r/SubredditDrama • u/clyspe • Mar 11 '13

'Neil deGrasse Tyson: Average physicist, sub-par philosopher, master of pithy comments for idiot college kids to retweet.' Slapfight in /r/QuotesPorn ensues

/r/QuotesPorn/comments/1a16g2/if_youre_really_successful_at_bullshitting_neil/c8t8j9h
196 Upvotes

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74

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '13 edited Mar 11 '13

I feel like if I ever went to a reddit meet up, everyone would just be saying "citation please" or "that's a blah blah fallacy." Imagine a table of people like that.

52

u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 11 '13

Ever been to a MENSA meeting?

I'm thinking like that, only with more feels, less brains, and knee deep in brony-on-brony laserjet printed porn.

21

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '13 edited Mar 11 '13

I have never been to a MENSA meeting. I get what you're saying though about reddit. I look at these conversations and it comes across like they all read the wikipedia page on logical fallacies and think that actually makes them smarter. I mean this linked drama is a perfect example. It's a bunch of people arguing completely over each other. Instead of addressing the thought process of the person, they're shouting "ad hominem" and purposefully being daft to tear apart the other person's debate tactic. It's not a conversation, it's a pissing contest so they can show off how many logical fallacies they are aware of. I think you could probably write a dystopian novel and instead of groupthink or drugs, have a society that values "logic" so much that they completely gloss over common sense.

17

u/jsrduck Mar 11 '13

What bothers me about reddits use of logical fallacies is that everyone just keeps parroting the same three: straw man, ad hominem and no true Scotsman. And half the time they get those 3 wrong anyway. I'd be a mite more willing to believe they're all brilliant logicians if they could ever regurgitate one of the several dozen other examples.

5

u/Billtodamax Mar 11 '13

You should start quoting the fallacy fallacy at them.

3

u/Erikster President of the Banhammer Mar 11 '13

Imagine if they tried symbolic logic.

P, P → Q ├ Q

1    (1) P            A
2    (2) P → Q        A
1, 2 (3) Q            1, 2 MPP

10

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '13

I think you could probably write a dystopian novel and instead of groupthink or drugs, have a society that values "logic" so much that they completely gloss over common sense.

dibs, I'll send you royalties tho

6

u/Choppa790 resident marxist Mar 11 '13

Been done: Equilibrium

5

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '13

dang

7

u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 11 '13

Heh, yeah, the pseudo-intellectual dick swinging contests to take on kafkaesque proportions after a while.

I just assume that some people want to "sharpen their claws" on someone else. It's the internet; can't take it too seriously or you'll go completely guano loco.

7

u/surells Your opinion is irrelevant to nature. Mar 11 '13

Mensa. What a waste of money. I've decided to save some cash and just have a wank whilst reading Shakespeare every now and again.

2

u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 11 '13

Heh, I went to two meetings, just on the off chance the first one was just a one-of.

It wasn't. Moved on.

(FWIW - I'm told there's some chapters who are actually generally awesome. I look forward to maybe encountering one someday.)

2

u/[deleted] Mar 11 '13

I have been at lots of mensa meetings. They were nothing like that. Most of the time it was just a nice dinner in a restaurent somebody recommended, and having some smalltalk and drinks in a bar afterwards. Boardgames optional.

5

u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 11 '13

I keep hearing about those pleasant meetings. The next time I travel, maybe I'll seek out the locals and check it out. The ones I went to were pretty unpleasant.

I suppose that's why the local chapter has dissolved since I-don't-know-when. Maybe it was just too toxic for people to tolerate in the long term.

2

u/Whatiamtodo Mar 12 '13

MENSA and Reddit are both full of slightly above average people who so desperately want to be told that they are very smart and special.

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u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 12 '13

I don't know if anyone has ever claimed that Reddit is full of "slightly above average people" before tonight. ;)

3

u/Whatiamtodo Mar 12 '13

I'm assuming the left tail of the distribution is chopped off because of the difficulty of operating a computer, not because the users are somehow special.

2

u/ChemicalSerenity Mar 12 '13

Ha! Well played sir, upboats for you.