Darwin Loves...
...electricity.
UPDATE: Since the squeamish little girls who run YouTube have hit it with the ban stick, I've replaced the video embed with the one thoughtfully provided by Mr(s) Anonymous in the comments.
I don't suppose it ever occurred to the ban-happy moderators at YouTube that it's possible someone who doesn't know how a catenary works might be saved a quick death by watching this video. Accidental death is sometimes unfortunate, (and sometimes not, depending on the victim), but people who shrink from it will often fail to learn from it.
Such thoughts, however, rarely occur to self-appointed censors and moderators, as they are very often the most mentally arrogant and emotionally fragile of people. They are also invariably convinced of the "correctness" of their own viewpoints and consider the moral high ground their personal preserve. Those who truly understand the core concepts of free thought, however, know better than to delude themselves with such tripe.
For example, I dislike rap music intensely and I strongly disapprove of the subculture it helped to create, but I've no desire to see it universally banned. While I'd certainly like to see it marginalized, (and it eventually will be, simply by cultural evolution and market pressure), telling people what is or is not appropriate for them to watch, read, or hear is a dangerous societal road with very few turn-arounds -- and a road, I fear, which we may already be driving down.
The only comments I have ever deleted from this site -- or ever will -- are commercial spam. Someone may disagree with me in the strongest possible terms, and I may ask them to leave and never come back, but I will not delete their comments, nor will I delete a post of any author, unless it is a duplicate. I acknowledge that private interests have the right to control their own information flow and moderate at will according to their own viewpoints; the First Amendment only prevents Congress making laws abridging freedom of speech and the press. I would not see the First Amendment imposed on private interests as if they were the government; that's another side of the same bad penny. But while a few censor-happy internet sites are pretty darn minor in the scheme of life, avalanches start with one snowflake too many.
___
(Hat-tip to Rusty C.)
UPDATE: Since the squeamish little girls who run YouTube have hit it with the ban stick, I've replaced the video embed with the one thoughtfully provided by Mr(s) Anonymous in the comments.
I don't suppose it ever occurred to the ban-happy moderators at YouTube that it's possible someone who doesn't know how a catenary works might be saved a quick death by watching this video. Accidental death is sometimes unfortunate, (and sometimes not, depending on the victim), but people who shrink from it will often fail to learn from it.
Such thoughts, however, rarely occur to self-appointed censors and moderators, as they are very often the most mentally arrogant and emotionally fragile of people. They are also invariably convinced of the "correctness" of their own viewpoints and consider the moral high ground their personal preserve. Those who truly understand the core concepts of free thought, however, know better than to delude themselves with such tripe.
For example, I dislike rap music intensely and I strongly disapprove of the subculture it helped to create, but I've no desire to see it universally banned. While I'd certainly like to see it marginalized, (and it eventually will be, simply by cultural evolution and market pressure), telling people what is or is not appropriate for them to watch, read, or hear is a dangerous societal road with very few turn-arounds -- and a road, I fear, which we may already be driving down.
The only comments I have ever deleted from this site -- or ever will -- are commercial spam. Someone may disagree with me in the strongest possible terms, and I may ask them to leave and never come back, but I will not delete their comments, nor will I delete a post of any author, unless it is a duplicate. I acknowledge that private interests have the right to control their own information flow and moderate at will according to their own viewpoints; the First Amendment only prevents Congress making laws abridging freedom of speech and the press. I would not see the First Amendment imposed on private interests as if they were the government; that's another side of the same bad penny. But while a few censor-happy internet sites are pretty darn minor in the scheme of life, avalanches start with one snowflake too many.
___
(Hat-tip to Rusty C.)
Labels: darwin
posted by Jar(egg)head at 16:34
2 Comments:
Aww man...they took the video down before I got to see the guy pop like a JiffyPop popcorn bag.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/80651341/
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