing it.

And don't forget the followup for the last instance:  If you're doing something that causes it, then you're the one at fault.  (F'rinstance, a young black man who dresses like a gangbanger does NOT get to complain about racism when cab drivers won't pick him up in bad neighborhoods at 3 AM, but a young black man who wears a nice suit DOES get to do so when cab drivers won't pick him up in the business district at 3 in the afternoon.)

[Travis Retriever]

"Red meat is unhealthy!"
Only if you look at the epistemological studies (read: the population wide, correlational research), and even then the relationship between stuff like red meat consumption and cancer/heart disease/diabetes/lower life expectancy, etc is weak to non-existent.
After statistically correcting for the following co-founders:

1)  body fatness (those who eat lots of red meat are more likely to be fat)
2)  daily activity/exercise levels (people who eat lots of red meat are less likely to work out than those restricting their food intake like vegetarians)
3)  fruit/vegetable consumption (those who eat lots of red meat are less likely to eat enough fruits & vegetables)
4)  consumption of processed red meats (those who eat lots of red meat are more likely to also eat a lot of processed meats like hot dogs, lunch meats/cold cuts, etc)
5)  consumption of charred/burned meat (...yeah, you get the idea.  As the burned parts tend to be a tad carcinogenic, but nothing to storm your local McDonald's about. )
6)  smoking (people who eat red meat are more likely to smoke)
7)  binge drinking (ditto)

The already weak relation between pathology & death from long term consumption of red meat vanishes completely.

Moral of the story, if you're
1)  lean
2)  active
3)  eat enough fruits & vegetables
4)  limit the amount of processed meats you eat
5a)  make sure to not burn your meats (or at least cut off the charred portions of them)
5b)  That is, your idea of 'red meat' is something like ground beef/steak from a butcher/store's in-house butcher cooked from rare to medium.
6)  you don't smoke and
7)  you don't go binge drinking too often

then, barring allergies or a food intolerance, red meat is just as healthy as any other food group.
It has lots of complete protein, good fats like vaccenic acid and stearic acid, plenty of the more bioavailable heme-iron, lots of zinc & B12, etc.

In fact, I'd argue that along with fish (especially fatty cold water fish like salmon & sardine), milk (yes, including whole milk) & dairy (yeah, full fat too!), eggs (yes, including/especially the yolk), white meat like skinless, boneless chicken breast, and organ meats like liver, that red meat is one of the most healthy and anabolic foods on the planet.

[Travis Retriever]

It's partly that, but it's also the implication that if you can't do it yourself, you're incapable of judging. Like, I can't tell who the world's strongest man is unless I can lift 1000 lbs or something.

I don't need to be able to belt out Nessun Dorma to know when someone's a bad singer.

Yeah, sounds like a variation of ad hominem that I've seen a LOT.

Especially irritating is when people on Facebook act like you need a law degree or be a police officer or your thoughts on the law, police violence, etc don't count.  Because basic reading comprehension, logic, consistency, and morality, are dependent on a piece of paper/job title bestowed by government institutions...

[dallen68]

The only thing I would point out is, in this context, "processed" does not actually have a meaning. As far as the food and beverage industry is concerned, it's a scare word used by people that don't want you to buy....whichever brand they're on about this week. Much like the word "organic", pretty much any commercially available product is going to be "processed" to some degree or another.

[dallen68]

On a slightly related topic (except not really), one that I've noticed coming up a lot lately is "words don't have meanings, words have usages". Ok, (looks at Matt Dillahunty) "the usage of the word "meaning" in this context is: "The normal, or generally accepted definition of a given word in a given context." Now, stop trying to derail the conversation with semantics. (Argumentum ad Vocabulary?)