Comment Corner

Folks, there are certain "tells" that other posters use when you can begin to believe that they are, without doubt, bullshitting.

The Comment Corner is faithfully educating people on some of these, but one that stems from Mustang1's Appeal to False Authority are the Shady Credentials.

A Shady Credential is an inflated sense of importance, sophistication or education which usually reads like it's important, but in actuality, is bullshit.

Case in point. When recently debating the contributions of Voltaire to Western philosophy (debating is a generous term) Otto fell back on claiming to have read some of Victor Hugo's works when he did his "Studies in Literature." What we have here is a black and white example of a Shady Credential. What is a "Study in Literature"? Is it a university course in English or Western Lit? Nope. ANYbody who has taken English or Western Lit will flat out state university English or Western Lit. They don't hide behind the Shady Credential. So, again, what is a "Study in Literature"? It's highschool English. But, presenting high school English as a credential isn't very impressive, so it's hidden, inflated and presented as a steaming pile of Grade A Top Sirloin Bullshit. Do you install debit machines at Kelsey's? Say so. Don't give a Shady Credential of "Technological Customer Service Technician". It means nothing Captain Keypad.

Shady Credentials are everywhere. People who work in the "medical field" (read: NOT a doctor or nurse), early childhood education (read: NOT a certified teacher), law enforcement field (read: NOT a cop) or can again flavour that one with Studies in Criminal Justice (read: NOT a cop OR a lawyer).

Another Shady Credential is simply pointing out what company one works at. If somebody "works at" or is "employed by" say, IBM, Boeing or the Log Driver's Waltz Company, they're bullshitting you...

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Since history is a major interest of the main proprietors of the Comment Corner, we here at the Comment Corner offer this to our valued forum fans: A people's history of corners, comments and the birth of a legend...

Many moons ago, there was a forum ensconced heavily in discussing historical matters with mild forays into other topics. With an obvious eye to acadaemia and also attempting to interest an online audience to discuss the shows it aired, www.historytelevision.ca/forum was a resounding success.

Two plucky young history afficianados quickly joined up with the ranks of other esteemed posters in forging what some have been calling "The Best Damn Forum. Ever." Many of those people came here after the site was taken down and bring their wit, charm and grace. Regina, Hormel26C and SprCForr, a gracious nod to you all.

However, these two plucky young history afficianados soon learned that not everyone posted with the greatest of academic intentions. Some people cut corners logically, some distorted facts to suit convenience and some were outright uncle-fucking weirdos with sheer retardation galloping through their heads like a nut-crunched stallion. Mustang1 and Dayseed answered the call, to push back the bad history, terrible scholarship, misplaced faith in web surfin' researchin' and bring balance back to www.historytelevision.ca/forums.

On November 1st, 2004, Necessity mated with Fate to produce the Mustang/Dayseed Comment Corner.

Such gems from the very first included:

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Forum fans, there are certain realities that people have to accept on this green earth. The first reality is that Robin sucks, end of story. Batman doesn't need a mincing manboy following him around, Dick Greyson, Jason Todd or otherwise. It's creepy (although Kafilkafish loved it). The second reality? You don't know the "best little (Chinese/Fish and Chip/Pizza) restaurant!" Okay? They are all the same within a few varied degrees. You're not special, Frodor's is not going to be knocking down your door demanding to know where you get that delicious wanton soup and out of town guests are too polite to tell you to just call Swiss Chalet.

The third reality is the meat of the matter.

Paranoia. Especially in an online forum where anonymity is virtually guarenteed unless one is fucking stupid enough to divulge person information to a sea of strangers (I'm looking your way Dummy Matt, Airborne regiment, Austrailian cop, Toronto cop, live(d) in Burlington, mighty fucking stupid, answers to the name Otto), anybody can be anybody.

But how often is anybody anybodIES? Nil. None. Don't hold your breath, the cheque isn't in the mail and the fat lady's already on the aftershow lozenge.

However, there are some here, on this very forum, that are steeped in the paranoid delusion that there is one, or a small few, masterminded intelligentsia determined to thwart him or her and resort to multiple accounts/monikers/posters to bolster an online hatred of the paranoid delusional.

That being said, the paranoia manifests itself in the denial that somebody could be so utterly fucking dumb or annoying that they attract the scorn of MULTIPLE intelligent people. No, in their mind, it must only be one or two dividing their time among a score of monikers to artificially inflate an online assault against the paranoid person. With such a moronically stupid core belief, it's little wonder that the trappings of the overall paranoia bear the same dumbfuck stupidness,...

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Good post Mustang, good post. Intellectual relativism is an idea that most likely will need to be explored in greater depths.

However, there seems to be some confusion between facts and opinions. Now, before some Harry Potter Hobbit nerd comes roaring out with a dictionary definition later on, we'll define the two terms now.

A fact is independently verifiable by others. It is repeatable. It is independent of the author.

An opinion is based upon conjecture, emotion and desire. It is dependent upon the author and most likely is presented in an egotistical way by a retard too afraid/stupid/incapable to research facts.

Note to dullards who seize on the obvious: the first point was a fact, the second an opinion. See how this works?

Consequently, we'll compare and contrast fact versus opinion, for those who still fucking confuse the two, wash their computers in the dishwasher, feed their dogs mustard for brunch and refer to McDonald's hamburgers as "sandwiches".

1. The Blue Jays are the bestest team ever! lol!!!!11!
2. The Blue Jays play their home games at the Rogers Centre.

Point number one is subjective, an opinion, and dispensed by a dipshit teen. The statement is only true because it is uttered by somebody who believes it. Another person uttering it who doesn't believe it would make it false. The second point is true. It is verfiable. I can go down to the Rogers Centre and independently verify it. It doesn't matter WHO said it. Fuck, I feel like I'm slapping children here.

1. Otto doesn't know anything about history, let alone if he has dogshit in his hair.
2. Otto smells like the pants' inseam of a syphillatic patient.

Point number one is tricky as it starts off with a fact and then trails into something that may as well be a fact, but is in actuality, a picture somebody emailed me. Seriously, the second half is an opinion. However, anybody reading his posts can easily determine that venturing outside...

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Seriously forum fans, in recent weeks, there have been to my knowledge, two fucking ridiculous challenges issued by people to the forum with little forethought as to any answers that may arise.

Granted, the first challenge was issued by Otto the WonderMoron. His challenge, for those that weren't thoroughly entertained by the antics, was to name a single country in the west ruled by a theocracy. Somebody piped in with (what is a correct answer) the Vatican. Well, didn't dipshit go furious over this. Essentially, Otto was trying to illustrate that no country in the west could be ruled by a theocracy and didn't give ANY thought to answers he could receive. I'll get to the overall thrust soon.

The second challenge was issued by Donkey Whisperer, who wanted to know if anybody would miss the Blue Jays should they depart from Toronto. The answer? Yes. SOMEbody would. At least one poor bastard that bought a ticket in the past years would miss the team. However, what Donkey Whisperer was hoping to achieve, say, a debate on the effect losing the team would have on Toronto, he instead issued a simple yes or no question and then freaked out when it was answered.

All of this leads to the Me No Dumb theory. That is, Otto and Donkey Whisperer both issued challenges that THEY didn't know the answer to. And if they didn't know the answer, then either would you because they cannot fathom somebody being smarter or more resourceful then they are.

Consequently, moronic challenges come flying out of their (online) mouths, egos are attached, brouhahas erupt and threads get locked.

In future, seriously folks, take the time to consider when issuing broad ultimatums to the entire forum if there are angles to your question not initially conceived. I urge people to go to the thread Opinions: Why Your's Doesn't Matter and begin reading about Page 11 to understand the full folly that issuing a stupid challenge can be.
Opinions:...

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