Those who have come from Pz's blog, aka THAT thread

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If all the "Communications" majors at Skepchick would have gotten engineering, medical, or science-related degrees, they would do far more good....

"Science is awesome!"

You forget that comm majors are usually those who can't cut the mustards in humanities, let alone science.

Wild generalization.

[Kristie]

If all the "Communications" majors at Skepchick would have gotten engineering, medical, or science-related degrees, they would do far more good....

"Science is awesome!"

You forget that comm majors are usually those who can't cut the mustards in humanities, let alone science.

Or maybe they're just more interested in communications.

[cogwheel]

I've been just as disillusioned by skepchicks the like, but I think you're starting to swing into denial territory...

We range far and freely. You're welcome to tag along or start your tangent. That's what Ratz is about, free thought.

I know, that's why i'm back and why i felt perfectly comfortable sharing that view


Oh and for the record:

The response to such folks is reason. That war will never end. It's not a battle of the sexes, though. It's a battle against the idiots.

There's nothing here that I'm disagreeing with, in case you thought there would be.

^ this

[Svartalf]

If all the "Communications" majors at Skepchick would have gotten engineering, medical, or science-related degrees, they would do far more good....

"Science is awesome!"

You forget that comm majors are usually those who can't cut the mustards in humanities, let alone science.

Wild generalization.

Accurate enough for my purpose

[Svartalf]

If all the "Communications" majors at Skepchick would have gotten engineering, medical, or science-related degrees, they would do far more good....

"Science is awesome!"

You forget that comm majors are usually those who can't cut the mustards in humanities, let alone science.

Or maybe they're just more interested in communications.

I hope that wasn't your own major, because I piss on communication as a specific university field.

As an adjunct to other subjects, it is fine, but learning to communicate in and of itself, independently of what you want to communicate is buying a basket without a bottom... Even Goebbels had other baggage beyond his propaganda skeelz

[Coito ergo sum]

So? Those people are just as much a part of "us" - a part of "society" - as you and me. There are large portions of the voting population that take issue with men jerking off, and people drinking sugary soft drinks. That's never going to change.f

The difference here is that people taking issue with masturbation or sugary soda rarely results in violence against masturbators or soda drinkers. And if these people were to try to introduce legislation to enforce their anti-masturbation or anti-soda views and it didn't sit well with us, we'd do well to oppose those, too.

Oppose whatever you want. I'm not suggesting that you can't choose what you do and don't oppose. I'm simply not willing to equate political views with crimes, such that both are "problems" which "we" need to solve. Get my distinction?

The problems "women" face involve things like consent to sex and rape, hiring/firing/pay disparity based on sex rather than job-related things, and the like, equal access to education, etc. These are things that have been solved. The complaints now are trifling. "Some guy hit on me. Some men make rude comments and appear to be more concerned with the shape of my ass/tits than my mind." Oh, well -- deal.

The response to such folks is reason. That war will never end. It's not a battle of the sexes, though. It's a battle against the idiots.

There's nothing here that I'm disagreeing with, in case you thought there would be.

Nope -- we's just chattin'.

[cogwheel]

I'm all for reducing crimes against people (among whom women are included), and discrimination has been largely remedied -- women have been equalized in education, employment, property ownership, etc. I don't think the problems "women" face are much distinguishable from the problems "people" face.

I used to feel that way too. A lot of what I've read over the last couple years has convinced me otherwise. I agree we've gotten mostly past *conscious* discrimination, i.e. people knowingly holding women back for the fact that they're women. But there is still a huge problem with subtle, hard-to-detect sexism that results in disturbing statistics (wage disparity, even when controlling for family responsibilities, lack of women in certain technical fields, etc.).

Sexism is not a solved problem.

[Wumbologist]

There is a huge difference between prevention of crime, and trying to control what people think.

Not as huge as you might think. If people don't think that theft or murder is bad, we're likely to have more theft or murder going on. That's why our society needs to discourage people from thinking that those things are OK, in order to prevent them from becoming more prevalent.

I'm all for reducing crimes against people (among whom women are included), and discrimination has been largely remedied -- women have been equalized in education, employment, property ownership, etc. I don't think the problems "women" face are much distinguishable from the problems "people" face.

I've never had reason to be concerned for my personal safety when I've gone out on dates. I'm sure I don't have to explain to you the legitimate reasons women might have that concern. That's a problem a woman is more likely to face than I am as a man.

[Kristie]

If all the "Communications" majors at Skepchick would have gotten engineering, medical, or science-related degrees, they would do far more good....

"Science is awesome!"

You forget that comm majors are usually those who can't cut the mustards in humanities, let alone science.

Or maybe they're just more interested in communications.

I hope that wasn't your own major, because I piss on communication as a specific university field.

As an adjunct to other subjects, it is fine, but learning to communicate in and of itself, independently of what you want to communicate is buying a basket without a bottom... Even Goebbels had other baggage beyond his propaganda skeelz

No, elementary education. But, interests vary and lots of people go on to have very successful careers in the communications field. I, on the other hand, make cakes and take care of my children and home. Not exactly what I went to college for.

[cogwheel]

The problems "women" face involve things like consent to sex and rape, hiring/firing/pay disparity based on sex rather than job-related things, and the like, equal access to education, etc. These are things that have been solved.

[citation needed]

[Coito ergo sum]

If all the "Communications" majors at Skepchick would have gotten engineering, medical, or science-related degrees, they would do far more good....

"Science is awesome!"

You forget that comm majors are usually those who can't cut the mustards in humanities, let alone science.

Or maybe they're just more interested in communications.

Sure, but it's really a very easy major, relatively speaking.

[Svartalf]

If all the "Communications" majors at Skepchick would have gotten engineering, medical, or science-related degrees, they would do far more good....

"Science is awesome!"

You forget that comm majors are usually those who can't cut the mustards in humanities, let alone science.

Or maybe they're just more interested in communications.

I hope that wasn't your own major, because I piss on communication as a specific university field.

As an adjunct to other subjects, it is fine, but learning to communicate in and of itself, independently of what you want to communicate is buying a basket without a bottom... Even Goebbels had other baggage beyond his propaganda skeelz

No, elementary education. But, interests vary and lots of people go on to have very successful careers in the communications field. I, on the other hand, make cakes and take care of my children and home. Not exactly what I went to college for.

No contesting that... I just notice that most of those people are the kind the world would be better without, like advertisement people or political campaign consultants and spin doctors.

[Kristie]

If all the "Communications" majors at Skepchick would have gotten engineering, medical, or science-related degrees, they would do far more good....

"Science is awesome!"

You forget that comm majors are usually those who can't cut the mustards in humanities, let alone science.

Or maybe they're just more interested in communications.

Sure, but it's really a very easy major, relatively speaking.

What's your point? Why major in a difficult field if you want to be a writer? And, difficult to one person is simple to another. Math and science come easy to some, while Shakespeare is beyond their mental grasp.

[Wumbologist]

Oppose whatever you want. I'm not suggesting that you can't choose what you do and don't oppose. I'm simply not willing to equate political views with crimes, such that both are "problems" which "we" need to solve. Get my distinction?

I'm not sure I do. If we assumed that political view existed in a vacuum outside of the real world, maybe. But political views influence political policy and make real-world changes, which can very much be problems.

The problems "women" face involve things like consent to sex and rape, hiring/firing/pay disparity based on sex rather than job-related things, and the like, equal access to education, etc. These are things that have been solved.

They've been solved because the law says so, right? The problem is that those laws aren't always followed or enforced correctly and that's where change needs to happen. If you have a law against rape and women are still getting raped just as much, that problem isn't solved.

The complaints now are trifling. "Some guy hit on me. Some men make rude comments and appear to be more concerned with the shape of my ass/tits than my mind." Oh, well -- deal.

It's those sort of trifling complaints that make make it harder for the real issues to be heard.

[Thinking Aloud]

Math and science come easy to some, while Shakespeare is beyond their mental grasp.

If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well it were done vectorially.