Dinesh D'souza Is Stupid

[Vincent Vega]

Eu falo um pouco do portugues e esta palavra nao parece que isso. E De Souza o Da Souza o talvez Do Souza mas nunca D'Souza.

[Innocent]

From my bookmarks, [url="http://asuph.wordpress.com/2004/10/21/four-cheers-for-the-colonialized/"]here[/url] is a hatchet job on [url="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/680152/posts"]one of D'Souza's famous articles[/url] .

[Winchester]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkIyWsDaBcY[/media]

[Innocent]

[quote name='USAirwaysIHS' timestamp='1338541359' post='2439218']
[url="http://translate.google.com/#pt|en|Eu%20falo%20um%20pouco%20do%20portugues%20e%20esta%20palavra%20nao%20parece%20que%20isso.%20E%20De%20Souza%20o%20Da%20Souza%20o%20talvez%20Do%20Souza%20mas%20nunca%20D%27Souza."]Google Translate: [/url]I speak a little Portuguese, and this word does not seem that. And the Da Souza De Souza From the maybe but never Souza D'Souza.
[/quote]

Be that as it may, Wikipedia states that he is of Goan ancestry, and Goa was indeed one of the major areas under Portuguese colonial control. And the Wikipedia page for the surname [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/121493-dinesh-dsouza-is-stupid/#entry2439210"]that I linked to above[/url] does list D'Souza as a prevalent abbreviation. This name is common among the community of descendents of mixed marriages from those days. As you will see [url="http://www.google.co.in/search?q=D%27souza&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a"]if you Google[/url] the name, there's also a famous actress with this surname, whose Wikipedia page comes up above that of Mr. Dinesh D'Souza. ( On second thought, I'm not sure about this; perhaps Google is giving me country specific results. You may not get the same result. In case you don't get the result I describe,[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genelia_D%27Souza"] this is whom I'm talking about.[/url] [Men, custody of eyes is your responsibility.] )

Edited June 1, 2012 by Innocent

[Ice_nine]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' timestamp='1338529007' post='2439187']

On the other hand, I am curious to read Hutchinson's book. The terms like "culture war" and "scientism" turn me off a bit (plain old honest inquiry please; no need for -isms, epithets, and team psychology)
[/quote]

why? Isn't scientism a useful term to define the wide swath of atheists and their com-box followers?

and what is team psychology?

u r over my head all de time

[Lil Red]

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' timestamp='1338532514' post='2439193']
Yeah, he's razzle dazzle shyte. God at teh Ritz, the movement, and all that. Thanks, Red! :-D
[/quote]

i'm actually not part of C&L, have read his book though. there is a debate on youtube between him & Christopher Hitchens, though I haven't ever watched it.

[Papist]

I'd go see a Jack Chick debate. That would be amesome.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Ice_nine' timestamp='1338569631' post='2439418']
why? Isn't scientism a useful term to define the wide swath of atheists and their com-box followers?

and what is team psychology?[/quote]
In my opinion the "scientism" charge is often little more as a caricature or straw man. It's occasionally a valuable discussion, but most often a matter of cliche and cheap discrediting of an "opponent" -- in my experience anyway.

Framing the issues in terms of a culture war was suggestive to me of an "us vs. them" mentality. Why do I care? Because this engages the ingroup/team psychology which discourages open-minded dialogue and fair thinking. We're all human beings alive in this world trying to make sense of things. If we are to seriously and genuinely discuss foundational questions I think it is unproductive and strange to contextualize them in these terms. It's counter-productive.

(I'm not saying that the book in question does this, just that for these sorts of reasons the single paragraph summary has not left me with high hopes. An opportunity to be pleasantly surprised, I suppose.)

[quote name='Lil Red' timestamp='1338569981' post='2439424']
i'm actually not part of C&L, have read his book though. there is a debate on youtube between him & Christopher Hitchens, though I haven't ever watched it.[/quote]
I do recall watching five or six clips from that debate on teh youtube. Monsignor Albacete is funny dude and a great representative of the religious pov in my arrogant opinion. :applause:

ETA: I've thought about participating in C&L on some level. I've yet to read the books that it's based on. Luthien is into it. :-D

Edited June 1, 2012 by Laudate_Dominum

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Hasan' timestamp='1338519280' post='2439094']
I have come watched and read a few things by him. And I can come up with two possibilities. either D'Souza is a charlatan who is willingly taking advantage of people, of he's just stupid. Honestly, I think he's just stupid.[/quote]
Mean. Dude, you should debate him. That would be so razzle dazzle. I'd buy it on Blu-ray.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Innocent' timestamp='1338537013' post='2439210']
That [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sousa_%28surname%29"]Portuguese surname[/url] was introduced into India during the colonial period.
[/quote]
I love India.

[Vincent Vega]

[quote name='Innocent' timestamp='1338544578' post='2439224']
Be that as it may, Wikipedia states that he is of Goan ancestry, and Goa was indeed one of the major areas under Portuguese colonial control. And the Wikipedia page for the surname [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/121493-dinesh-dsouza-is-stupid/#entry2439210"]that I linked to above[/url] does list D'Souza as a prevalent abbreviation. This name is common among the community of descendents of mixed marriages from those days. As you will see [url="http://www.google.co.in/search?q=D%27souza&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a"]if you Google[/url] the name, there's also a famous actress with this surname, whose Wikipedia page comes up above that of Mr. Dinesh D'Souza. ( On second thought, I'm not sure about this; perhaps Google is giving me country specific results. You may not get the same result. In case you don't get the result I describe,[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genelia_D%27Souza"] this is whom I'm talking about.[/url] [Men, custody of eyes is your responsibility.] )
[/quote]
I appreciate all of the work that you put into this, but I was pretty much just joking in the first place.

[Socrates]

While I'm not familiar with his debates and other material I've read and own D'Souza's [url="http://www.amazon.com/Whats-So-Great-about-Christianity/dp/1414326017/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338587910&sr=1-1"][i]What's So Great About Christianity[/i][/url], and personally found it intelligent, thought-provoking, and generally pretty darn good. I thought his arguments regarding consciousness and free will were particularly thought-provoking. (I don't think these are his original arguments, but he presents them in a concise, readable way.)

Just because you disagree with someone doesn't make him stupid or a charlatan. His arguments are certainly far more intelligent than anything I've seen posted by a phatmass atheist.

I may think Richard Dawkins, fo instance, is stupid or a charlatan, but posting this opinion on here without addressing a single argument would be just a pointless and unproductive.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Socrates' timestamp='1338588187' post='2439660']
While I'm not familiar with his debates and other material I've read and own D'Souza's [url="http://www.amazon.com/Whats-So-Great-about-Christianity/dp/1414326017/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1338587910&sr=1-1"][i]What's So Great About Christianity[/i][/url], and personally found it intelligent, thought-provoking, and generally pretty darn good. I thought his arguments regarding consciousness and free will were particularly thought-provoking. (I don't think these are his original arguments, but he presents them in a concise, readable way.)
[/quote]
That's good to know. I'll have to check that one out.

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='Winchester' timestamp='1338544438' post='2439223']
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkIyWsDaBcY[/media]
[/quote]
I didn't think he was bad in this vid.No? He actually seems pretty good at teh extemp.

[EcceNovaFacioOmni]

I saw D'Souza debate Hitchens on the existence of God in college. Neither were compelling, but D'Souza was essentially arguing for some Intelligent Design theory which, if not implausible, was beside the point. I wasn't impressed by that experience, but otherwise I'm not familiar with his work. Last I knew he had an unusual dissonance on whether he could be called Catholic or evangelical, which makes me question the coherence of his apologetic work.