How stupid can poeple be...

[Dis]

is it really bad to separate a fool from his money?

I admit I'm jealous of all these scammers making millions in the U.S.

What you guys don't know is the U.S. allows scamming in the form of alternative medicine and weight loss products. Just because you see an infomercial about it, doesn't mean it works. Just the opposite. Any product that has an informercial, I just assume is a scam.

[Elok]

I believe there's an answer to that point at 419eater, Diss, in an essay labelled "the Ethics of Scambaiting." I have to go to class soon, but among the many arguments against what you just said, many of these scams are in fact disguised as charities, not get-rich-quick schemes.

[Last Conformist]

Despite the arguments presented at 419Eaters, I find it seriously difficult to sympathize with 419 victims. Perusing the 'Net without being aware of 419 scams is akin to walking the streets unaware that getting hit by a car might be unpleasant.

[Last Conformist]

Originally posted by Elok
I believe there's an answer to that point at 419eater, Diss, in an essay labelled "the Ethics of Scambaiting." I have to go to class soon, but among the many arguments against what you just said, many of these scams are in fact disguised as charities, not get-rich-quick schemes.

That doesn't address the argument about stupidity, tho. Getting scammed by a fake charity might be more noble than by a get-rich-quick scheme, but it's not any less stupid.

[Agathon]

How stupid can poeple be...

Walk past a church on Sunday morning.

Check out the television ratings.

Look at the top 50 selling records.

Count the percentage of humanity that don't know that Hitler was the leader of Germany (I bet it is large).

[Elok]

Originally posted by Last Conformist
That doesn't address the argument about stupidity, tho. Getting scammed by a fake charity might be more noble than by a get-rich-quick scheme, but it's not any less stupid.

Yes, that's an argument a lot of people use. It sounds very good if you're the "smart" one. Thing is, intelligence is relative. You too might be an idjit from somebody else's perspective. Justice is not suspended merely because the victim is an idiot in any case. Scambaiting isn't formal justice as such, but I don't see how it is specifically wrong just because the people it defends should have known better. I think you'd have to be pretty stupid to use heroin, but if some dealer is extorting sexual favors out of people he addicted I still would like to see his ass soundly whooped. The weakness, real or apparent, of scam victims, only makes the crime more reprehensible, as it means the criminal has been preying on the defenseless.

[C0ckney]

Originally posted by Agathon

How stupid can poeple be...

Walk past a church on Sunday morning.

Check out the television ratings.

Look at the top 50 selling records.

Count the percentage of humanity that don't know that Hitler was the leader of Germany (I bet it is large).

the number who think communism is a good idea is another shining example of this

[Elok]

Originally posted by C0ckney
the number who think communism is a good idea is another shining example of this

Yes, as he was saying in another thread, some ideas are obviously toxic and false, and have been shown time and time again in real-world situations to be impracticable. Yet they are still dangerous because a few idiotic zealots insist on forcing their beliefs on others. I suggest we deport the commies immediately. Let's take a vote on it. Commies don't get a vote, they're just a bunch of crazy commies and if you sympathize with them it's proof that you're crazy too.

[Agathon]

the number who think communism is a good idea is another shining example of this

Well it's the gulag for you when the revolution comes.

And @ Elok getting his knickers in a twist.

[Elok]

Hmm, there's no middle finger smiley here for you though. Anyway, I'm afraid I don't see how your situation in this argument is any different from that of fundies in the other one. Essentially you say that people who disagree with the majority view of reality should be beaten down and suppressed, their ideas expunged. Well, most of us ain't commies, and like God the system has never been "proven," and in fact has inevitably failed, like fundamentalism, when taken to the ludicrous extremes demanded by literal obedience to its tenets. Let's be fair here, eh? And answer the bloody question. I normally don't like the parody post as a rhetorical technique, but more subtle arguments don't seem to be working.

And trying to irritate people is not debate, it's merely obnoxious. If your idea of a good time is to aggravate complete strangers online by scoring points off of them in the eyes of other strangers, I'm not sure that my time would not be better spent getting hammered and laughing at stupid crap. Except that booze costs money. Still, I always thought of debate-as-recreation as useful more for broadening one's mind. Being petty and snide is what we have high school for. You're a grown man, for crying out loud, a twenty-one year old shouldn't have to tell you this.

[Agathon]

Hmm, there's no middle finger smiley here for you though. Anyway, I'm afraid I don't see how your situation in this argument is any different from that of fundies in the other one. Essentially you say that people who disagree with the majority view of reality should be beaten down and suppressed, their ideas expunged

Didn't say that. Stop attributing stuff to me. If the majority were fundies I'd still want them suppressed.

[Elok]

No, you merely said, "people who disagree with the OBVIOUS truth," which I took to mean the most fanatical lunatics who disagree with you coupled with all the more moderate supporters of their general ideas, many of whom are not at all literalist but who can be associated with the loonies by virtue of similar beliefs. Thing is, if you look at "overall damage" in trends, the overall effect of trying to implement communism is horrific. Stalin and Mao were monsters. When people try to encourage any idea and squash dissent, the inevitable consequence is tyranny regardless of the original idea they started with. You can say "Stalin and Mao weren't really communists, they violated principles X, Y, and Z," but then there are similar arguments WRT Christianity and the abuses thereof. "Look at the plank in your own eye before removing the speck from your neighbor's," "judge not lest ye be judged," "let he who is without sin cast the first stone," the prodigal son, good samaritan, etc.

Anyway, I've managed to threadjack two separate threads and I need to clarify my position, so I'll start a new thread. Thanks for calming down and arguing again, I'm not very good at doing that when I'm PO'ed.

[Ben Kenobi]

Walk past a church on Sunday morning.

So all the stupid people are outside of the church during the services?

[Agathon]

So all the stupid people are outside of the church during the services?

Alas no.

[Immortal Wombat]

@ thread title