Regardless of how indescribably stupid you think wingnuts are, occasionally you run across an example of such incomparable dumbfuckitude that you can only recoil in horror and hope it isn't transmissible through simple human contact.
Witness one "Nonny" back here, who blithely dismisses the suicide rate in the U.S. Army thusly:
Well, will you look at that. The national suicide rate for 2002-2004 was 14.2 per 100,000, at a time, it seems when the US Army suicide rate was about 12.3 (which is the 26 year average). So it seems that, in general, the Army is a pretty safe place to be, mentally (unlike, say, Canadiancynic.blogspot.com).
Pause.
Really, really long pause.
Disbelief that anyone could write anything so shriekingly stupid.
And what's wrong with that comparison, you ask? I'm glad you asked.
Notice precisely what Nonny is comparing here. On the one hand, in the general population, you might have people who feel they have nothing left to live for because, perhaps, they've just been fired, they've gone bankrupt, a sudden medical emergency has wiped out their life savings, and so on.
On the other hand, compare this to members of the U.S. military who, by definition, have jobs with a steady income, which come with room and board, great medical coverage and so on. And yet ... and yet ... the suicide rate there (as Nonny points out without having even the vaguest appreciation for what it means) is almost as high as in the general population, even when those members of the military can't possibly have to deal with some of the same issues as non-military members do.
In a normal world, one would think that the suicide rate in the military wouldn't just be lower, it would be much lower. But Nonny is unconcerned -- as long as they're not offing themselves as quickly as regular folk, hey, what's your problem?
Shorter Nonny: "Crippling exhaustion and increased suicide? Geez, what's the big deal? Oh, and support the troops."
P.S. Once upon a time, a friend introduced me to an expression which defines a standard for total dumbassitude: "He's so stupid, he doesn't even realize how stupid he is."
I don't believe that requires any further explanation. And, yes, I've had enough of Nonny. He's got a blog, he can go be stupid over there.
AND THE STUPID ROLLS ON. And even though I've told Nonny to take his overwhelming retardedness back to his own crappy blog, he persists in posting utter idiocy, and this last one is so, so very special, I have to respond to it.
In explaining why members of the military had a distinct advantage over members of the general population, I wrote:
On the one hand, in the general population, you might have people who feel they have nothing left to live for because, perhaps, they've just been fired, they've gone bankrupt, a sudden medical emergency has wiped out their life savings, and so on.
On the other hand, compare this to members of the U.S. military who, by definition, have jobs with a steady income, which come with room and board, great medical coverage and so on.
Unbelievably, Nonny responds thusly:
By the way CC, did you see the WP article's reasons for soldiers' suicides? "Failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems and the stress of their jobs were factors motivating the soldiers to commit suicide, according to the report."
This is not so different from the general population's reasons, or, as you said, "people who feel they have nothing left to live for because, perhaps, they've just been fired, they've gone bankrupt, a sudden medical emergency has wiped out their life savings, and so on."
Here, let me summarize that exchange:
Me: "Members of the military have a clear advantage over members of the general population in a number of areas."
Nonny: "Yeah, but in other areas, they don't."
How do you respond to that? How do you even begin to address the howling illogic of that reply? I can't. It's simply not possible. It's like a wife saying, "I'm leaving you because you've beaten me at least a dozen times," whereupon the husband replies, "Well, sure, but think of all the times I didn't beat you. Doesn't that count?" Yes, it really is that stupid.
Although, to Nonny's credit, I'm guessing he's the perfect candidate for The Great Canadian Debate. He'd be a natural to follow Richard Evans, wouldn't he?
13 comments:
That's how every wingnut argues. Compare two things, establish a false equivalence, and dismiss.
I don't blame them. The Neocon "intellectual elite" has taken that to a level of sophistication that I'll always, for the rest of my life, find profoundly fascinating.
A couple more big reasons why people commit suicide are health problems and depression over aging, which don't apply to the military.
The frustration and stress level for our folks over there is phenomenal. Bring them home!
I hate to correct you on your own blog, but Nonny's stupidity is NOT, in fact, the false equivalence of Army with general population (that's pretty much how all such comparisons are made, after all), it's the even more egregious error of taking the 26 year military suicide average and comparing that to the general populace. The article's point, and yours, was that the Army and its soldiers are burning out IN IRAQ. Which would be the spike over the last few years. The relevant rate cited in the article was actually 17 percent service-wide (3 percent above the civilian rate) and presumably even higher in combat troops. Some combat troops were TWICE as likely to commit suicide as even non-combat troops.
So. Nonny: dumber than you thought.
Mark:
I hate to correct you correcting me :-), but I realized that. I just let it go because it wasn't necessary to even bring it up.
I was being charitable. Don't worry -- it won't happen again.
So. Nonny: dumber than you thought.
Not me. I know Nonny's just that dumb. Nonny was establishing a false equivalence however. An equivalence would be a simple comparison, whereas a false one would be to assert that there is a meaningful relationship between the things compared, when there isn't.
But thank you for doing the work some of us are too bone tired to do anymore.
And, Mark, I suggest to read my original comments for context, not just CC's copy-and-paste job without context. I did not ignore the fact that suicide rates have increased in the past year. That one comment CC quoted was a throw-away line, the point being that EXCEPT in war suicde rates don't differ appreciably from the general population. No where did I imply the current Army rates are the same as the general population's.
By the way CC, did you see the WP article's reasons for soldiers' suicides? "Failed personal relationships, legal and financial problems and the stress of their jobs were factors motivating the soldiers to commit suicide, according to the report."
This is not so different from the general population's reasons, or, as you said, "people who feel they have nothing left to live for because, perhaps, they've just been fired, they've gone bankrupt, a sudden medical emergency has wiped out their life savings, and so on."
This is where Nonny argues that he was not understood correctly, because everyone relied on what he wrote, not what he meant. Odd, coming from such a obsessive language parser.
Anyway, let's all try and guess how ugly Nonny is. I'm thinking Ernest Borgnine here.
For the last time, Nonny, if you have something to say, use your own fucking blog and stop riding on the coattails of mine. What part of that do you just not get?
Stop writing posts about me then. What part of THAT don't you get?
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's too funny. I'm gonna leave it there.
LOL, Richard whoring himself out on CC's site for attention and Ward 4 Votes,...
Oh God, where are my dawgy biskets?
I really hope Richard does get elected, the ammount of legal crap he'd get himself into would bankrupt Alberta, LOL
Post a Comment