Stephen

So I am responding to the begun bit on cranks elsewhere.If Stephen called others demon possessed, then he should have been censured. Encouraging others to call him names... it's low. Not just crank -- ok, so it's an emerging internet term -- but self-delusional crank? Even if it is technically true, insults are low. We don't think it's somehow ok to call the retarded morons to their face, even if technically we are right.Anyways, I have no idea as to how he argues; too much to read at present in that thread. Maybe by summer time! I just jumped in with the ad hominem thing.And don't be cranky Percy, I am entitled to think awhile about my unifnished threads.

I think it's ok. My dad has become one of the most respected professors at his university (no, not Patriot) almost entirely by virtue of the fact that if you act like an idiot, he'll tell you so.Personally I try to steer a narrow line between flat-out name-calling ("You're a goomba") and qualifiying behavior ("You're acting like a goomba"), but people don't always percieve a difference.

Dealing only with my personal experiences with StephenWhen I pointed out some of the problems with two of the prayer studies Stephen had cited. (in one of them the data had some odd patterns which needed explanation, and in another a larger follow-up study had returned a negative result) Stephen produced some lame excuses that he claimed God had told him (namely that God had rigged the groups in the first and didn't like the second - presumably a dislike which included the original study). Why God didn't tell Stephen earlier or even mention that the follow-up study had failed is a question you will have to ask himStephen also claims that Drosnin's Bible Codes are rubbish yet also refers to sites defending Drosnin's claims.Given these I think the label of "crank" is certainly merited.

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Personally I try to steer a narrow line between flat-out name-calling ("You're a goomba") and qualifiying behavior ("You're acting like a goomba"), but people don't always percieve a difference.

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I agree. But if you really run into a sweaty goomba, and know that humans use their name as insults, then accosting the goomba with "you're a stinking goomba" is not going to go over well, now is it. And it qualifies as an ad hominem.Paul, I don't know what to tell ya. I have found some things he said meaningful, but when he falls into the "God told me so" thang then, well, uh, it chokes the dialogue, does it not?