Just because he can string complete and complex sentences together and speak in lofty but platitudinous abstracts, does not mean he is actually saying anything. There is no substance to him. He's is less substantive than Brightstar.

After this, none of you conversing with him should ever criticize me for engaging in inane back and forth. At least the trolls I brace are more pithy.

You make a solid point.

Off I go...

Raise up, my darling, this one's for you:

What possible reason could Teleologicus have for posting on this forum? He's got to be aware that his particular brand of rhetoric can't sway anybody; anyone clever enough to wade through his syntax is too clever to be taken in by his logic. So, what's he doing here?

I have considered, and the only answer I can come up with is: he's trying to lock down some of the better minds in debate. And he's spreading evil, for evil's own sake, that we may all breathe poison and despair.

By all means fight the despair, with laughter and logic, but don't overlook that he's trying to lock you down. Go and preach some of that good preachin' to some people who might actually be converted to our side. For each post in response to him, make sure you're making that argument somewhere where you aren't preaching to the choir.

I'm lovin' it, myself. Teleologicus is more fun than a whole barrel full of wombats!

Re: his last post, I wanted to share something I saw recently on Netflix. Classic silent movie, Aelita: Queen of Mars. Made in Soviet Russia in 1924 or thereabouts. It was made to be Soviet propaganda, but it's got a sting in its tail... it's clear the movie makers were trying to slip in some subtle criticism of the regime, which is why the movie was banned in the USSR. Worth seeing if only for the wacky Constructionist set designs. Anyway.

There's a wonderful scene in which the protagonists are feasting on food stolen from the distribution center and lamenting the passing of the good old days before Communism. "Everyone had such beautiful manners!" the old lady weeps, while picturing herself sweeping along on the sidewalk dressed to the nines while her bodyguard strikes down dirty peasants for daring to get too close to her.

And here I find good old Teleologicus talking just like a comic character from a Russian propaganda film! Now that's entertainment! Tell us, Teleologicus, of the grand old days when lowly peasants knew their place, and dared not speak to their betters!

Thing is, no one here is a peasant. In fact, in America, all registered voters are... wait for it... in charge of the country. We don't have a ruling class because we agreed that we are all the ruling class. That's what "self government" means. Politicians and elected representatives have no authority except the authority vested in them by us.

Seems to me that we know our place; it's you who have forgotten yours.

By the way, you write like a teenager encouraged by bad teachers. Are you?

Do you ever wonder if the RNC is sitting back in their offices

asking themselves "how long can we hold out making America think that Palin is a viable candiate for VP or President? Do they really think we are stupid?

Fascinating.

When pressed to support your case with specific evidence, you mumble "I am afraid I cannot venture a guess", wave a palsied hand backward at the French Revolution, and then retreat even further to the comforting, dust-bound bosom of the 15th Century, decrying a "rupture in the Great Chain of Being".

Utterly. Fascinating. This must be what it's like to debate the vengeful shade of Arthur Oncken Lovejoy himself.

"People no longer know or accept their place in the order of things, rebel against superiors and authority, and fancy themselves the equals or superiors of the best who have ever lived... people on forums like this clearly view themselves as infinitely wiser than politicians and elected representatives they dislike."

Yeah. Democracy is a bitch, ain't it?

"It is nothing for the merest clerk or perhaps high school student to presume and present themselves as wiser in world and national affairs than Presidents and entire Administrations!"

Telly, what you deride here is a key precept upon which this great nation was founded. As a patriot, I consider this to be tantamount to your soiling my flag. You are on thin fucking ice, pal.

You still haven't answered my earlier questions (nor do I expect you will), but I'll rephrase one of them for you here and now: are you, in fact, a U.S. Citizen?

That's a binary question with a binary answer. Take your time. Think carefully...

If you are an American, then you are an American who espouses the Divine Right of Kings. I don't know whether or not this constitutes treason, but it puts you squarely in league with the lobsterbacks we threw out in 1783.

If you're not an American, and you're merely haranguing us from abroad, then I take no small comfort in the knowledge that your support of the McCain/Palin ticket will never translate itself into an actual tallied vote for them.

If you're not an American, and you're spewing this authoritarian trash at us from our own fair soil... please get the fuck out of my country.

First off, I find it deeply amusing how you at once try to argue that criticism of Sarah Palin and John McCain is the hubris of overgrown teenagers while insulting Barack Obama at every opportunity. Who are you to question a man who has been in the U.S. Senate for four years and the Illinois State Senate before that? Surely *you* of all people could not be guilty of overbearing pride by your own definition?

Anyway, getting on to the real substance of the matter, I must agree, these despicable teenagers really think too much of themselves. Questioning authority and dogma never leads to good results, does it? You know, unless you exclude things like capitalism, social programs, civil rights, democracy (though I doubt you're a fan of that one), the advancement of science, and the general march of progress throughout the world.

I don't know about you, but I would trade your "high culture" for a world with less prejudice and more understanding, less war and more diplomacy, and less exploitation and more cooperation than the world 50 or 100 years ago any day. You do not seem to understand that no system has ever worked as well as democracy for any class of people, and that democracy is fundamentally based on second guessing authority when you believe them mistaken, which very clearly they can be and have been. It is not hubris to question them, it is the right and the patriotic duty of every citizen. Sometimes these citizens are wrong. But sometimes they aren't, and if discourse does not take place, including discourse even with certain brands of bizarre ideologues like yourself, the mistakes of authority will never be corrected.

I have no particular disdain for Sarah Palin (I think she is calculating, ambitious, and ignorant rather than stupid) and in many ways I have a deep respect for John McCain. There was a time when I considered voting for him. I just think that Palin is utterly unqualified to be President should the need arise, considering that to all indications she does in fact know less about national and international politics than I do on many issues, and she certainly knows less about the way the world works. I am allowed my opinion and that is not that *I* am necessarily more qualified than Sarah Palin for the presidency, but that *Joe Biden* is, and that *Barack Obama* would be more successful than John McCain as a president.