Atlas Shrugged: The Mocking

Monday, March 12, 2012

Guest Posting For Dummies

Do you know how you ensure that you will not be replaced by your guest posters? Find some who are even more bubble-headed than you are. Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry tells us that the best way to ensure we have no more giant financial crises is to almost completely deregulate the financial system and Avik S. A. Roy tells us that we need to privatize the VA hospital system to end its monopoly of the military health care system. He also tells us that if birth control is free, women will all want expensive "designer" birth control instead of that less-trendy WalMart birth control. Because buying birth control is like choosing a handbag when you're one of those shopping-happy, shallow-brained women creatures. And speaking of which, don't forget Katherine Mangu-Ward, who wants to privatize space exploration so private business can reap the profits--after the government funds the "real science."

It's quite the brain trust.




(I am still working on Atlas Shrugged. I will be working on Atlas Shrugged forever and forever, world without end. Amen.)

33 comments:

Downpuppy said...

Aaron Carroll (via DeLong) went nuclear over Roy's medicaid rubbish.

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/really-medicaid-again/

& then tore through the lies -

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/chapin-whites-response-to-avik-roy/

I haven't felt like wading into that circus.

keatssycamore said...

Susan,

Hilarious McMegan Meltdown in progress at twitter. Must be seen to be believed. So much harder to pull the word salad trick on twitter, but ArgleBargle gives it a whirl after being unable to name a single climate model she objects to. Yet she's ever so upset (she's making another obfuscating tweet every minute) over his criticizing her for out-sourcing her opinions on global warming.

See @asymmetricinfo for a laugh. She's really annoyed. You can tell by all the misplaced condescension.

Susan of Texas said...

First of all, it seems she did not let us know she has a sous vide. She might be learning discretion.

Second, Holy Cow. Nobody can know anything ever! Send me the papers and I'll read them! Models aren't verified!

And she doesn't want to kick Elizabeth Warren when she is down!

Also, too.

Susan of Texas said...

http://comments.mongabay.com/pages/news.mongabay.com/2012/0312-hance_mcardle_climate.html

Anonymous said...

Wow, she's going to break twitter. Imagine if you had to be in the room with her right now. What a train wreck.

Susan of Texas said...

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Megan McArdle is the mmost entertaining pundit ever.

Susan of Texas said...

McArdle just doesn't get it. She doesn't get to say that climate models can't be trusted when she's never ready any papers with climate models in them.

She's never held accountable for what she says; she's a libertarian because those theories cannot be held to account. They have no relationship to reality, they enable one to sound intelligent without saying anything or doing anything, so nobody can figure out if the person is actually intelligent. Pin down a "libertarian" and force him to deal with the real world and the consequences of one's actions, and suddenly the libertarian has to get back to work, where nobody knows anything ever and nice rich men hand over money for nothing.

Downpuppy said...

I utterly lost it a couple weeks ago with a maroon who thought his factless opinion on climate science was important. The sheer arrogance and mind breaking stupidity of people who can't see that there's a different level of proof required to disagree with established science than to accept it can be an occasion for rage.

Pete said...

On the principle that dumb questions are those that don't get asked ... why does McCurdle use "asymmetricinfo" as a handle? She does, right? For a free-market economist, it's got to be close to treason, no? Or is she just boasting? But if so, doesn't it go against her faux-ignoramus default fallback position? I find the whole thing very puzzling.

Also, any entertaining summaries of twitting would be welcome, because I'm not letting them mangoes tempt me.

Downpuppy said...

I quoted some of the tweets in an almost grown-up level post -

http://downpuppy.blogspot.com/2012/03/burden-of-goddamn-proof-lady.html

Anonymous said...

Somehow I missed Gobry's wonderful piece. So, thanks for sending me there.

I was curious about Mr Gobry's qualifications: perhaps he was this economist we all missed?

I laughed out loud.

http://www.businessinsider.com/author/pascal-emmanuel-gobry

What an incredibly ignorant but smug young fool!

-cynic

bulbul said...

Holy soliloquy, Batman, that Twitter thread is a goldimine.

"@wilsonrobertj How very meta of you. So it isn't that you think that the models are accurate. You just don't think I have standing to say."

Yes, yes, YES, a thousand times YES.
wilsonrobertj follows up with a Dickens comparison, to which Our Lady of the Unreliable Models replies

"@wilsonrobertj Difference is, no one's "read Dickens" in this sense, except themodelers. We're debating whose write-up I should follow."

A slight twist on "no one can now anything, ever", but the same motivation summed up thusly: "Why should I read this shit?"

That Robert Wilson fella deserves a plate of cookies.

Anonymous said...

Re deregulation of the financial system: It's amazing how these people are completely unable to learn from what happens right in front of their eyes.

We got to 2008 by getting rid of the regulations put in place after 1929--which resulting in a repeat performance of the Great Crash, though slightly less disastrous--which is EXACTLY what the New Deal regulation were designed to prevent.

But no, the answer according to these folks is even more of what got us into trouble in the first place....

I can't decide if these people are just clueless or have reality-denial issues....

atat said...

@bulbul
My favorite nugget is when she finally just gives up on running in circles around what climate change models she has or hasn't read, and snarks: "One doesn't read a model, does one?"

Ooooh, burn! You really got him there.

Kathy said...

How many of these libertarianish types advocate dispensing with speed limits everywhere? Are they also opposed to laws against theft and murder?

It amazes me that these selfish, greedy people believe everyone else to have the tremendous amounts of self-control, self-discipline and restraint needed to live by the "libertarian" code. They surely don't.

Batocchio said...

Where's our Atlas Shrugged installment, huh? After all, we're paying you big money to write it! Because as the glibertarian princess says, no one does anything worthwhile without getting paid!

Susan of Texas said...

It's spring break and I have even less time than usual. But I'll try very hard to finish today.

Susan of Texas said...

Thank god McArdle's on break. Mangu-Ward is easieer to ignore, although I now think of her as Free Market Barbie.

Anonymous said...

don't forget Katherine Mangu-Ward

But I've been working so hard to do exactly that ...

- spencer

Susan of Texas said...

I forgot!--If anyone actually wants to hire me to write I will be glad to do so, because I need a job and I just know there has to be a big market out there for women bloggers without credentials who refuse to support any organizations.

Susan of Texas said...

Strange--Ward mentions that H&R Block fund the group she dislikes but doesn't mention the Koches financed the set-up of the group she supports.

Susan of Texas said...

And now I have the flu.

Also, McMegan is again defending the Koches in twitter. Her impartiality is very impressive.

atat said...

What is the deal with McMegan's twitter profile icon? It appears to be some sort of disco angel.

http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/586201088/photo.jpg

blivet said...

Susan, if you're too busy to finish the Atlas Shrugged post, please post anything sufficiently wordy as to move that hideous photo of Rush Limbaugh out of view.

Anonymous said...

Now I have the flu

First of all, get well soon.

Secondly, why don't you pull a McArdle and ask for a guest poster? I am sure aimai will be happy to do the honours?

- Cynic

Anonymous said...

As they say, whoring is the world's oldest profession. And Megan is nothing, if not a professional whore.

Heh Indeeding skewed opinions out on complicated subjects to one person in a field like Derek Lowe in pharma, or lawyers like Paul Campos on obesity, or random scrubs on Climate science.
The list goes on and on with the Megan types in the cult of the savvy. Then she writes stuff with terrible wording so she can try to say she isn't saying what she was saying when called out on it.

blivet said...

Sorry Susan, I completely missed your note about coming down with the flu. Take care of yourself.

Ben said...

Just wanted to make sure you saw McArdle's thoughts on the Trayvon Martin murder:

http://www.juliansanchez.com/2012/03/21/fearing-for-your-life/#comment-18665

I'm not sure why, because there are no words to describe them other than synonyms of "monstrous".

Anonymous said...

That is an AMAZING Megan comment at juliansanchez.

Susan of Texas said...

Thanks, Ben!

What a strange thing to do---dismiss all circumstances except a narrow view in which nobody knows anything so nobody can do anything. So she can argue that a man who chased down and shot a innocent black teen should go free. How can you ignore the circumstances and say that because of institutional racism the case shouldn't be tried?

There are two connected things here--never rock the boat of power, lest the powerful lose some of their bennies, and just accept racism becuase that's the way it is. It's all about power to her, her power as a white woman, who trades others' autonomy for the perks of power.

Pete said...

Theoretically, after an alleged crime, 1. cops investigate, 2. prosecutors decide whether to press charges, and 3. juries/courts convict or not. McM is jumping to step 4. the public reacts to the verdict without even noticing that the outrage is that step 1 was missed. That's ... stooopid.

atat said...

Stoopid and evil. And she might as well be cackling and twirling her mustache on this one, because her posts over there are just so blatantly, unabashedly evil. Her bottom line is that going forward with a prosecution would be a waste of resources because, based on what little she's heard/read of the story in the news, she wouldn't find Zimmerman guilty. Evil wrapped in ignorance and narcissism.

Pete said...

@atat stoopid, evil & tucking fypical