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News & ArtsTuesday, October 6, 2009
Religion Today in Christopedia
Posted by Paul Constant on Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 12:15 PM
But I don't want to feature that article anymore. I want to feature this article: Racial differences between Negroes and Caucasians.
The name Homo sapien was first used by the 18th Century Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus. The word "sapien" means "wise." The name was originally used to speak of the Caucasian man and synonymous with "European." As a result, many later taxonomists and geneticists believed that Negroes and other races should be classified as different species. In fact, evolutionist Charles Darwin declared in The Descent of Man that the varieties of mankind are so distinct that similar differences found in any other animal would warrant their classification in different species, if not different genera.
Funny how Christians use Charles Darwin when he's making their racist point, isn't it? You'll also note that there is an illustration from the article at left. You will note that they use 50 Cent as a typical African-American and a stock photo white guy as the typical Caucasian. There's also another photo with this caption:
Negroes looting a store in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Looting was widespread in a city whose population was over two-thirds Negro at the time of divine retribution.
And I know that anybody can edit a wiki and blah blah blah, but I've got to tell you this: If I were a Christian and I discovered that people were repeatedly doing this in my name (it is the Christian Encyclopedia, after all), I would be really fucking angry. This isn't just one troll: This appears to be tolerable behavior on Christopedia, and therefore it appears to be tolerable Christian behavior.
2
I haven't spent much time there, but I would be willing to bet that Christopedia an ironic/joke site. I mean, here are two of the the "did you knows" on the front page:
* That Barrack Obama was trained to be a homicide bomber by Saddam Hussein himself?
* That George W. Bush's reproductive organ is 21 inches long... when flaccid?
* That Barrack Obama was trained to be a homicide bomber by Saddam Hussein himself?
* That George W. Bush's reproductive organ is 21 inches long... when flaccid?
3
when will the moderate christians take back their religion from the extremists?
same as when the moderate muslims and jews will do the same for their monotheisms: NEVER.
same as when the moderate muslims and jews will do the same for their monotheisms: NEVER.
4
"And I know that anybody can edit a wiki and blah blah blah, but I've got to tell you this: If I was a Christian and I discovered that people were repeatedly doing this in my name (it is the Christian Encyclopedia, after all), I would be really fucking angry. This isn't just one troll: This appears to be tolerable behavior on Christopedia, and therefore it appears to be tolerable Christian behavior."
This is easily one of the dumbest things I've ever read. Do you understand how the internet works? This is some idiotic site run by some jackass racist and populated by trolls.
If I created "DumbInternetColumnistpedia" and wrote racist shit on there, would it mean that you were tolerating racism?
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Christo…
Fail all around.
This is easily one of the dumbest things I've ever read. Do you understand how the internet works? This is some idiotic site run by some jackass racist and populated by trolls.
If I created "DumbInternetColumnistpedia" and wrote racist shit on there, would it mean that you were tolerating racism?
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Christo…
Fail all around.
5
So what characteristics are well-predicted by race?
You can imagine doing such an analysis right. Take a large, random sample. Write down many characteristics for each sample member: race, income, IQ, education level, etc. Which characteristics would show a strong correlation with race? More importantly, which would show a strong correlation coefficient in a multi-linear regression, i.e. which would be important when controlling for the others?
I would guess that characteristics related to musical and fashion sense would be well prediced by race, even when controlling for other factors. There might well be a few less poltically correct ones too, such as criminality.
Would it be racist to do such an analysis? To merely consider it? Quick, call out the Stranger's crack "Is It Racist?" squad!
You can imagine doing such an analysis right. Take a large, random sample. Write down many characteristics for each sample member: race, income, IQ, education level, etc. Which characteristics would show a strong correlation with race? More importantly, which would show a strong correlation coefficient in a multi-linear regression, i.e. which would be important when controlling for the others?
I would guess that characteristics related to musical and fashion sense would be well prediced by race, even when controlling for other factors. There might well be a few less poltically correct ones too, such as criminality.
Would it be racist to do such an analysis? To merely consider it? Quick, call out the Stranger's crack "Is It Racist?" squad!
6
Also, re: "This isn't just one troll" - did you actually bother to look at the revision history?
THE ENTIRE ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY ONE GUY. He has 95+% of the edits on the page and repeatedly changed the article back to his last revision when some other person blanked it.
I'm seriously left wondering if you've ever traversed the internets if you can't figure this basic stuff out.
THE ENTIRE ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY ONE GUY. He has 95+% of the edits on the page and repeatedly changed the article back to his last revision when some other person blanked it.
I'm seriously left wondering if you've ever traversed the internets if you can't figure this basic stuff out.
7
I am pretty convinced this site is a actually a anti-christian troll site. I considered adding my own "edits" but I realized I would be vandalizing my own allies. This site is quite a piece of work, real genius. Most trolls are easier to read but this one is much more clever.
8
Apparently, one racial difference of note is that Caucasian males have receding hairlines. And use cell phones.
10
I do not know why slog is so obsessed with this bogus website and some how saying this is an example of Christianity. Just look up the word "god" and you will see that it is a joke or else has been taken over by trolls. This is like someone getting upset with the Onion Newspaper.
11
This has to be a poor parody site. Too bad a teabagger might read it and believe it is a new source of truth.
http://christopedia.us/Homosexual
http://christopedia.us/Homosexual
14
Man, you get all worked up about anonymous internet trolls. And then I get all worked up about you being upset over anonymous internet trolls. Shit.
Anyhow, remember one thing about Christianity -- even most of the people who call themselves Christians don't live that way. That's why they'll have sex outside of marriage, but an accidental pregnancy can't be aborted because it's against their religion. Which, since they don't follow it strictly, isn't even their religion to begin with.
Anyhow, remember one thing about Christianity -- even most of the people who call themselves Christians don't live that way. That's why they'll have sex outside of marriage, but an accidental pregnancy can't be aborted because it's against their religion. Which, since they don't follow it strictly, isn't even their religion to begin with.
17
Paul, you are venturing into fallacies of Savage proportion. They are plenty of legitimate ways to impugn Christianity without declaring Christopedia spokeswiki for all Christians.
Unless you are joking, in which case you are a shitty comedian.
Unless you are joking, in which case you are a shitty comedian.
18
"This appears to be tolerable behavior on Christopedia, and therefore it appears to be tolerable Christian behavior."
That assertion is laughable.
That assertion is laughable.
19
5 - how would you define race? What about all the 'whites' who have 'black' in them? What about all the 'blacks' who are actually less than half 'black'? There are no separate races. There are only superficial appearances.
You can do all the studies you want based on what you perceive 'race' to be but in the end it will be trash. You might as well do studies on the race of white trash vs. the race of Rich Americans and decide that they are different species. The lines are arbritary.
You can do all the studies you want based on what you perceive 'race' to be but in the end it will be trash. You might as well do studies on the race of white trash vs. the race of Rich Americans and decide that they are different species. The lines are arbritary.
21
Paul: non-wacko Christians have long had to deal with people doing stupid shit and calling it "Christian". If I had to disavow or condemn every specific bad thing done under the banner of Christianity, I'd have no time left to go do good, positive, social-justicey things.
22
re: Public Sex and Nasty floors at Eagle
If I was Gay and I discovered that people were repeatedly doing deplorable things in my name (it is a Gay bar, after all), I would be really fucking angry. This wasn't just one guy: This appears to be tolerable behavior in Gay bars like the Eagle, and therefore it appears to be tolerable Gay behavior.
If I was Gay and I discovered that people were repeatedly doing deplorable things in my name (it is a Gay bar, after all), I would be really fucking angry. This wasn't just one guy: This appears to be tolerable behavior in Gay bars like the Eagle, and therefore it appears to be tolerable Gay behavior.
23
If you hit random article a couple of times you get an obviously phony nazi-hitler-swastika "article"
I'll admit, I was a little disappointed that it's a troll site
I'll admit, I was a little disappointed that it's a troll site
24
#5: Correlation is not causation.
Try taking a stats class if you're interested in pursuing your study.
Try taking a stats class if you're interested in pursuing your study.
25
#23 actually the best use for the "Random Article" function is deciding which page you're going to vandalize next.
28
@19: Most race data is based on self-identification. That's the sensible, if you are looking for culturally transmitted traits. If you are looking for genetically transmitted traits, you're better off recording specific genetic markers than trying to use an aggregate classification.
@24: Correlation does not have to be causal to have predective power. By the way, I teach statistics.
@24: Correlation does not have to be causal to have predective power. By the way, I teach statistics.
30
If you go the the ED page on the site, it has the exact same material listed as suggested trolling (or as they so eloquently put it, "Crapflooding material") for the christopedia site.
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Christo…
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Christo…
31
Also, Darwin's Descent of Man argued that we *should* be classified as a single species. So they're just lying.
33
"This appears to be tolerable behavior on Christopedia, and therefore it appears to be tolerable Christian behavior."
Are you really that gullible?
Are you really that gullible?
38
Mr. Constant, putting aside all the other points people have made about how this "accepted behavior" is a bit of a stretch to accuse, have you considered the fact that this website is far less widely known than Wikipedia, so far fewer people would even be browsing it (and therefore editing it) to begin with?
39
@38 (I didn't quite finish my thought)
...far fewer people would even be browsing it (and therefore editing it) to begin with, so someone obviously trolling a page could go unnoticed for far longer than it would on a busier site, like Wikipedia?
...far fewer people would even be browsing it (and therefore editing it) to begin with, so someone obviously trolling a page could go unnoticed for far longer than it would on a busier site, like Wikipedia?
40
Fistique @ 37: Thanks for the link. There is a nice model there showing how correlations can arise in sums of shared, uncorrelated factors, which can explain how IQ test scores can be highly correlated without requiring a single "physical" underlying primary factor ("g").
I would just warn you to be careful about drawing too strong a conclusion: this is not a proof that "IQ is a myth." In fact, the author states quite clearly: "All of this, of course, is completely compatible with IQ having some ability ... to predict things like college grades or salaries or the odds of being arrested by age 30."
I would just warn you to be careful about drawing too strong a conclusion: this is not a proof that "IQ is a myth." In fact, the author states quite clearly: "All of this, of course, is completely compatible with IQ having some ability ... to predict things like college grades or salaries or the odds of being arrested by age 30."
41
So you're saying some random website Christopedia represents the hundreds of millions (billions?) of Christians worldwide? I'm not even Christian and I find this an incredibly unfair generalization.
I know it's just a blog and not real journalism, but still, damn. I'm disappointed.
This appears to be tolerable behavior on Christopedia, and therefore it appears to be tolerable Christian behavior.
So you're saying some random website Christopedia represents the hundreds of millions (billions?) of Christians worldwide? I'm not even Christian and I find this an incredibly unfair generalization.
I know it's just a blog and not real journalism, but still, damn. I'm disappointed.
42
You can look at the editing history of this article... it's just one guy advancing his Stormfront-style views. I suspect that this one guy is serious, but occasionally this article gets hijacked by someone clearly doing it for the lulz.
43
clearly a joke here... it would seem they are being trolled by a larger and/or more skilled and dedicated group. the joke is on the people who made that site, and the people who believe these articles are not a joke.
44
Read the article on Jesus then tell me it's a a serious website run by devout Christians. You're feeding the trolls, Paul.
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