Outta Here
Posted by
tgirsch
On vacation until next Wednesday. Going to check out the Quebec Winter Carnival. I’ll let you know how the Ice Hotel is.
So for now, the dealing with AGW deniers and other right-wing demagogues will have to be up to the Kevins, and frequent commenters Ted and Digglahhh.
Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with this funny exchange from the Colbert Report on Monday night:
The good part starts at 4:20, with the best part coming a little less than a minute later:
[Guest] Obviously you learned well in Sunday School.
[Colbert] I teach Sunday School, motherf–ker!
Shit - my girlfriend is leaving on a cruise tomorrow and she doesn’t even trust that I’ll remember to water the plants…
Comment 2/14/2008
The prisoners/guards experiment Zimbardo describes is a classic - very controversial as well, because Zimbardo didn’t fully explain to the students what they would be getting into, and some of them suffered real harm. He (obviously) remains quite proud of it, and it was a seminal piece of research, but he’s regarded as something of a loose cannon. Which didn’t keep the US Psychiatric Association from electing him President, at one time.
As the video shows, he’s kind of a nut.
Odd coincidence: My brother’s only starring role, during his “I wanna be an actor” years, was in a UCLA film school student movie based on the Zimbardo Prison Experiment, in which he plays the sadistic guard commander. Not coming to a theater near you.
Comment 2/14/2008
digg - did you see the Clemens - I mean Mitchell Report - hearings? Tell you one thing, sure is embarrassing to see what asses some of our congressmen are. Well, that and Clemens was lying through his teeth the whole time…
Comment 2/14/2008
Yeah, it was so considerate of them to stop the fawning and autograph sessions to perform some simulacrum of their job…
Here’s what people don’t seem to get, the fact that Mcnamee is a fucking scum bag doesn’t mitigate anything that Clemens did. In fact, it is only prime evidence of Roger the Egomaniac’s character or (lack of) ability to judge character in others - seeing how this man was his trusted associate/friend for so long…
When Mcnamee was accused of being a drug dealer, and he replied “That’s your opinion,” I had no idea what that was really about, but I was hoping it would lead him to bust out some sort of Johnny Depp in Blow courtroom monologue. I consider it an opportunity for great television wasted!
Comment 2/15/2008
Or maybe Topher Grace’s riff to Michael Sheen in Traffic.
Or when Burton referred to Clemens as a titan in baseball while addressing Mcnamee, Mac could have responded along the lines of “well, you guys got the autographs out of the way a day or two ago, so can you now treat each witness equally under the law?”
Also, I had no idea how dumb Clemens is. I know baseball players in general tend to be hicks (forgive me, Mike Mussina), but he came across as just plain stupid. I see now why some reporters have held him in such low personal regard for so long.
Comment 2/15/2008
KTK,
The thing that I really found most apalling about the Stanford prison experiment, in addition to rather questionable ethics is that the “researcher” seemed to be quite incopetent with respect to science. His methodology consisted of personally selecting the participants and then actively devising methods of causing antagonism, harm, and abuse. He was then shocked, shocked! (a la Cptn Renault) that there was antagonism, harm, and abuse.
Zimbardo’s either a hack or a ideologue. I’m not sure that there’s any difference between those.
Comment 2/17/2008
By the way, thank you TG for moving the names on comments. Much appreciated.
Comment 2/17/2008
Dan M:
Can’t take credit for moving the names, Kevin did that.
Comment 2/19/2008
Okay, thanks to him, then. I thought you were admin here. Am I just confused?
Comment 2/19/2008
Kevin owns the site. KTK and I have admin privileges, but I don’t know what I’m doing.
Can’t speak for KTK, other than that he’s busy making sure that “the surge is working.”
Comment 2/19/2008
Well, I feel ignorant now. Thanks.
Comment 2/20/2008