"If she didn’t want sex, her body should have just shut down"

[Southpaw5]

Is it wrong that I think sending an angry mob for this judges head on a pike sounds completely reasonable?

People that stupid need to be removed from their seat of power, they are not mentally capable of making decisions on the welfare of others.

[LiquidMidnight]

It's one thing to meet any Joe Blow or Jane Schmane on the street who says something this extremely stupid, but when it's a judge? Some law school somewhere actually conferred a J.D. to this idiot?

I worked for a government agency in the south eastern part of the U.S. a few years ago that had a number of attorneys who would litigate cases in front of administrative law judges. One of our attorneys, who is Black, came back from a case. He told me that when he came into the hearing room, the first thing the judge said was "So what's it feel like to be here in the seat of the Confederacy?" or something similar.

It's scary that people with that much judicial power can make decisions while being informed by nonsense. But then again, Llewellyn, Frank, Holmes, and the whole legal realist school was talking about this stuff decades ago.

[mlowe]

This guys sounds like he need the biggest baddest cavity search.

[bluesblaster]

according to him... that wouldnt be possible because his ***hole would snap shut and not allow it.

[two fingers]

The only upside to this is that his position is bound to be extreme enough to get public outrage going and he should be done soon.

[fourstringdrums]

Is this the same judge who ruled on this case? http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...ing/?mobile=nc

[knumbskull]

sadly, and without going into too much detail, this is only the latest in a long line of similar comments from various figures in public office.

with any luck the vast majority of people will be able to see it for the hateful and stupid attitude that it represents.

[1958Bassman]

The fact that this judge passed the Bar means nothing WRT ANY other topic. It only means he knows the Law well enough to pass.

Someone needs to explain to him that if a woman's body shut down when she doesn't want sex, we wouldn't be discussing this because our species would have died out a long time ago.

[Hopkins]

Originally Posted by Bert Slide

C'mon Chef. Your location says Texas. You should already know the answer to this one.


"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
H. L. Mencken

What exactly did you mean by this comment. Because to me, it sounds as though you are saying Texans are stupid.

[Eric Perry]

Originally Posted by knumbskull

sadly, and without going into too much detail, this is only the latest in a long line of similar comments from various figures in public office...

Yup. Sadly, people won't see it though. With *real* issues, we as a species have the memory span of a fruit fly.

Originally Posted by Hopkins

What exactly did you mean by this comment. Because to me, it sounds as though you are saying Texans are stupid.

Yeah, I thought the same thing.

[Roscoe East]

Originally Posted by mlowe

This guys sounds like he need the biggest baddest cavity search.

^^^This. "Have you found his tongue yet? No? Search deeper."

[MarkMgibson]

Since they shut down every thread that even suggests politics, it makes it hard to address this issue.

If you're going to have an "Off Topic" forum, why the hell ban anything related to politics or religion? Stupid policy. Politics are a part of life, it's rather difficult to debate many issues without including it to some degree.

[Sgt. Rock]

Originally Posted by LiquidMidnight

It's one thing to meet any Joe Blow or Jane Schmane on the street who says something this extremely stupid, but when it's a judge?

Dumb people are everywhere, in every profession, in every level of government and society at large. The problem is none of them know they are dumb. A lot of them think they are really smart.

The dumbest statements I've ever heard have come out of the mouths of judges, lawyers, doctors, Ivy League grads and other "experts". When someone becomes an expert, attains an advanced degree, or enters a high-status profession, two things immediately happen. First, they receive constant reinforcement of their supposedly superior intellect. Second, people stop challenging them when they say dumb things. As a result, the mind runs a risk of becoming the worst combination possible: dull and arrogant.

If you want to see danger inherent in trusting experts to have the answers we need, just watch a judge argue with a doctor who is on the stand. Hilarious and frightening at the same time.

[Chef FourString]

Originally Posted by Hopkins

What exactly did you mean by this comment. Because to me, it sounds as though you are saying Texans are stupid.

I didn't read it that way. I saw it a legitimate statement. Whether he ment it in animosity or not, it is a valid point. We do have a lot of crazy people with a grand amount of power and even more crazy people to follow them along. It's quite ridiculous. Their mentality and idealism are some of the things holding us back as a species. I just don't understand why these people can not get with the program.

[Sgt. Rock]

It is fair to say that Texans are stupid, because Texans are people and people are stupid. Stupidity is everywhere. It isn't fair to say that Texans are more stupid than anyone else though. No region or state gets a pass.

I thought it might be a uniquely American thing until i spent some time traveling through Europe. There's lots of stupidity there too.

[klyph]

Yep. Funny how the internet hasn't yet ended provincialism or bigotry. No amount of readily available information will overrule what you've been spoonfed from birth. Indeed, if any of the conversations I've had with alot of folks are an indicator, the internet may be the most powerful tool for reinforcing confimation bias ever devised. Look no further than OT threads for... uh, confirmation.

[MarkMgibson]

Originally Posted by Sgt. Rock

It is fair to say that Texans are stupid, because Texans are people and people are stupid. Stupidity is everywhere. It isn't fair to say that Texans are more stupid than anyone else though. No region or state gets a pass.

I thought it might be a uniquely American thing until i spent some time traveling through Europe. There's lots of stupidity there too.

No, it's certainly not a uniquely American thing, though they do seem to lead the way. I really don't know why this is (and I'm not being facetious).

[LiquidMidnight]

Originally Posted by Sgt. Rock

Dumb people are everywhere, in every profession, in every level of government and society at large. The problem is none of them know they are dumb. A lot of them think they are really smart.

The dumbest statements I've ever heard have come out of the mouths of judges, lawyers, doctors, Ivy League grads and other "experts". When someone becomes an expert, attains an advanced degree, or enters a high-status profession, two things immediately happen. First, they receive constant reinforcement of their supposedly superior intellect. Second, people stop challenging them when they say dumb things. As a result, the mind runs a risk of becoming the worst combination possible: dull and arrogant.

If you want to see danger inherent in trusting experts to have the answers we need, just watch a judge argue with a doctor who is on the stand. Hilarious and frightening at the same time.

Without going on a large philosophical tangent, I have worked in a legal profession (not as an attorney or judge, but applying stautory law and intrepreting case law were parts of my job) and I also have a social science research background. These two areas use different epistemologies to reach conclusions. Unfortunately, the "legal epistemology" isn't well suited to answering scientific - or even, philosophical - questions, but many people in the legal profession try to apply it to issues that require a different epistemological approach.

I've always said that the legal discipline is the profession of applied postmodernism. I highly respect Ronald Dworkin as a legal intellectual, but I'm personally much more in agreement with people like Karl Llewellyn and Richard Posner with regard to how the legal system actually works.

[Fretless1!]

Originally Posted by bassteban

Dude needs to experience a similar ordeal himself, so he can really grasp the enormous stupidity of his statements.

Word!

[Sgt. Rock]

Originally Posted by LiquidMidnight

Without going on a large philosophical tangent, I have worked in a legal profession (not as an attorney or judge, but applying stautory law and intrepreting case law were parts of my job) and I also have a social science research background. These two areas use different epistemologies to reach conclusions. Unfortunately, the "legal epistemology" isn't well suited to answering scientific - or even, philosophical - questions, but many people in the legal profession try to apply it to issues that require a different epistemological approach.

I've always said that the legal discipline is the profession of applied postmodernism. I highly respect Ronald Dworkin as a legal intellectual, but I'm personally much more in agreement with people like Karl Llewellyn and Richard Posner with regard to how the legal system actually works.

I also have a social science research background, and work in the legal system. I would put the percentage of people who understand how to verify the validity of data used in popularly referenced statistics, as well as how to apply that data to real world issues at significantly less than 1. It is *staggering*. This is to say nothing of the lay expert who does 5 minutes of Internet "research" in order to confirm their bias. And that's the overwhelming majority of people. The ship is rudderless and the Captain is a fool with a funny hat.

Llewelyn was correct. A thing is not what it is supposed to be on paper. It is what it is in the real world.