How to Get a Real Education April 18, 2011 11:19 PM Subscribe
Cortex made The Atlantic Wire. Planned Chaos indeed.
There's an open Metatalk thread about Scott Adams, isn't there?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:31 PM on April 18, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:31 PM on April 18, 2011 [3 favorites]
Metafilter is a 'commenting service'?
posted by harriet vane at 11:35 PM on April 18, 2011
posted by harriet vane at 11:35 PM on April 18, 2011
You know, it's still not clear to me why Mr. Scott just didn't say who he was. Several discussed individuals have shown up to discuss their point of view. Sometimes it seems to go pretty okay.
The only process he seems to be engaged in, is digging himself deeper into that hole he started. But you know, that's just a being human thing, so perhaps like other humans, he'll just shrug his shoulders, and stop digging. Really, a "Oops, My Bad" goes a long way.
I really do like some of your cartoons, Mr. Scott. There was one in March that made me laugh out loud. Thank you for that.
posted by anitanita at 11:48 PM on April 18, 2011
The only process he seems to be engaged in, is digging himself deeper into that hole he started. But you know, that's just a being human thing, so perhaps like other humans, he'll just shrug his shoulders, and stop digging. Really, a "Oops, My Bad" goes a long way.
I really do like some of your cartoons, Mr. Scott. There was one in March that made me laugh out loud. Thank you for that.
posted by anitanita at 11:48 PM on April 18, 2011
Whoopsie. "Mr. Adams", not "Mr. Scott". My bad.
See, it's not so hard.
posted by anitanita at 11:49 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
See, it's not so hard.
posted by anitanita at 11:49 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
Adams is now calling mefi a "cesspool with an IP address".
posted by telstar at 12:14 AM on April 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by telstar at 12:14 AM on April 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
I wonder if Scott has learned to not drop turds in cesspools. The stink of the splashback is difficult to neutralize. Mind, the way he has exacerbated his situation, you gotta wonder if he's got some sort of fecal fetish.
Ah, well, it takes all sorts.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:16 AM on April 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Ah, well, it takes all sorts.
posted by five fresh fish at 12:16 AM on April 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
You could even say he exacerturdbated it.
posted by fleacircus at 12:31 AM on April 19, 2011 [8 favorites]
posted by fleacircus at 12:31 AM on April 19, 2011 [8 favorites]
I'm bored with this now. Can't we just go back to calling each other dicks?
The man fucked up and is exhibiting a standard level of cognitive dissonance. It's not suprising, and as nice as it is to have metafilter mentioned in the mainstream press, all we're now doing is refusing to leave the party.
So yeah. For all that is good and holy, can we please draw a line under this and get back to the usual fare.
posted by seanyboy at 12:38 AM on April 19, 2011 [11 favorites]
The man fucked up and is exhibiting a standard level of cognitive dissonance. It's not suprising, and as nice as it is to have metafilter mentioned in the mainstream press, all we're now doing is refusing to leave the party.
So yeah. For all that is good and holy, can we please draw a line under this and get back to the usual fare.
posted by seanyboy at 12:38 AM on April 19, 2011 [11 favorites]
anitanita - I doubt Adams had a good grasp for the MeFi culture. The little I read of that mess indicated to me that Adams made every newb mistake short of a self-link. Then when he came out, he got slammed by the MeFi splutter academy. No one debates out of that and survives.
posted by Ardiril at 12:54 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Ardiril at 12:54 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
As I mentioned, the way that works is that they take out of context something I've written, paraphrase it incorrectly, and market me as a perfect example of the thought-criminal that they've been warning everyone about. I don't think any of this is an organized conspiracy. I think it's a combination of zealotry, bad reading comprehension, opportunism, and some herd behavior.
Funny, those are exactly my thoughts on creationism, Scott.
posted by telstar at 12:55 AM on April 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
Funny, those are exactly my thoughts on creationism, Scott.
posted by telstar at 12:55 AM on April 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
It's odd that they didn't bother to look up cortex's actual name.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:30 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Sys Rq at 1:30 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
By the way, uh, "congratulations," cortex. Sorry for the quotes, not sure of the suitable psuedo-htlm tags to put that in. Also, "sorry."
posted by converge at 2:24 AM on April 19, 2011
posted by converge at 2:24 AM on April 19, 2011
"html," dammit. And now, having made a mistake on Metafilter, I know the ironic pain of Scott Adams.
posted by converge at 2:29 AM on April 19, 2011
posted by converge at 2:29 AM on April 19, 2011
"html," dammit. And now, having made a mistake on Metafilter, I know the ironic pain of Scott Adams
quick! make a sockpuppet so you can defend yourself!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:31 AM on April 19, 2011 [5 favorites]
quick! make a sockpuppet so you can defend yourself!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:31 AM on April 19, 2011 [5 favorites]
I've gotta say, Adams' strategy for dealing with this was clever.
Having read his blog post about the controversy, and the comments there, he has managed to turn a simple dickish lack of judgement into an incredibly convoluted he-said she-said story, segueing into all kinds of matters of privacy policies, being quoted out of context, and also reviving completely irrelevant derails about responses to his allegedly "racist" or "anti-feminist" previous screeds.
As a commenter on the Atlantic said, "Whew, my head's spinning after reading this."
It shouldn't be. It was a plain & simple dick move, bignoting oneself through a sockpuppet, and being incredibly petty & obnoxious in the process. It doesn't take a genius to see that.
I'll admit, though, that there's some genius in spinning the story in such a way that peoples' eyes glaze over just trying to understand what happened. There must be a term for this. Politicians do it all the time.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:38 AM on April 19, 2011 [8 favorites]
Having read his blog post about the controversy, and the comments there, he has managed to turn a simple dickish lack of judgement into an incredibly convoluted he-said she-said story, segueing into all kinds of matters of privacy policies, being quoted out of context, and also reviving completely irrelevant derails about responses to his allegedly "racist" or "anti-feminist" previous screeds.
As a commenter on the Atlantic said, "Whew, my head's spinning after reading this."
It shouldn't be. It was a plain & simple dick move, bignoting oneself through a sockpuppet, and being incredibly petty & obnoxious in the process. It doesn't take a genius to see that.
I'll admit, though, that there's some genius in spinning the story in such a way that peoples' eyes glaze over just trying to understand what happened. There must be a term for this. Politicians do it all the time.
posted by UbuRoivas at 2:38 AM on April 19, 2011 [8 favorites]
There must be a term for this.
Obfuscation.
posted by jon1270 at 3:08 AM on April 19, 2011 [12 favorites]
Obfuscation.
posted by jon1270 at 3:08 AM on April 19, 2011 [12 favorites]
This week, for example, I'm the target of Men's Rights advocates, Feminists, and one bearded taint who is leading an anti-creationist movement. - Scott Adams
I've heard of a bearded clam before, but is this some sort of new species?
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 3:10 AM on April 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
I've heard of a bearded clam before, but is this some sort of new species?
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 3:10 AM on April 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
"a Republican official who emailed some friends a humorous photo of President Obama's face on a chimp"
Um, exsqueeze me? That e-mail photo was 100% pure racist invective -- black man as "monkey man." An attempt at humor about a "lost" birth ceritficate (although there is no such thing) might try and riff on, I dunno, incompetent bureaucrats or something.
Not two monkeys holding an Obama monkey.
Seriously Scott Adams/plannedchaos, fuck you.
posted by bardic at 3:31 AM on April 19, 2011 [6 favorites]
Um, exsqueeze me? That e-mail photo was 100% pure racist invective -- black man as "monkey man." An attempt at humor about a "lost" birth ceritficate (although there is no such thing) might try and riff on, I dunno, incompetent bureaucrats or something.
Not two monkeys holding an Obama monkey.
Seriously Scott Adams/plannedchaos, fuck you.
posted by bardic at 3:31 AM on April 19, 2011 [6 favorites]
As a commenter on the Atlantic said, "Whew, my head's spinning after reading this."
Probably because the article is borderline incoherent. Somewhere between the first and second paragraph the scene magically morphs from the WSJ to Metafilter. If I didn't know better, I'd think Metafilter was a "commenting service" for the WSJ.
And there's nothing in the article about seanyboy being a dick.
posted by marxchivist at 3:34 AM on April 19, 2011 [6 favorites]
Probably because the article is borderline incoherent. Somewhere between the first and second paragraph the scene magically morphs from the WSJ to Metafilter. If I didn't know better, I'd think Metafilter was a "commenting service" for the WSJ.
And there's nothing in the article about seanyboy being a dick.
posted by marxchivist at 3:34 AM on April 19, 2011 [6 favorites]
"Scott, if you wanted...identity management around here,"
I'm impressed by how well Cortex's comment reads even when plucked out of its native context and plopped into that tone-deaf, mucked-up article.
posted by klarck at 4:24 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
I'm impressed by how well Cortex's comment reads even when plucked out of its native context and plopped into that tone-deaf, mucked-up article.
posted by klarck at 4:24 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
You do realize Scott Adams has ads on his site, right?
Pageviews are pageviews.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 5:06 AM on April 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
Pageviews are pageviews.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 5:06 AM on April 19, 2011 [3 favorites]
Why were you commenting over there if that's your concern, St Alia?
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:15 AM on April 19, 2011
posted by UbuRoivas at 5:15 AM on April 19, 2011
Disappointingly confusing and poorly written article. Almost any metafilter commenter could have written a better piece. At least she realizes in the last paragraph that Adams is not the "winner".
posted by Hobgoblin at 5:18 AM on April 19, 2011
posted by Hobgoblin at 5:18 AM on April 19, 2011
Adams contra Metafilter: And that leads me to my first point about context: As a general rule, you can't trust anyone who has a conflict of interest. Conflict of interest is like a prison that locks in both the truth and the lies. One workaround for that problem is to change the messenger. That's where an alias comes in handy. When you remove the appearance of conflict of interest, it allows others to listen to the evidence without judging.
I am so going to try this argument out in court someday.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 5:30 AM on April 19, 2011 [4 favorites]
I am so going to try this argument out in court someday.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 5:30 AM on April 19, 2011 [4 favorites]
Whoopsie. "Mr. Adams", not "Mr. Scott". My bad.
Mr. Adams, take us to warp!
(Now that I think about it, Kirk is totally a PHB)
posted by schmod at 5:35 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Mr. Adams, take us to warp!
(Now that I think about it, Kirk is totally a PHB)
posted by schmod at 5:35 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
he has a certified genius I.Q., and that's hard to hide.
I missed all this in the first go-round, but let's take this at face value. If I was a genius and wanted to hide it, I'd be all "I'm right and you're wrong" in the third person somewhere, and then be all publicly surprised about the smackdown I got and then go back to my own blog to tell all my fans how mean they were to me.
On preview - It would have never occurred to me to make statements about conflict of interest that looked at everyone else's opinion of me but ignored the fact that I had books to sell.
He must have an IQ in the low 200's.
That, or he's an idiot.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:41 AM on April 19, 2011
I missed all this in the first go-round, but let's take this at face value. If I was a genius and wanted to hide it, I'd be all "I'm right and you're wrong" in the third person somewhere, and then be all publicly surprised about the smackdown I got and then go back to my own blog to tell all my fans how mean they were to me.
On preview - It would have never occurred to me to make statements about conflict of interest that looked at everyone else's opinion of me but ignored the fact that I had books to sell.
He must have an IQ in the low 200's.
That, or he's an idiot.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:41 AM on April 19, 2011
His blog makes me appreciate Dilbert, where at least the writing is short enough to be coherent.
posted by rtha at 5:47 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by rtha at 5:47 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
You can't trust anyone who has a conflict of interest, so the solution is to hide your conflict of interest so nobody knows they can't trust you.
Jesus, this guy's an idiot.
posted by mediareport at 5:51 AM on April 19, 2011 [21 favorites]
Jesus, this guy's an idiot.
posted by mediareport at 5:51 AM on April 19, 2011 [21 favorites]
I've never met a smart person who told me what their IQ was without being asked.
posted by bardic at 5:57 AM on April 19, 2011 [18 favorites]
posted by bardic at 5:57 AM on April 19, 2011 [18 favorites]
he has a certified genius I.Q....
I demand to see this certificate!
posted by SyntacticSugar at 6:11 AM on April 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
I demand to see this certificate!
posted by SyntacticSugar at 6:11 AM on April 19, 2011 [2 favorites]
Sorry, I had to take my (certified! really! call my 5th grade school district, they'll send it over!) genius ass over there to dispell the 'commenting service' thing, that irritated me. Ai yi.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:15 AM on April 19, 2011
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:15 AM on April 19, 2011
p.s. even if they did really issue certificates, seriously, can you see ANY occasion on which they would be useful short of proving you're a total nozzle?
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:16 AM on April 19, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:16 AM on April 19, 2011 [4 favorites]
Probably because the article is borderline incoherent.
You're being charitable. I saw what happened and the piece confuses me. Whenever I read something like this, or a piece of McArdle foolishness, I remember that The Atlantic was founded by the likes of Emerson, Stowe, and Lowell and I jab myself with something sharp.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:30 AM on April 19, 2011 [4 favorites]
You're being charitable. I saw what happened and the piece confuses me. Whenever I read something like this, or a piece of McArdle foolishness, I remember that The Atlantic was founded by the likes of Emerson, Stowe, and Lowell and I jab myself with something sharp.
posted by octobersurprise at 6:30 AM on April 19, 2011 [4 favorites]
I have a Dilbert. In my pants.
posted by loquacious at 6:31 AM on April 19, 2011
posted by loquacious at 6:31 AM on April 19, 2011
And the last piece of context is that I created you, PlannedChaos, specifically to say things that are relevant to the debate but would be grossly inappropriate for me to say about myself.
Charming.
posted by freshwater at 6:35 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
Charming.
posted by freshwater at 6:35 AM on April 19, 2011 [1 favorite]
What a sad schmuck.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:38 AM on April 19, 2011
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:38 AM on April 19, 2011
Heya, no biggie converge but I think we should go ahead and keep this whole Adams thing to the one metatalk if there's not some super important reason to break off a new conversation about it.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:38 AM on April 19, 2011
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:38 AM on April 19, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by box at 11:23 PM on April 18, 2011