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Hmm... I wondered at the adress when I first read the article. The question remains, is it funny now it's not true? IS there a paradigm shift?

[QUOTE=giles337]The question remains, is it funny now it's not true? IS there a paradigm shift?[/QUOTE]
What do you mean by paradigm shift?

I found it funny, personally, because it was so absurd. True or not, it is ridiculous- 42 midgets fighting a lion for 12 minutes, with 28 of them dying?! Whaaat??!!! That is so silly that it can't be taken seriously, even if it is true.

Does your view change because of a difference in knowledge availible?

Basically, If it was real, it was sick, but because it is a joke, is it any less sick?

Paradigm isn't usually used in the way you did above, which is why I asked about it.

Giles, when you ask if it is more sick because it is a joke, I have to say that I don't think it is sick either way- it is absurd. The set of circumstances is so ridiculous that whether it is true or false doesn't change the fact that it shouldn't be taken seriously. What on earth would 42 midget fighters taking on a lion prove? Why would anyone consider this seriously? It is spectacle, and imo is just silly.

I'm afraid far sillier things have happened You know, like people highjacking planes, and flying them into office blocks. IIRC alot of people thought that was a joke when they firt heard.

Giles, you're being a little dramatic. Playing the 9/11 card isn't something to be done lightly.

However, since we're here, I don't think that comparing the 9/11 to a story about midgets fighting a lion is a good comparison. The midget story involves a voluntary fight between a set of ridiculous participants and a lion because of some trumped up insult. The midget story has limited, unreliable sources on the web, and wasn't even posted on the url of the new sourse that apparently authored it. 9/11 was covered and verified by every major news source in the world. 9/11 caused a sudden and dramatic paradigm shift (this is the more common use of the word) at various political and societal levels globally, and involved the death of thousands of innocent people and a possible clash of cultures scenario. You're trying to force a dichotomy where, as I said, imo there isn't one.

No, he's right, I was in college having lunch on 9/11. Big screen TV, sound was broken, we all thought it was just like that old radio show about the end of the world. Everyone was laughing until they evicted the campus. But that isn't really relevant at all.

I think it's sick, either way still. That's just me though. I'm all for sick jokes and what not, but I dunno. Just like Fable said, people do horrible things to animals for profit. I don't find that amusing.

Mag, I couldn't believe 9/11 either at first. Had that been a joke it would have been a very sick joke. However, there is a big difference between a gladiatorial spectacle and 9/11. Yes, mistreating animals is awful and sick, but to say that the two subjects in question can be reasonably compared is not true.

I was just pointing out that things a lot more serious have been taken as jokes in the past, I did not draw any other comparisons between the two.

Hit in paradigm shidt in google, and you'll soon enough find

under the stimulus of new discoveries, as making a radical change in its philosophy or basic assumptions.

Re arrange it to make sense and you end with "Making a radical change in philosophy or assumptions under the stimulus of new discoveries"

But I'm not gunna argue about it, so any further post on that subject will be respectfully ignores

You hinted at a comparison and didn't elaborate. I responded to what was written. What makes any serious discussion work at SYM is clarity. I've pretty much made all my other views clear- it is an absurd article, and I don't think it warrants serious lamenting.

@paradigm shift

I don't want to argue or beat a dead horse. The term "paradigm shift" is from a book by Thomas Kuhn called The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. It is a very good book. He coins the term and means huge, fundamental changes in worldview that result from a change in fundamental assumption. A good example of this is the Newtonian revolution in physics. Your first use of the word didn't indicate this meaning, so I asked. You can ignore this if you like, but hopefully we're all clear on this subject now.

Indupitably Now back onto topic...

Whoops, Sorry... I thought the address was a bit off, but it seemed real enough, at least I didn't give anyone my credit card numbers.

No need to apologize. That BBC "Grumble of the Week" says that a whole bunch of other people contacted them with complaints. It was a very well done mock up, and it was believable enough to get us all riled up about it.

Sytze and I both thought the story was funny even when we thought it was true, and we both said so. I wouldn't have laughed if I had actually witnessed an event like that, but the idea that someone could do something so stupid was funny. For that reason, the bogus article was funny. Since we believed it was true, it was also very well done.

[QUOTE=blake]I thought the address was a bit off, but it seemed real enough, at least I didn't give anyone my credit card numbers.[/QUOTE]

I also noticed the adress, but I simply thought Newturfers was some news website that linked to BBC.

Well, good to hear it was not true, it was funny that it was so well made so we all believed it.

I usually don't find human stupidity very funny, more exhausting or sad actually. I mean, we have it around us all the time, every day, so if I am to find a specific example of human stupidy funny, it must be because the result is funny in some way, and for me that excludes death and severe injury.

Wow, 28 people dead of stupidity. Of course they were midgets so its more like 14.(yes, I know I am going to hell )
Maybe this will start a new trend of handicapped people verses animals. People in wheelchairs versus a pissed off hippo or people with broken arms against a troup of babboons.
I like to think I deal with tragedy with sick humor to help myself but I fear I am just messed up in the head.

Actually, it was a joke. Maybe you should read the whole thread