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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:09am

  
  

  Yes, not every argument of yours is a straw man, but many of them in fact are. You're as bad as those you purport to ridicule and expose.

   

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  Dark Helmet (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:18am

  
  

  Re:

  "Yes, not every argument of yours is a straw man, but many of them in fact are. You're as bad as those you purport to ridicule and expose."
  
  So you're saying that her being a woman means she can't write about straw MEN? How the hell can you say that? Writing about Straw Men is Nina's, nay, every woman's natural right.
  
  Your campaign of mysoginism ends here, my friend. No longer can you rail against women just because they have boobs and such....

   

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  inc, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:36am

  
  

  Re: Re:

  Boys have a penis, and girls have a vagina.

   

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  The eejit (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 11:18am

  
  

  Re: Re: Re:

  But women have the mystical art of Vaginamancy. Which is both awesome and horrifying to men everywhere.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 1:11pm

  
  

  Re: Re: Re:

  Depending on which part of the country you live in, some girls might have a penis too.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 17th, 2011 @ 7:12am

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Japan?

   

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  The Mighty Buzzard (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:52am

  
  

  Re: Re:

  Funny and a straw man argument. I give it an 8.5.

   

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  Fizzy Lizzy, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 3:00pm

  
  

  Re: Re:

  Your comment is nothing more than another strawm... bah, nevermind.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 4:39pm

  
  

  Re: Re:

  That strawman went up in flames.

   

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  Fizzy Lizzy, Sep 18th, 2011 @ 8:33pm

  
  

  Re: Re: Re:

  "That strawman went up in flames."
  
  You mean the golden flames of enlightenment which burns away the ignorance? Yup! :^p

   

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  Cowardly Anon, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:27am

  
  

  Re:

  Dude, lighten up a bit would ya? It's a comic.

   

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  Tallbonez, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:12am

  
  

  Not every but...

  most arguments in the media and on the internet are. Having not seen the original argument and it's rhetorical value, he could very well be accurate.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 18th, 2011 @ 5:36am

  
  

  Re: Not every but...

  that would by definition include TechDirt then !

   

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  Lyle Verbilion, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:18am

  
  

  Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

  no comment

   

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  Cowardly Anon, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:31am

  
  

  My haiku :)
  
  People use this term,
  But they don't know what it means.....
  Wikipedia.

   

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  Suggestions, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:37am

  
  

  A way to improve your site

  I honestly dislike these comics, they're kinda painful to look at. Could you please provide a way to filter these from the site feed, a check box of some sort who's contents are saved as a cookie that would allow me to not have to see these comics?
  
  Thank you very much.
  ~~~A reader

   

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  AJ, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:39am

  
  

  Re: A way to improve your site

  +1 Douch-Bag

   

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  The Infamous Joe (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:51am

  
  

  Re: A way to improve your site

  No one forces you to read them.
  
  +2 Douche-Bag.

   

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  Kingster (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 11:05am

  
  

  Re: A way to improve your site

  There is. But only if you join at the "TechDirt Paywall" level.
  
  OK, maybe not. But that's how I would implement it.

   

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  Rich, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 12:25pm

  
  

  Re: A way to improve your site

  The amusing thing is you probably thought you were being so funny when you wrote that, giggling to yourself like a schoolgirl.
  
  -3, double-plus douche bag.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 17th, 2011 @ 7:13am

  
  

  Re: Re: A way to improve your site

  Don't worry, he'll be unpesoned shortly.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 17th, 2011 @ 7:14am

  
  

  Re: Re: A way to improve your site

  Don't worry, he'll be unpersoned shortly.

   

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  A Dan (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 1:08pm

  
  

  Re: A way to improve your site

  I can understand the sentiment. I would probably filter out the "Daily Dirt" posts and possibly the weekly "favorite stories" and "best comments" meta-posts if it were easy.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 17th, 2011 @ 12:25pm

  
  

  Re: Re: A way to improve your site

  At least someone agrees. What's with all the toxic hostility from everyone else? I am being polite, and I am not saying that you all don't have a right to enjoy these comics if you like them. I am simply saying that I do not like them and would appreciate a filter option.

   

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  Prisoner 201, Sep 17th, 2011 @ 2:39am

  
  

  Re: A way to improve your site

  Dear A Reader,
  
  I find your post so utterly stupid and devoid of value that I feel life draining from my body. I estimate that as much as three days of my life was lost.
  
  To prevent this loss of life, could you please provide a filter that allows me to not have to see your comments, on this site or any other, forever?
  
  Thank you very much.
  --Prisoner 201

   

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  darryl, Sep 18th, 2011 @ 5:46am

  
  

  Re: Re: A way to improve your site

  that I feel life draining from my body
  
  Next time you getthat feeling, embrace it, run with it, and follow it to it's conclusion.
  
  It appears clear your life is not that valuable anyway.
  
  But there is a great deal to be critical of when it comes to the quality of how material is presented on TD.
  
  Mike has yet to work out the "brief summary" of an artical that if you want to read you click on, no instead you come here are have to wait for 30 odd (sometimes very odd) articles IN FULL have to load..
  
  If you want to click back to HOME, you have to freaking LOAD them all again.
  
  For someone who claims to know everything about the internet and 'connecting with fans' you do you piss poor job at your own site and customer satisifaction..... Mike...

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 18th, 2011 @ 9:09am

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: A way to improve your site

  To be fair that's only a problem for those of us without broadband.
  
  Unfortunately broadband access in the united states is falsely reported to be much higher then it, in truth, is.

   

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  darryl, Sep 19th, 2011 @ 2:16am

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re: A way to improve your site

  it is a problem because the web master of this web site thinks it is acceptable to offer the bare minimum of quality of service.
  
  Or it is something that is technically beyond him, or there is a financial incentive for him doing it this old and inefficient way.
  
  I believe Mike is of the belief that quantity is far more important than quality. We get alot of the first, but very little of the later.

   

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  Mr. Smarta**, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:37am

  
  

  A little gender neutrality here

  What's with the gender identification. It should be "Straw person". Stating man or woman, or his or her, or whatever leans toward sexism. Anything 'man' or 'woman' needs to be changed to 'person' in order to avoid a sexist situation.
  
  Some proposals:
  "That man over there..." changes to "That person over there..."
  Man-hole cover becomes person-hole cover
  A "Ladies' man" becomes a "person's person".
  Manager becomes Personager
  Mandate becomes Personadate
  History becomes persontory
  Herman becomes Personperson
  Mandatory becomes persondatory
  
  If we're going to remove sexism from the english language, we need to get serious about it.
  
  ... What was the topic again?

   

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  Dark Helmet (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:41am

  
  

  Re: A little gender neutrality here

  ....George Carlin would like his bit back.

   

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  Mr. Smarta**, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:48am

  
  

  Re: Re: A little gender neutrality here

  Is that where that came from? Stuff like that was floating around my college for years. Someone with too much time on their hands even posted a three-hundred line or so list of all th words changed. The ones above are the only ones I could remember.
  
  Good to know, thanks. I'll never use that again anywhere. Don't want to get sued for copyright infringement or anything.

   

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  Dark Helmet (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:58am

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: A little gender neutrality here

  "Good to know, thanks. I'll never use that again anywhere. Don't want to get sued for copyright infringement or anything."
  
  I'm pretty sure you're safe from George suing you :)
  
  From IMDB of his standup:
  
  George Carlin: When it comes to changing the language, I think they make some good points. Because we do think in language. And so the quality of our thoughts and ideas can only be as good as the quality of our language. So maybe some of this patriarchal shit ought to go away. I think "spokesman" ought to be "spokesperson." I think "chairman" ought to be "chairperson." I think "mankind" ought to be "humankind." But they take it too far, they take themselves too seriously, they exaggerate. They want me to call that thing in the street a "personhole cover." I think that's taking it a little bit too far!
  [laughter]
  George Carlin: What would you call a ladies' man, a "person's person"? That would make a he-man an "it-person." Little kids would be afraid of the "boogie-person." They'd look up in the sky and see the "person in the moon." Guys would say "come back here and fight like a person," and we'd all sing "For It's a Jolly Good Person," that's the kind of thing you would hear on "Late Night with David Letterperson"! You know what I mean?

   

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  Nina Paley (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 5:20pm

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re: A little gender neutrality here

  Going too far is when you call a male mailman a person personperson.

   

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  darryl, Sep 18th, 2011 @ 6:11am

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: A little gender neutrality here

  it would be non-gender specific, non-race specific mail delivery official.
  
  but it is not PC to say that a 'manager' cannot be either gender.
  
  Nina do you consider yourself an 'artist' or an "artistess"?
  
  There is nothing incorrect in PC if you call your mail man a mail man if he happens to be a man !!!
  
  Or a straw man a man if the effigy of the person is of a man.
  
  Or a police man a police man if he is a man.
  
  A "fireman" is a title, not a gender, just like "manager" is a title and not a gender, you can be a 'fireman' and be female.
  
  that is why 'best man' is still a man and is correct and PC because that is his title.
  
  and a "male mailman" would be a 'person mail person" according to this odd line of thought you have :)
  
  Unles you think the stuff you get in your mail box has a gender !!!!..
  
  Mail and Male,,, if your going to try to be funny, at least get it right !!!

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 12:41pm

  
  

  Re: Re: A little gender neutrality here

  "....Person Person would like person's bit back"
  
  FTFY

   

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  mike allen (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:56am

  
  

  Re: A little gender neutrality here

  In the words of the British prime minister "calm down dear"

   

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  Richard (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 11:33am

  
  

  Re: A little gender neutrality here

  "That man over there..." changes to "That person over there..."
  
  "That man over there..." changes to "That perchild over there..."
  
  and btw the "man" in "manager" is a contraction on the latin "manus" meaning hand and is gender neutral already.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 12:42pm

  
  

  Re: Re: A little gender neutrality here

  Are you intentionally missing the point of the joke to try to tell your own joke or...?

   

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  MrWilson, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 1:10pm

  
  

  Re: Re: A little gender neutrality here

  If we're getting that technical, "history" is of Latin origin and "his" is of German origin. The "his..." in "history" isn't related. Same with mandate, mandatory, and manager.
  
  If you're dividing Herman into "her" and "man," it'd be "person's person" since "her" is possessive.
  
  Also, "man" originally meant "human" or "person" and only later was used more specifically for the masculine gender.
  
  Woman comes from the term "wifman" which meant "female human."
  
  People who want to change language usage really need to understand the underlying etymology before they go off on how some terms are inherently sexist.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 1:21pm

  
  

  Re: Re: A little gender neutrality here

  We clearly need to retroactivly change Latin such that the latin word for "hand" is "personus".

   

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  Jesse (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 10:47am

  
  

  Let us not discriminate against the women made of straw.

   

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  The eejit (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 11:20am

  
  

  Re:

  But they're not as scary, y'know. Something to do with this Rule 34 malarkey.

   

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  pegr, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 11:41am

  
  

  A counter opinion

  To counter anonymous:
  
  I love Nina's cartoons and look forward to seeing them here. I often click through to her site to catch the latest. Perhaps anon is one of the anti-mike trolls we see here so often? Meh, if you want your arguments to be taken seriously, make them better. Oh, and don't be anon.
  
  (Did I just feed a troll?)

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 12:13pm

  
  

  As always, Nina's cartoons are, well, more of the same trash.
  
  Although I do have to say that the character on the left does seem a lot like Mike Masnick. WTG Nina, you just punk'd the boss.

   

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  Rich, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 12:30pm

  
  

  Re:

  Wow, can you wipe your own ass, too?

   

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  The eejit (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 12:55pm

  
  

  Re:

  And thus, the comic is proven.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 1:13pm

  
  

  Re: Re:

  The only thing proven is your lack of a sense of humor.

   

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  Rich, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 1:36pm

  
  

  Re: Re: Re:

  Wouldn't that be *your* lack of a sense of humor? You're the one trashing the comic.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 1:49pm

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re:

  What can I say? It's not even funny, even if you are completely drunk on the kool-aid. It is really low end.
  
  Yet there is some unintentional humor in it, because it captures Mike Masnick so well.

   

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  Jeffrey Nonken (profile), Sep 16th, 2011 @ 3:09pm

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  "It's not even funny..."
  
  And so you're claiming your tastes are definitive? Arrogant presumption.

   

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  The eejit (profile), Sep 17th, 2011 @ 12:11am

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Again, strawman, meet scarecrow.

   

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  Prisoner 201, Sep 17th, 2011 @ 2:45am

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  You do realise that "funny" is subjective?
  
  That what you think is totally not funny might be funny to someone else?
  
  Or are you so naive that you believe that your opinions are by default "right"?

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 17th, 2011 @ 7:25am

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  I understand funny is subjective, and I was expressing my opinion. Am I not allowed to have one?
  
  I do note that, even in this thread, that there are others who just don't find the cartoon funny at all. While I wouldn't attempt to broadbrush anything (that is Mike's job), I would suspect that put in the public eye and exposed to 1000 random people who are not techdirt readers, the vast majority of them wouldn't find much humor in the toon.
  
  It is perhaps the reason why they aren't in wider circulation or referenced outside of this very small circle of people.
  
  Taste is subjective. Accept that I also have the right to taste and the right to express my opinion.
  
  My opinions are right by default for me, but not for you. That is why they have my name attached to them, and not yours.

   

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  Prisoner 201, Sep 17th, 2011 @ 8:39pm

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  Maybe it's because I am not a native english speaker, but I would expect "I think it's not even funny" or "I think it's the low end" (or similar) if you were expressing an opinion.
  
  You come across (again perhaps its a language barrier thing) as trying to "educate" and smack-down rather than just having an honest opinion.
  
  Your "1000 people" example highlights this - you defend your opinion by some made up statistics - when (as you say) an opionion on something as subjective as humor doesn't need defending.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 19th, 2011 @ 10:54am

  
  

  Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

  how many of those 1000 people could even explain what a 'strawman argument' is? The comic is humorous to those that understand the concept and the constant 'strawman arguments' posted by shills on forums all over the internet every day.
  
  Stop 1000 people on the street and ask them to explain the fallacy of a straw-man argument. The number that can correctly explain the concept are probably the same ones that would think the comic humorous.
  
  I don't care what the joke/humor is, if you have to explain the concepts and underlying terms used to someone... they are not going to find it funny.
  
  
  There are only 10 type of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't.... Not really funny at all if you don't understand binary now, is it? Just sounds like someone who doesn't know how to support all his facts... claiming there are 10 types of people but only explaining two of the types, I mean what is that guy thinking? That's totally not funny at all.... Oh, 10 = 2 in binary... I get it now....

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 1:52pm

  
  

  Re:

  it is funny because it is true.

   

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  John Doe, Sep 16th, 2011 @ 9:45pm

  
  

  Dumbass - You just Made a Straw Man Argument in your simple comic

  Original Argument: Mike's 9/11 Argument is a straw man argument.
  
  Your STRAW MAN ARGUMENT: Not All of Mike's arguments are straw man arguments. (ALL dead clocks, even Mike, are right twice a day, and many of Mike's arguments have other problems.)
  
  A GOOD ARGUMENT: Mike's 9/11 argument is NOT a straw man argument because he correctly represents the other person's position.
  
  Nice drawing Nina, but if you believe the BS on this blog, stay in school or stick to drawing.

   

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  Anonymous Coward, Sep 19th, 2011 @ 2:06am

  
  

  is it funny or not... ??

  NOT

   

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