Reid demands Bennett apology for "racist" remark

[SUMYUNGUY]

Originally posted by madame_zora@Oct 1 2005, 01:44 AM


Well, abstinence is the only sure fire way to prevent pregnancy, and I sure as HELL am not going to accept that as my only alternative.

I've been advocating birth control since before you were alive, so apparently you have some reading to do if you think it's an intelligence issue.

I won't get into a petty argument over prevention methods that work if you bother to use them.

I seriously doubt that you've been advocating birth control since before I was alive, but it doesn't surprise me to hear you claim it.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

Originally posted by Dr. Dilznick@Oct 1 2005, 03:18 PM
The argument he made--taking an argument to an extreme to demonstrate its shortcomings--is a technique that has been used in debates from time immemorial. Only the most mindless Democratic hack would think this is a racist statement. It's only making headlines because of what it sounds like he's saying out of context.

[post=347991]Quoted post[/post]​

I'm well aware of what a reductio ad absurdum is.

This mindless democratic hack is still disappointed to see mindless republican hacks rushing in to defend Bennett's comments with red-herring arguments about context designed to divert attention away from the very poor method he chose to deliver his point.

SG

 

[brainzz_n_dong]

Bennett was making the argument that simply because the empirical relationship is scientifically proven, doesn't prove that legalizing abortion is morally acceptable. And to underline this point (which is correct), he extrapolated from Levitt's research and gave a more extreme proposal, which would also be empirically true, but which even the most ardently pro-choice person would agree is morally wrong. The argument he made--taking an argument to an extreme to demonstrate its shortcomings--is a technique that has been used in debates from time immemorial. Only the most mindless Democratic hack would think this is a racist statement. It's only making headlines because of what it sounds like he's saying out of context.

Well said Dr. Dilznick :thumbsup:


Just like your sub-heading from when you started the thread suggests, the PC police are running rampant in this country. Bill Bennett, love him or hate him for all eternity, never advocated what it seems so many in this country either think or wish he said.

He extrapolated from the argument provided by the book. Would it have been more acceptable to say something like..."if you shoot all high school seniors for the next 5 years, we'll eventually put a dent in the number of student loan deliquencies"? You can come up with a very long list of absurd examples to fight Levitt's amoral suggestion, but few highlight the stupidity of it better than turning it on itself.

And if jonb wants to line up and shoot the politicans guilty of stealing the social security trust fund over time, Bush and the current congressional membership are only some of the ones he'd better invite to the shotgunning. The line of guys and gals with their hands in that cookie jar over time is a pretty long one and goes back longer than either him or I have been alive.

 

[madame_zora]

Originally posted by SUMYUNGUY+Oct 1 2005, 04:01 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SUMYUNGUY &#064; Oct 1 2005, 04:01 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-madame_zora@Oct 1 2005, 01:44 AM


Well, abstinence is the only sure fire way to prevent pregnancy, and I sure as HELL am not going to accept that as my only alternative.

I&#39;ve been advocating birth control since before you were alive, so apparently you have some reading to do if you think it&#39;s an intelligence issue.

I won&#39;t get into a petty argument over prevention methods that work if you bother to use them.

I seriously doubt that you&#39;ve been advocating birth control since before I was alive, but it doesn&#39;t surprise me to hear you claim it.

[post=348001]Quoted post[/post]​

[/b][/quote]


Sine your profile&#39;s blank, I have no idea how old you are. I&#39;ve been handing out condoms to friends since I was 14, so that&#39;s 28 years, how well did I guess that you are younger than that?

I&#39;ve been quite vocal on here about using birth control, so I have no idea why you&#39;re singling me out on this, doesn&#39;t make sense.

 

[Pecker]

Originally posted by madame_zora+Oct 1 2005, 05:09 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(madame_zora &#064; Oct 1 2005, 05:09 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'>

Originally posted by SUMYUNGUY@Oct 1 2005, 04:01 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-madame_zora

@Oct 1 2005, 01:44 AM


Well, abstinence is the only sure fire way to prevent pregnancy, and I sure as HELL am not going to accept that as my only alternative.

I&#39;ve been advocating birth control since before you were alive, so apparently you have some reading to do if you think it&#39;s an intelligence issue.

I won&#39;t get into a petty argument over prevention methods that work if you bother to use them.

I seriously doubt that you&#39;ve been advocating birth control since before I was alive, but it doesn&#39;t surprise me to hear you claim it.

[post=348001]Quoted post[/post]​

Since your profile&#39;s blank, I have no idea how old you are. I&#39;ve been handing out condoms to friends since I was 14, so that&#39;s 28 years, how well did I guess that you are younger than that?

I&#39;ve been quite vocal on here about using birth control, so I have no idea why you&#39;re singling me out on this, doesn&#39;t make sense.

[post=348060]Quoted post[/post]​

[/b][/quote]

Probably because he used to make slingshots out of his mother&#39;s rubbers.

 

[SUMYUNGUY]

The same could be said of your mother and my rubbers. :toast:

Zora, you were wrong. Doesn&#39;t matter, though.

 

[Dr Rock]

he&#39;s actually more likely to be a 30-odd year-old troglodyte living in his mother&#39;s basement, when you think about it.

 

[madame_zora]

Oh god, with a madonna/whore complex?

 

[SpeedoGuy]

It looks like mindless democratic hacks in the White House are joining the chorus of condemnation of deep thinking moralist Bill Bennett:

White House Condemns Bennett&#39;s Remarks

WASHINGTON - The White House on Friday criticized former Education Secretary William Bennett for remarks linking the crime rate and the abortion of black babies.

"The president believes the comments were not appropriate," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.

And, as a footnote, the unapologetic Mr. Bennett resigned today from the board and chairmanship of K12, a private educational contractor supplying curriculum and learning materials for urban school districts.

SG

 

[Sabln7]

Originally posted by SpeedoGuy+Oct 1 2005, 03:05 PM--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SpeedoGuy &#064; Oct 1 2005, 03:05 PM)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-Dr. Dilznick@Oct 1 2005, 07:44 AM
He wasn&#39;t advocating it, in fact he was rejecting the concept of promoting reprehensible means to achieve some positive ends.

[post=347951]Quoted post[/post]​

I don&#39;t see Bennett&#39;s comments as being quite that simple to write off.

I was disappointed that a man of Bennett&#39;s leadership experience and intelligence failed to anticipate what a shitstorm of hurt his "hypothetical example" would stir up. Like him or not, he commands a large audience and he should use better care in how he makes his points.

I was also dismayed how casually he turned to the black skin=crime theme to make his point. The book under discussion, "Freakonomics," points to poverty as contributing to higher crime rates but does not mentions race. Why then did Bennett so quickly use a racial example?

This is like the Trent Lott episode all over again. I expect better of our leaders.

SG

[post=347990]Quoted post[/post]​

[/b][/quote]

The only way to get better of our leaders is to throw all of the current ones out...one way or another.

 

[madame_zora]

"You say you want a revolution, well ya know....We all want to change the world"

 

[jonb]

Originally posted by madame_zora@Oct 1 2005, 09:56 PM
Oh god, with a madonna/whore complex?

[post=348126]Quoted post[/post]​

Thank you for telling us what we already knew about Madonna.