Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Redwood City CA
Posts: 472

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Originally posted by KRamsauer
I never said I would label someone as wanting war simply because of their religion, but I don't feel bad for having that thought cross my mind.

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Registered: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 734

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Originally posted by John Nowak


Incidentally, this is a point I do disagree with.

We all make assumptions; we're all prejudiced one way or another. I might assume someone believes in "X" because he is "Y", but I believe strongly that it is fundamentally wrong for me to make that assumption.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

So, we're all friends again, until someone tells me I look fat in these jeans?

(I'm kidding. No response required.)

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

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Originally posted by KRamsauer
Hm.... I guess it comes down to my belief that wanting war in the mid-east doesn't make one a good or bad person, so having that thought cross my mind doesn't put somoene at an advantage or a disadvantage.

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Just out of curiosity, why do you have this irrational fixation on 'advantage/disadvantage'?

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If I were to think someone were stupid/smart, ugly/pretty or anything else loaded with value

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Those terms have no inherent value any more than the original does.

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simply because they were of a certain religion that would make me feel bad, and as I result I don't think that way. :-)

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So, ultimately, it is all about feelings after all? You're only selfish about the feelings that matter to you? OK.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

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Originally posted by K. Cannon
So, we're all friends again, until someone tells me I look fat in these jeans?

(I'm kidding. No response required.)

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

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Originally posted by Toby
I decline to answer that question until I consult my statistics books.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

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Originally posted by K. Cannon
Are you presuming you know how tall I am?

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

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Originally posted by Toby
Well, statistically, we know that you're shorter than me.

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Registered: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 734

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Originally posted by K. Cannon
So, we're all friends again?

(I'm kidding. No response required.)

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Fighting.....urge.....must.....respond.....keep.....pointless.....thread.....alive..... NO I won't.

Registered: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 734

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Originally posted by Toby
Just out of curiosity, why do you have this irrational fixation on 'advantage/disadvantage'

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

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Originally posted by KRamsauer
Fighting.....urge.....must.....respond.....keep.....pointless.....thread.....alive..... NO I won't.

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Registered: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 734

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Originally posted by Toby
Well, statistically, we know that you're shorter than me.

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Registered: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 734

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Originally posted by K. Cannon

We'll show that darn Josh with his pesky Inane Ramblings thread!

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

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Originally posted by K. Cannon
Right. Clearly, I'm the same height as your wife.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

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Originally posted by KRamsauer
[...] Being a jerk, I will discriminate against you, as we all do. [...]

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

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Originally posted by KRamsauer
And unless you have some weird tendency to hate short people,

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

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Originally posted by Toby
No, I'm not Randy Newman.

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Registered: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 734

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Originally posted by Toby
This sentence really doesn't make much sense. Are you trying to say that you're a jerk, and hence since all jerks discriminate, you will discriminate against me? I'd think not, but that's really what it says. Regarding the rest of what you said, what exactly is rational about assuming that you know traits of an entire population based on a potentially valid survey of a _different_ or a subset of that population. IOW, even _if_ you saw a lead-tight survey of the opinions of Jews in a certain population (which we never saw cited, so we still can't establish that it was anything more than anecdotal) about the war in Iraq, what makes you think that it applies to _any_ other Jew? That's the logical flaw which I originally was talking about.

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Reading the next sentence should have clarified it, but I meant "If you are jerk, I will discriminate against you, as we all do." You never once mentioned through that whole discussion your point was revolving around sampling one population and applying those findings to another. That is so incredibly stupid I figured no one would even bother to bring it up! Clearly we cannot do that. I never claimed we could. Remember I was claiming that knowing the traits of population allows you to infer individual traits. You read that as my saying knowing one population's traits can allow you to predict other populations' traits? I never said anything of the sort, and I wish you'd have mentioed it in as many words earlier.
What I'm not sure you understand is that it is perfectly valid to use a sub-sample to derive hypotheses about the population. So long as prior to sampling there is no reason to believe the sample will differ systematically from the population. Of course the people I meet differ systematically, and I never claimed I was a random number generator.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

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Originally posted by K. Cannon
We'll show that darn Josh with his pesky Inane Ramblings thread!

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No, I don't think this thread is any match for the humor and disturbing beauty of Inane Ramblings. Although, this thread makes an interesting proof for my wife that I'm not the most socially dense and one-track minded person on the face of the Earth.

Registered: Apr 2002
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 734

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Originally posted by Toby
No, I don't think this thread is any match for the humor and disturbing beauty of Inane Ramblings. Although, this thread makes an interesting proof for my wife that I'm not the most socially dense and one-track minded person on the face of the Earth.

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