DCP Encourages Email Campaign Against Black Journalist

[_Droopy]

I'm glad to know that Droopy can use statistics to make sweeping assertions about a given group's contemporary culture.

Contemporary Mormon culture can therefore be identified by its tendencies to affinity fraud, depression, viewing of online pornography, and obesity.

Yet more reasons why lawyers are among the most despised of all the parasitic classes of contemporary American culture and why logical thought and critical reasoning skills are only a peripheral requirement for a successful litagatory career.

Since you're posts invited the discussion of where your going with such reasoning, which statistic would you like to discuss first, Droopy?

You don't know where I'm going with it. You don't have the capacity, intellectually, of knowing where I'm going with it because in your wildly erratic and lurching bigotry against the church and your desire to defame, impugn, and smear it whenever possible, you have lost the capacity for critical thought (you have, in other words, been Grahamized).

I pick obesity. We know that statistics show us what a group's contemporary culture is, so being fat and stuffing your face with donuts and pastries is one of the salient aspects of contemporary Mormon culture.

MSNBC is a dubious source of any kind of news or information. If you can't do any better than this don't come to the arena of ideas at all.

The study also found that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were 14 percent more likely than nonmembers to be obese.

This is statistically insignificant. 14% more likely? And?

And....irrelevant. The well known empirical evidence of attitudes disproportionately prevalent among American blacks (such as antisemitism) are with respect to beliefs and belief systems, not dietary habits, and the disproportionality in such beliefs among this tiny demographic is, in many cases, well above 14%. The question is why are beliefs and attitudes such as this so much more prevalent among American blacks than among other groups, including whites (except antisemitism, which is higher among American Hispanics than among whites but very strong among recent Latin American immigrants).

[_Blixa]

Darth, why you deign to get into such petty scraps, is beyond me. I think you should stop punching below your weight and devote yourself to only useful and arguably more important levels of discussion...

[_Darth J]

Droopy:

The study did not come from MSNBC. It came from a professor at BYU, who found the numbers to be statistically significant.

But since you take issue with MSNBC, here's the same study reported by that leftist rag, The Deseret News:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/6351 ... avier.html

And I understand your constant personal attacks against those who say things about your religion that you don't like, Droopy. You are simply following in Joseph Smith's footsteps.

You're contemporary Mormon, though, so statistics say you are probably fat in addition to probably being a liar.

[_Darth J]

Darth, why you deign to get into such petty scraps, is beyond me. I think you should stop punching below your weight and devote yourself to only useful and arguably more important levels of discussion...

Blixa, I will admit that sometimes I find lowbrow comedy---such as that which is unwittingly provided by Droopy---to be amusing.

It's a problem I am struggling to overcome.

[_Droopy]

Consistent with the example set by its founder, the LDS Church faces a pervasive problem of affinity fraud among its members. In fact, the Church itself has spoken out about this epidemic problem:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8655 ... ngers.html

No empirics. No quantification. Nothing.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/official-statement/affinity-fraud

No empirics. No quantification. Nothing. Indeed, the report here begins:

Some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, like members of other faiths and close-knit communities, have in the past fallen victim to this type of fraud.

And then again:

We are concerned that some Church members ignore the oft-repeated direction to prepare and live within a budget, avoid consumer debt, and to save against a time of need.

(Note: in other words, do not live like the Democratic party, the Left, and the Keynesians tell you you should live).

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705386044/How-affinity-fraud-hurts-LDS-church-members.html

No empirics, no quantification, nothing.

Also, a January 2012 article from The Economist quoting law enforcement officials about the high rate of affinity fraud among Mormons in Utah: http://www.economist.com/node/21543526

The interesting thing about the Economist article is that it doesn't make the case that Darth apparently wants to make (whatever that is)

The state thought to have the most affinity fraud per head is Utah, where 60% of the population are Mormons. In 2010, regulators and the FBI were investigating cases there with 4,400 victims and perhaps $1.4 billion (or $500 for every Utahn) in losses. The numbers have surely climbed since, with the three largest cases alone involving combined losses of up to $700m, says one investigator.

Mormons tend to be both trusting and welcoming of newcomers, says Keith Woodwell, head of Utah’s Division of Securities. As soon as you pull up to your new house, neighbours appear to help you unpack. A scammer who gets his foot in the door can exploit this closeness.

LuElla Day, for example, lost $1.2m in a deal hatched by Daniel Merriman, a fellow Mormon she had known for four years. “He’d spoken at our meetings. When I sold my farm, he came and said the bishop had asked him to help me invest the proceeds,” says the 81-year-old. He told her the money would go into government debt. The transaction was done on a handshake. Ms Day never got a penny back.

Credulousness is not confined to sweet old ladies. One of Ephren Taylor’s victims was an electrical engineer with an MBA. A man in Utah was taken for $50,000 by his next-door neighbour, who offered a chance to invest in a new type of ice machine. Nothing remarkable there, except that the victim was a retired federal agent who had worked on white-collar fraud cases.

Why do such people let their guard down? “Everyone is looking for a shorthand way to judge character, and affinity settings offer that, at least in theory,” says Jeff Robinson, head of the Utah County Attorney’s investigations bureau. Tribal ties foster trust, which is usually a good thing (see article). But it can be abused.

Mormons are, for the most part, trusting, good, friendly people who want to help and expect such from others. A real bad thing, Darth, admittedly (and perhaps, in comparing this to your own character, you find yourself feeling a bit...disturbed?)

A great deal of bandwidth for nothing, eh? Yup. Just the usual urination in the wind. Apparently, there are no clear empirical statistics on the rates of fraud in Utah at all (let alone doughnut consumption). Its thought that the rates are higher, but how much higher, and whether its really statistically significant, isn't known.

And now back to the point of the thread after this lawyerly derailment, brought to you be Darth, Vader, and Vader, L.L.C.

[_Droopy]

Darth, why you deign to get into such petty scraps, is beyond me. I think you should stop punching below your weight and devote yourself to only useful and arguably more important levels of discussion...

I love it when you attempt humor.

Well, its the thought that counts. I've never actually observed Darth, at least not here, ever engage in any level of discourse or debate above what he's doing at the present.

This is who he is, and I've never seen anything that would admit of any higher levels of cognition or critical intellectual capacity.

Darth is a polemicist and a bomb thrower, just like Graham and so many other apostates with an ax to grind and vast store of bad conscience to externalize and project onto mythic enemies.

[_Darth J]

Droopy:

Mormons are the perpetrators of the rampant affinity fraud being discussed.

Statistically, you as a contemporary Mormon are statistically likely to be either a gullible dupe or a con man.

And a BYU professor says you are probably fat, too.

Does it make you sad that you are more likely than the general population to be a big, fat liar, Droopy? As a Mormon, you probably are sadder than most people: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4 ... 1KYD1FaXDE

I'll try not to ask you very many loaded questions, though, even if "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" is a legitimate question for a Mormon.

(Note for Blixa and other viewers: Yes, I am just making a point about Droopy's special pleading in the use of statistics to create stereotypes, and no, I do not expect him to get it.)

[_Droopy]

Droopy:

The study did not come from MSNBC. It came from a professor at BYU, who found the numbers to be statistically significant.

Did he? 14%? And you think because a professor somewhere finds something significant or not, one should bow and scrape before him as if this represented settled, absolute knowledge (or as if it's in any way relative to the points I made earlier about significant elements within American black culture). Another BYU professor believes that the 9/11 was an inside job. Run with it, Darth.

And I understand your constant personal attacks against those who say things about your religion that you don't like, Droopy. You are simply following in Joseph Smith's footsteps.

I never personally attack anyone who attacks, impugns, lies about, calumniates, defames, and makes up slanderous smears against my church and its leaders, and I never have.

...unless you ask for it and attack me, my church, and its leaders first. Then I repent later (after consuming multiple bags of Dunkin' Doughnuts until I pass out...).

You're contemporary Mormon, though, so statistics say you are probably fat in addition to probably being a liar.

You've just opened yourself up to a long and intensive list of terms relevant to a well honed description of the lawyer class as a social phenomenon, but I will forebear in the interest of not lowering myself to your asexual reproducing level.

[_Blixa]

(Note for Blixa and other viewers: Yes, I am just making a point about Droopy's special pleading in the use of statistics to create stereotypes, and no, I do not expect him to get it.)

Lol. Carry on!

[_Darth J]

Darth, why you deign to get into such petty scraps, is beyond me. I think you should stop punching below your weight and devote yourself to only useful and arguably more important levels of discussion...

I love it when you attempt humor.

Well, its the thought that counts. I've never actually observed Darth, at least not here, ever engage in any level of discourse or debate above what he's doing at the present.

This is who he is, and I've never seen anything that would admit of any higher levels of cognition or critical intellectual capacity.

Darth is a polemicist and a bomb thrower, just like Graham and so many other apostates with an ax to grind and vast store of bad conscience to externalize and project onto mythic enemies.

Does it make you depressed, like your fellow Mormon cohorts are likely to be, to know that I tend to bring myself down to your level in order to squeeze out that comedy gold of self parody that you consistently provide?

Although I must admit that perhaps I was a little too hasty in suggesting that as a contemporary Mormon, you are statistically likely to be stuffing your face with pastries, as not seen at approximately 3:00 here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXwn11ng ... ure=relmfu