Worst of Social Justice

[chitoryu12]

And blubber is NOT the same thing as fat. Blubber is thicker and more rich in blood vessels than adipose tissue (or "body fat"), which makes it much more vital than fat for the mammals that have it.

The reason people are getting obese nowadays has nothing to do with the Aquatic Ape theory and everything to do with our lives becoming more sedentary as life gets easier and our diets not changing over quickly enough from the ones that are very high in fat, sugar, and calories. We're simply consuming more than we need.

[solar.]

Yet their large amounts of viable meat would make them susceptible to the new predators, the Flying Carnivorous Monkeys of the American Islands, controlled by an insane Sarah Palin who calls herself the Wicked Bitch of the West!

No, you've got to have alliteration. She is the Bicked Bitch of the Best.

:3

[Sigmaleph]

Yeah, that's going to give the "fat is healthy" movement the scientific cred it needs, citing the aquatic ape hypothesis.

[mellenORL]

I found the theory engaging when I first read about it, too. Here's the author of the theory, the late Elaine Morgan, explaining it in a TED video.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwPoM7lGYHw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwPoM7lGYHw</a>

[niam2023]

They do realize if they really push this, they're just gonna give the bullies more material in the vein of "beached whale" insults, right?

[Sigmaleph]

I found the theory engaging when I first read about it, too. Here's the author of the theory, the late Elaine Morgan, explaining it in a TED video.

I was being sarcastic. As far as I can tell, most biologists think it doesn't have much going for it.

(haven't watched the TED video yet, will eventually)

[The Right Honourable Mlle Antéchrist]

I found the theory engaging when I first read about it, too. Here's the author of the theory, the late Elaine Morgan, explaining it in a TED video.

I was being sarcastic. As far as I can tell, most biologists think it doesn't have much going for it.

(haven't watched the TED video yet, will eventually)

It's dubious, at best. The actual hypothesis -- that our ancestors spent more time in and around water than other apes, thus developing certain adaptations -- isn't full-on crackpot, although it lacks sufficient evidence, but there are quite a few nuts who have ran with it and come up with some pretty insane stuff.

[Askold]

I found the theory engaging when I first read about it, too. Here's the author of the theory, the late Elaine Morgan, explaining it in a TED video.

I was being sarcastic. As far as I can tell, most biologists think it doesn't have much going for it.

(haven't watched the TED video yet, will eventually)

Pity. It is an exciting and fun theory that does have some merit but the boring old savannah monkeys theory more likely to be true.

Then again, this wouldn't be the first time that a scientific breakthrough is ignored because it went against the old theories AND was made by a woman. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Matzinger Though her theory has flaws as well.)

[mellenORL]

I found the theory engaging when I first read about it, too. Here's the author of the theory, the late Elaine Morgan, explaining it in a TED video.

I was being sarcastic. As far as I can tell, most biologists think it doesn't have much going for it.

(haven't watched the TED video yet, will eventually)

Pity. It is an exciting and fun theory that does have some merit but the boring old savannah monkeys theory more likely to be true.

Then again, this wouldn't be the first time that a scientific breakthrough is ignored because it went against the old theories AND was made by a woman. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Matzinger Though her theory has flaws as well.)

I would definitely suggest watching her TED talk. She did make excellent points, and was not a crackpot as far as her scientific credentials go. Most people outside of anthropology just "know" she's wrong from what they've read of the majority opinion, held for close to a century, about ancient apes and early hominid ancestors, not having been interested enough to go beyond their initial doubts to actually read up on the theory in question.

There is a pretty strong tendency in the life sciences for vituperative argument and disdainful dismissal without first giving new ideas some hard thought. It took decades of vigorous, and sometimes raging, disparaging argument for the now-accepted fact that many, if not just about all, dinosaurs were warm blooded. This actually happened during my own lifetime, as I was taught in school that they were cold blooded back in the '60's and '70's. One of the current hot-and-heavy arguments about saurians is whether the T-Rex was primarily a scavenger Versus a predator. Those teeny foreleg "arms" seem kinda sketchy for either an ambush predator, or sprint/chase capture predation. But, they would work okay for steadying a Rex as it leaned into a big carcass, gnashing away and crushing bones with it's peg shaped, massive, non-serrated teeth.

Scientists in the hard science fields like astronomy and physics are comparably quite a bit more pragmatic and civil in their discourse about new theories, since the maths can be replicated or audited, and the discoveries are repeatable and falsifiable without so much reliance on personal opinion about existing theories.

[Thejebusfire]

So let me get this straight, white people have no culture but they're also forcing everyone else to adapt to their culture.

[Witchyjoshy]

I'm more concerned by the fact that "white people" (read: Western europeans and Americans) force their culture on other people than the idea that they have no culture.

(Personally, I think saying that white people "have no culture" is like saying that "white culture is the standard", which is... ... heh, "problematic")

[Ironchew]

I'm more concerned by the fact that "white people" (read: Western europeans and Americans) force their culture on other people than the idea that they have no culture.

(Personally, I think saying that white people "have no culture" is like saying that "white culture is the standard", which is... ... heh, "problematic")

I bet if you asked most people in developing countries if they felt an external "white culture" was imposed on them, they'd give you funny looks. So-called white culture is apparently incredibly popular and you'll see xenophobic cultures either adapt to that or die out.

[I am lizard]

I'm more concerned by the fact that "white people" (read: Western europeans and Americans) force their culture on other people than the idea that they have no culture.

(Personally, I think saying that white people "have no culture" is like saying that "white culture is the standard", which is... ... heh, "problematic")

I bet if you asked most people in developing countries if they felt an external "white culture" was imposed on them, they'd give you funny looks. So-called white culture is apparently incredibly popular and you'll see xenophobic cultures either adapt to that or die out.

They would be slightly miffed about the whole "multinational corporations fucking there natural recourses and testing drugs on them" thing, but it's more fun to bitch about culture apricot.

[Witchyjoshy]

I'm more concerned by the fact that "white people" (read: Western europeans and Americans) force their culture on other people than the idea that they have no culture.

(Personally, I think saying that white people "have no culture" is like saying that "white culture is the standard", which is... ... heh, "problematic")

I bet if you asked most people in developing countries if they felt an external "white culture" was imposed on them, they'd give you funny looks. So-called white culture is apparently incredibly popular and you'll see xenophobic cultures either adapt to that or die out.

I bet if you asked them how they felt about white people fucking with their culture and lands, they'd have words to say.

[I am lizard]

I'm more concerned by the fact that "white people" (read: Western europeans and Americans) force their culture on other people than the idea that they have no culture.

(Personally, I think saying that white people "have no culture" is like saying that "white culture is the standard", which is... ... heh, "problematic")

I bet if you asked most people in developing countries if they felt an external "white culture" was imposed on them, they'd give you funny looks. So-called white culture is apparently incredibly popular and you'll see xenophobic cultures either adapt to that or die out.

I bet if you asked them how they felt about white people fucking with their culture and lands, they'd have words to say.

As I said.