Post an innocuous topic most likely to turn into a lava-hot, blood boiling flame war

[charlie and algernon]

preferably one that has NOT already turned into a lava-hot, blood boiling flame war.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. Nose hair

If people feel as strongly about nose hair as other unnecessary and unslightly hair, that'd be a huge flamewar.

[Dr. Strange]

2. Paying taxes is good.

[ipfilter]

3. It only cost me $35 to fill up my Tahoe yesterday.

While I was pumping some dude wearing Birkenstocks was giving me a dirty look.

[SCantiGOP]

16. that's nothing

I just put over $80 in my Hummer, and when I figured out the mileage it rounded off to zero MPG.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. My favorite sport is

cheerleading!

[Rosie1223]

10. Freeper! You should be

bass fishing!

[Pierre.Suave]

82. is that Bass Fishin, or...

Ass Fishin?

:P

[DBoon]

84. You mean it's not NASCAR?

nt

[TZ]

5. My cats hate dogs...

[madinmaryland]

6. Wouldn't that be "terrified"?

Well two of our three cats would be. The other one would be curious of the dog.

:shrug:

[TZ]

7. Maybe.

But almost the only time I hear them growl is when I dog is barking outside....

[DBoon]

85. My dog loves cats

he'll swap recipes anytime

[Lil Missy]

8. Gay people screw small animals.

[FLAprogressive]

46. "DU Guide to Fitting In" :P

[lazyriver]

9. Cats: cute companions or barely domestic filthy weasels. Discuss.

[Symarip]

11. All I know is this:

When someone is buried under ten feet of snow from an avalanche, they sure as hell don't send in the Rescue Persians to dig him or her out.

[TZ]

14. "Rescue Persians"!

:rofl:

[LeftyMom]

12. Those would be ferrets.

California specific flamewar: ferret legalization

[redqueen]

15. Ferrets are illegal in CA?

[LeftyMom]

17. When ferrets are outlawed, only outlaws will keep ferrets.

They're illegal in California, but apparently they're still pretty common because a lot of the pet stores have ferret food.

[redqueen]

25. I think they're so cute, and thought about getting some...

that was before I knew they smelled like "unwashed taint" though.
:rofl:

[LeftyMom]

29. They are cute.

Some friends have rescue ferrets, and they're really fun, but their vet expenses are huge. Apparently it's a rare ferret that doesn't get diagnosed with at least one kind of cancer over the course of their lifetime.

[charlie and algernon]

18. seriously?

why does california hate ferrets?

[ipfilter]

19. Because they smell bad?

[LeftyMom]

23. They do smell like unwashed taint, but I think the concern is that they'll get free and eat wildlife

:shrug:

[geardaddy]

31. I think that's the redeeming quality of Mao-tai

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maotai

[Danger Mouse]

87. My nephews used to have ferrets. Adorable but oh god they smell too awful.

No thanks.

[Shell Beau]

13. Crack should be legal

:rofl:

Not really innocuous!

[no name no slogan]

20. Yeah, then I could finally hire a plumber again

nt

[motely36]

21. people with children should pay higher school taxes

[MadBadger]

22. I dont think Swimming, Track and Field, Boxing, Wrestling, of most of the Olympic Games are Sports

Thats always gotten me into some nice arguments.

[BeachBaby]

24. Gender roles.

[XemaSab]

39. Whether gender traits are innate or learned

:hide:

[sammythecat]

26. I'll give it a try

Here goes: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/kitchenarts-how-to-use-a-sharpening-steel/2155260247

[LSdemocrat]

27. So what did everyone think of American Idol last night?

I'd like to see Felicia, Scott, and Lil go through.

[littlebit]

28. Ikea sucks

It's just a store full of cheap Chinese crap.

[woo me with science]

30. PTSD is overdiagnosed,

and much of the "treatment" of it is dangerous, creating and worsening rather than improving symptoms. Our veterans are at risk because of being funnelled into PTSD treatment programs that may hurt them rather than helping, because the field of trauma treatment is infested with woo and garbage ideas like the need to recover "repressed" memories.

We should demand treatment for our veterans, but only after the trauma field is purged of the charlatans and there is a strict rule that all treatments must be evidence-based.

[tigereye]

36. I recently heard that some vets were being prescribed medications to

repress dreams - sounded too much like an old X-File episode to me... somewhat alarming.


From what I have read and heard, there aren't nearly enough trained practitioners available to treat all the newer veterans who are diagnosed....



Are you talking about EMDR? Or something else?

[woo me with science]

37. Well, yes...

EMDR is a garbage therapy unsupported by science, as are many of the woo "treatments" (e.g., thought field therapy, "narrative" therapy, abreaction) commonly used in the treatment of PTSD.

Most people don't realize that the field of trauma treatment is heavily infested with practitioners who learned bad and inaccurate information about trauma in the 80's and 90's, during the height of the repressed memory movement.

If you scan newspaper articles today about the treatment of veterans, you will see a shocking number of references to veterans who are recovering "memories" of traumas of which they were not even aware before going into treatment. Everyone should be alarmed that the same incompetent therapists who taught women to retrieve repressed memories of childhood abuse (and in the process turned them into dysfunctional, permanent victims) and caused the satanic ritual abuse scares and repressed memory scandals in the 80's and 90's are now getting their claws into our veterans.

A scary number of trauma therapists are operating from antiquated concepts like "repression," "body memories," and the belief that the mind stores memories like a tape recorder and represses them when they are too overwhelming. None of this is supported by science. Most trauma therapists operating today have never taken a graduate course in neuroscience or memory and have no idea that the garbage they feed patients has no basis in science. And even the ones who don't go looking for repressed traumas per se are most likely using therapy techniques that actually enhance, rather than reduce, the trauma response.

There was a study done fairly recently that compared the adjustment of two groups of people after exposure to a violent disaster. In this case, half of the group was funnelled for brief therapy with a trauma therapist and half was not; severity of presenting PTSD symptoms between the groups was comparable. A year later, the group that had seen a trauma therapist was MORE likely to show persisting or even exacerbated trauma symptomatology than the group that received no treatment at all.

Yes, PTSD treatment should be available to those who need it, but we need to make very sure that the treatments being used are evidence-based and actually improve rather than worsen symptoms. Trauma therapy is a sick business right now. For several decades it evolved disastrously into a woo-based machine that made countless patients sicker and turned many into permanent victims. The field needs to be completely rehauled (e.g., by purging the recovered memory charlatans and requiring evidence-based treatments), and THEN services offered liberally to our veterans. We should all be very concerned that they receive quality medical care and not some garbage therapy for PTSD based in woo.

[tigereye]

42. EMDR has some research behind it, actually

I have several friends in the MH field who practice it... the woman who developed it had a background in cognitive psychology, if I am recalling correctly. Narrative therapy also has some validity....although I am not familiar with how it is used with PTSD/veterans.





here is a link that talks about what the most knowledgeable and research- oriented practitioners are doing and recommending...

http://www.apa.org/monitor/jan08/ptsd.html

[woo me with science]

47. She had a degree from an unaccredited university.

There have been many recent devastating critiques of the research that purports to support EMDR. The mechanism by which it is claimed to work actually keeps shifting in the literature, because each time a mechanism is offered, it is shot down by researchers who actually know something about neuroscience and memory. For example, original claims that the EMDR eye movements mimicked the movements of the eyes during restorative REM sleep were shown to be absolute nonsense. Ditto for the "left brain/right brain" explanations. Just like supporters of other woo therapies, EMDR defenders often cite science they don't truly understand in order to try to legitimize the treatment. It is not necessarily their fault that they get the science wrong, but it is the fault of their governing boards for allowing pseudoscience explanations to persist relatively unchallenged.

Actually, the most recent research on EMDR is particularly devastating, because it is revealing that the eye movements upon which the entire treatment is based are not even associated with any of the positive outcomes that have been reported. In other words, even if there is some positive result from EMDR (which is NOT clear at all because of the devastatingly poor methodology of much of the research), there is some other factor, such as a placebo effect or suggestion, that is causing it.

Most clinicians with actual neuroscience and memory backgrounds are highly skeptical of and even disgusted by the widespread use of EMDR, as well as the fluff scrutiny it has received in what is supposedly a serious mental health field. It is an outrage that insurance companies pay for it at all. Like recovered memory therapy, it is a technique that has had more politics behind it than valid science.

"Narrative therapy" is not an evidence-based tool for any psychiatric disorders. You may argue its worth in counseling, perhaps, but it is clearly a very dangerous tool in the hands of recovered memory practitioners.

[tigereye]

52. I have more of a CBT orientation....since that works best for most problems

I don't use EMDR myself - I'm uncomfortable with what I have read about it, and I'm not sure I agree that it does what it says it does, but a lot of practitioners and professional organizations take it quite seriously...



Are you a researcher or cognitive neuroscientist? I am always curious about the backgrounds of people who make these kinds of critiques.

[geardaddy]

32. Target is a red company. n/t

[cwydro]

33. Matt Lauer

is awesome.

[LibDemAlways]

34. Misbehaving children in restaurants - and, yes, it has been

done to death here but is a guaranteed flamewar ignitor every time.

[LanternWaste]

35. I collect (wait for it...) Chick Tracts!!!

I have a very large collection of (wait for it...) Chick Tracts!!! The centerpiece is my 1972 edition of "This Was Your Life".


(What I just stated may, or may not be true :evilgrin: )

[Ptah]

38. .0001 is pronounced "one tenth"

[ElboRuum]

51. Yep. That one will do it. You win the thread.

[XemaSab]

40. ANYTHING involving child-rearing

:scared:

[LeftyMom]

45. We rode to our daily molestation appointment at the Catholic school tied to the roof of Mom's wagon

even when there was golf ball sized hail outside, and all we had for lunch was a thermos full of bleach, and our parents would shoot us in the kneecaps if we sassed them, we came out fine.

[geardaddy]

69. You had a thermos full of bleach?

You were lucky. All we had was a sharp stick in one eye and a blunt one in the other.

[EastTennesseeDem]

41. You know something? GD is a pretty nice, laid-back place.

[Lost in CT]

43. The Incas were worse than North Korea.... nt

[XemaSab]

54. Anything implying that ANY culture outside Europe did ANYTHING bad ever

x(

[Lost in CT]

44. Oh and the Toliet Paper makes Bambi cry posts.... nt

[rug]

48. Flavored potato chips.

[ElboRuum]

49. Chuggo spotted at Olive Garden!!!

You said nothing about two of them.

[BarenakedLady]

50. Butterflies

and rainbows.

ie. stuff that comes out my butt.

[denbot]

53. I am Native American

All your bases are now belong to me!

[Lionel Mandrake]

55. Abortion is good for the planet.

The earth is dying of cancer. We're the cancer.

[Lost in CT]

59. Abortion lowers the crime rate... nt

[Lionel Mandrake]

60. You're probably right.

The alternative to abortion is an unwanted child, who is likely to have a lousy childhood, which correlates with criminal behavior.

[Lost in CT]

62. I inspired myself to post this in GD... I hope an intelligent discussion results.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5192028

[Lionel Mandrake]

64. That would be nice.

Unfortunately, those mired in religion are incapable of rational thought on this topic.

[Lost in CT]

65. It got locked and I was accused of being pro-eugenics... nt

[Lionel Mandrake]

73. That's a typical "pro-life" snarl.

If abortion equals murder, then you and I must be like Hitler, or maybe Satan.

Furthermore, since this life is merely preparation for the hereafter, who cares what happens to planet Earth?

So say the right-to-lifers.

[geardaddy]

68. Nice post Bill Bennett. n/t

[Lost in CT]

72. Good lord outside of Gambling and really bad literature we are all supposed to read

I can't remember what Bennett said...

I remember he was like a white Bill Cosby without the pudding references but honestly I
am drawing a blank here.

[geardaddy]

75. He said something about

aborting African-American (he used the term "black") babies would make the crime rate go down.

At least I think it was Bennett.

On edit, it was him.

linky thing: http://mediamatters.org/items/200509280006

[Lost in CT]

76. Well that is a kettle of an entirely different fish

What a Fuckwad....

[datasuspect]

56. just mention the word "lifestyle"

independent of any context. this one sets off radars.

[MrCoffee]

66. Wrong.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x8579143


Nothing.

[ipfilter]

57. Rosewood or Maple?

A regular debate amongst the guitar crowd.

[Twillig]

93. You got something against ebony?

Nice post Malmsteen!

:-)

[Tommy_Carcetti]

58. What's your favorite breed of dog?

Not only would you end up with people arguing over their favorite breed of dog, but then you'd have people upset that you are talking about purebreed dogs.

[Sky Masterson]

61. When I think __Sky Masterson__, I think?

It worked in the past. Several threads at once too. :hide:

[Pacifist Patriot]

63. Mention breastfeeding and you're pretty much guaranteed a flame war.

in public, v. bottle, is breast milk vegan....

[omega minimo]

67. Bigotry is bigotry

[sniffa]

70. Dysfunctional addicts ruin it for the functional addicts.

There, I said it.

[kimmerspixelated]

71. "I have a hot date with a normal person."

[kentauros]

74. Advances in Human Evolution

through the Seven Waves of Children, 11 pods (soul families) per Wave.

with links!

The First Wave of the New Children - inaccessible archive
The Second Wave of New Children
The Third Wave of the New Children
The Fourth Wave of the New Children - inaccessible archive
The Fifth Wave of the New Children
The Sixth Wave of the New Children - inaccessible archive
The Seventh Wave of the New Children







Even better: I truly believe this

So there ya go, 77 different ways to turn into an Indigo Meltdown

[omega minimo]

89. wow

so much there.

The first is that they are all unifiers, and this creates them to want to create unity amongst all people and creatures through all of their experiences in life. They hold grief deeply as souls when unity is not present within the environment they live in, and they are often highly sensitive to new environments if they are lacking in unity consciousness. Therefore, if people in their environments are not working together or living together in harmony, it affects the consciousness of these children deeply, and they are often only able to experience peace through creating something that causes all beings to unite and work together for the highest good of each other.

Sound familiar?

The second most common and unusual energy that each of these children hold, is the power of synergy where experiences take place through synergy. These children are very creative and their creative energies are very advanced, and synergy is created by them merely through their thinking and their thoughts becoming a reality very quickly after this. This is a psychic gift yet is not a psychic gift of communication, but is a gift of creation through synergy. Unusual and beautiful experiences usually manifest around these children if they have open hearts and think of new and beautiful things in their contemplations.

Yeah...........

The third common energy or gift they share is that they have the ability to temper their emotions. They all share a happy temperament naturally, unless their environment is non- peaceful and all beings are not united in their environment, and then they may display energies that will bring beings together to unite. Sometimes this is expressed as tears to bring unity to all beings through their compassionate heart, and at other times if they are not expressing their natural happiness, they may be receiving the group’s energy of unrest and transmitting this to clear it. As these children are unifiers, they do not place beings through labelling them or behind walls. They feel the oneness with all beings and sometimes this oneness is the expression of the unexpressed feelings of those around them.

No shit!?!

In ancient times this gift was called empathy, yet these children are empathic; they are naturally of a happy temperament unless the greater energy of the group of people or creatures in their environment are unhappy. These 11 pods of the 7th Wave of the New Children carry the codes of the oneness for all beings on Earth. They are here to master their environments and change these to a higher vibrational energy so that they may express their unconditional love to all beings – which is their soul purpose in this incarnation. Due to their deep connection to the oneness, they also do not focus on their individual nature as they think in the “we “consciousness or group consciousness about all in life instead of thinking in “me “consciousness about their individuality.

Well. blow me down.

[Starry Messenger]

77. Your hobby (insert here) sucks.

edit: I keep forgetting we can't use pointy brackets in subject lines.

[omega minimo]

78. "Feminism is the radical notion that women are people"

:evilfrown:

[bigwillq]

79. I believe in "pat downs" and metal detecting.

:hide:

:rofl:

:P

:)

;)

[Lil Missy]

80. Circumcision

[struggle4progress]

81. Service in The Lounge is really poor. You wait, like, forever for refills of the

peanut baskets. The coffee is cold. If you want a rum and coke, you have to put the ice in the glass yourself. And nobody knows where the frickin barmaid's gone ...

[DBoon]

83. my pitbull really like Olive Garden leftovers

nt

[Lost in CT]

86. I like showing my receipt at the store exit... It makes me feel safe. nt

[Iggo]

95. That's a good one!

:thumbsup:

[Liberal_in_LA]

88. Hillary got robbed of the presidency

[astral]

90. Neil Diamond is better than Barry Manilow

And not to mention he is (was, anyway!) mouth-watering, drop-dead gorgeous while Barry Manilow kinda has always looked like a fella with a bit of a thyroid problem . . .

[Juche]

91. Bush did some good things in office

The HIV/Malaria program
Medicare part D was flawed but it did help the elderly get medicine
unemployment was low for the first 7 years of the presidency

[sarge43]

92. Impossible to find a topic that hasn't been become

a full nuclear exchange at some time or other.

[Deja Q]

94. Buy a Mac.

:popcorn:

[Z_I_Peevey]

96. Michelle Obama needs a makeover.

:hide:

[Tommy_Carcetti]

97. I like to eat the sausage biscuits at the Cracker Barrel.

[flvegan]

98. Tamales!

[KitchenWitch]

99. Shaving ones privates versus going au naturel.

[NoPasaran]

100. Those folks on Fox and Friends have really nice teeth

[spinbaby]

102. And have you noticed their hair doesn't move?

That's because they're robots.

[old mark]

101. Deep down, Newt is really a nice guy.

Just depends how deep you put him.



mark:evilgrin: