Hey kids, I see via Glenn at Unite Later that my humble blog is being used in a high school psychology class to illustrate the psyche of religious fanatics (among other things, though the erratic format of the blog makes it a bit hard to follow). The fellow there -- who may or may not be the same people as "chopperpilot" and/or "adam" and/or "ScienceNotFiction" who have been posting on my about page and elsewhere -- brands me as a "lady" and a hypocrite for not joining the Army, though he doesn't appear to believe his own service has been worthwhile. It sounds as if he might be an interesting subject for study himself. As for me, I agree that my role in the War on Terror does not require as much bravery as those fighting on the front lines, but someone has to create the weaponry and technology that makes victory possible. I believe that my work over the past few years has contributed to saving both soldier and civilian lives.
They also seem to spend a lot of time debating blog ethics, but they apparently have no problem taking comments from my site and reposting them without attribution. Here's a tip: that's unethical. Fortunately I'm a generous person and not filled with anger and self-loathing, so it's easy for me to gently correct such mistakes rather than hurl invectives. However, it did give me a great deal of pleasure to go through my blog and delete all their featherweight comments.
Anyway, I hope that while he and his classmates are visiting this site they take the opportunity to learn about rationality, truth, morality, and the correct use of ellipses and other popular forms of punctuation. I also recommend they check out Dictionary.com and my earlier post on strategies for winning arguments.
Unless the class is teaching students about types of common sites on the Internet... I don't think blogs (of any persuasion) are worth noting in a high school course... and certainly not any one particular blog.
I've said it before Mike, taking on these guys is like wrestling a pig after a while you're dirty and you realize: the pig likes it.
To put it another way, in my experience it generates more heat than light.
Maybe it's a "Short bus" high school psychology class. You know, where they're in padded rooms and have to wear helmets. Only retards write a website like that one. It was barely coherent and I'm surprised the guy is actually a teacher.
I originally posted that it was a grad school project, but I think your description is more accurate.
This
11,000 word screed is much too juvenile to belong to a phd graduate.
I don't know.... some PhD programs secretly remove your ability to be coherent.....
Actually, some schools are using blogs to let students critique each others writing, and other things, but those are definitely different blogs than these....
Having looked more closely at the arguments, it seems that the biggest complaint about your content (and Christians in general) is that we’re hypocrites. Lemme own it right now. I’m a hypocrite. I’ve devoted my life to following Christ, what He asks of me, and the example he sets. Jesus tells me to not look upon a woman with lust, but I succumb to it daily. I’m not supposed to lie but it’s sometimes reflex. I’m sometimes selfish with my money and time. There are lots of things I’d profess but fail to consistently live out in my life. Christians call that “sin” and are quite secure in being called sinners. I’ve got resolution with my hypocrisy, do you?
Given that you claim military service (and I would assume it would be recent), have you been activated for recent activity? Well if Mike isn’t entitled to his opinion because he’s not served why would you follow a Commander In Chief who hasn’t served? The majority of past Presidents have not served, especially those who’ve pushed for major offensives (WWII, Communism, etc.). A handful of Secretaries of Defense, those in charge of military actions haven’t served either. Clearly they shouldn’t be bossing you around.
I’ve never been a police officer, but I think they should be tougher on criminals. Is my input invalidated? I’m not a firefighter, but disappointed at response times and want to do something about it – is my efforts impotent because of my lack of experience? Can someone who’s not experienced something first hand appreciate the job, recognize it’s importance, lead those people, and even have an opinion of what they should and shouldn’t do?
I’m not a bloger, so you can ignore my response. But I promise I won’t ignore yours.