Comments on: Empowering the individual does not equal ensmartening the individual

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Sun, 14 Apr 2019 18:33:52 +0000

In reply to nina mach. Exactly to get that bump it got.

By: nina mach

nina mach — Wed, 10 Apr 2019 14:37:36 +0000

Just wondering why the first paragraph says “Two guys ..” , then uses the pronoun “she ” in the next sentence ?

By: gaian

gaian — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 19:31:13 +0000

don’t let the teabaggers get you down!

i gotta hand it to them, though – some of them are actually literate. i think the comments above really do a lot of weight to the premise in your headline – especially considering how fat most of their asses are!

wish your blog had a like button, bookmarked, and i will return!

and peter – good points. the marijuana debacle is worth noting, wherein the voters in some states have voted to legalize marijuana, and the federal government refuses to budge on the matter. democracy, my ass!

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 17:09:07 +0000

Dean: Indeed.

By: dean

dean — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 15:15:54 +0000

the tea partiers as tea baggers

Because that is the way some of those clowns originally referred to their organization.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:26:32 +0000

Dawn, welcome back! Is’s been a couple of years. Nice to hear from you.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:01:04 +0000

This is a really interesting mess of a post. At the end you talk about tribalism and denial while most of what went before is an appeal to those very things. It’s why you used an insulting term for tea partiers, why you constructed scenarios (secretly organized groups) without providing real examples, and use strawmen (homeschoolers). You’ve used markers to define your tribe and exclude those outside of it. A good strategy if you want to avoid real, thoughtful debate.

By: George

George — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 22:32:22 +0000

Interesting argument, although I’m inclined to agree with Peter. However, I’m not sure why someone as intellectual, and perhaps even intelligent, as you would find it necessary to label the tea partiers as tea baggers. In one sentence you gave up any “authority” you might have had.

Had you gone to Yale rather than Harvard you might have been wiser

By: Peter

Peter — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 06:27:33 +0000

Sure, but the real argument (or at least one or the real arguments) is that the value of having the power to make a local choice outweighs the value of making a (more) correct choice. It sounds less stupid in different context – for example, law enforcement/crime prevention. Governments could surely prevent and/or solve a much higher percentage of crimes, but we don’t want the police to be that effective, because it runs up against every individual’s right to privacy/to be left alone, etc.. Of course it’s true that most people who go in for denialism are just dupes/mopes being manipulated by demagogues, but I don’t think that invalidates the argument.