Text 11297, 124 rader
Skriven 2013-11-24 00:25:36 av Lee Lofaso (2:203/2)
  Kommentar till text 11294 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
Ärende: Old McDonald
====================
Hello Roy,

 LL>>>> Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.

 LL>>>> For those who do not understand Latin, here it is in English -

 LL>>>> "After this, therefore because of this."

 LL>>>> Your turn, Mr. Witt (not even google can help you now).  :)

 RW>>> Google not needed.

 LL>> In your case, it wouldn't help anyway.

RW>It's good that you can recognize superiority in your debate
RW>opponents.

Texans (such as Rick Perry) have a tendency to forget whatever it
is they happen to be talking about.  Probably because they have no
idea of what they are talking about.  That makes non-Texans (like
me) a genius.  Not sure what it makes Dutchmen and Swedes ...

 RW>>> It means: the logical fallacy of believing that temporal succession
 RW>>> implies a causal relation.

 LL>> Natives in Papua New Guinea believe in the magical powers of their
 LL>> local witch doctor.  As a result, the natives get well when the witch
 LL>> doctor does his thing.  If it were not for their belief in the witch
 LL>> doctor's powers, the natives would not get well.

RW>I know a native Papuan of Dutch descent who would disagree with your
RW>assessment.  His mother was a physician in Papua during and after
RW>WW2, married to his Shell Oil Executive, dutchman father.

Witch doctors and physicians are two very different things.
A witch doctor is a healer, of both physical and spiritual ailments.
A physician is also a healer, but only in a much more limited way,
dealing with physical ailments only.

To this very day, much of Papua New Guinea remains primitive.
The people in those parts continue to live in the same way they
always have.  Their witch doctor is the most powerful person in
their community, holding the power of life and death.  After a
person dies, the people in the community have a ceremony so that
all would remember that person.  A fire is lit, meat is roasted,
and every person in the community eats a small portion of the
deceased person's (cooked) flesh.  The witch doctor presides
over this ceremony, and everybody celebrates a life well lived.

 LL>> In their eyes, the witch doctor's powers are as powerful, or more

RW>No one of any consequence cares.

The people of Papua New Guinea care.
Especially those people under the care of their witch doctor.

 LL>> We get well because we believe in the powers of our doctors.  Not
 LL>> that our doctors have any power at all.

RW>True that one has to believe in their doctor, but also have the
RW>tumerity to give credit to themselves for withstanding the onslaught
RW>of desease at the same time. I think you've failed in that regard.

Penicillin and other drugs have been a great help to alleviate
suffering.  So has advances in technology.  However, these advances
have only been in the past one hundred years or so.  And now, those
advances have reached a limit, as resistance to drugs is becoming
a growing problem.  Modern technology may be able to tell us what
we are dying of, but is incapable of extending human life beyond
its natural limit.

We have enjoyed a population explosion only because of oil.
Or rather, easy access to oil.  Cheap energy, in the form of
easy access to oil, natural gas, and coal.  What will happen
when the oil runs out?  The population will quickly, and I
mean very quickly, return to its natural level.  Rather than
having 9 or 10 billion souls on the face of this planet, we
will have, at most, 1 to 2 billion souls standing around.
Probably more like 200 million, far short of even 1 billion.

I look for this drop-off to take less than 50 years.  Maybe
even less than 10 years.  Imagine that.  In less than one decade
almost the entire human race could be wiped out.  By ourselves.
Without ever resorting to nuclear weapons or the use of war.
We'll just starve to death, due to the lack of food.

Others will take the easy way out by grabbing their gun and
pulling the trigger.  Such a quick and painless way to go, all
things considered.  Kind of messy.  But then, somebody else
will be cleaning it up ...

 LL>> Because we believe.  Those who do not believe go to their deaths, or
 LL>> are dead already.

RW>If that were true, I would have been dead ages ago. I believe in
RW>self-help as well as self-healing, which must work, as I'm still
RW>here.

See there?  You have become your own witch doctor.  Now, if you
wanted to share, move to Papua New Guinea.  I find it unfortunate
that Obamacare will not cover your services, but then, Papua New
Guineans have no need or want for Obamacare ...

 RW>>> Meanwhile, back at the farm, old McDonald Lofaso was being
 RW>>> corn-holed by the leader of the herd, Old McBull...

 LL>> Old McDonald had a cow, E I E I O.

RW>Old McD had a bull, E I E I O, (Every Inch, Ever Inward, Oh yeah,
RW>cried the Lofaso; forever more...

We send all our bulls to The Farm.  The warden knows what to do
with them.  In October, we go to the rodeo at Angola and watch how
well our bulls do when some inmate tries to ride 'em.

RW>IOW - you know of course that East Isn't Even, It's Odd...like new
RW>jerky.

Kangaroo jerky is better.  Tastes like ... tastes lie ... 'roo.

--Lee

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