What The Fuck Is Woo Goddammit

[lame54]

What The Fuck Is It?

[Atman]

1. I think Woo Goddammit is a rap group.

Or maybe a punk band. I'm not sure.

[arcane1]

10. You're thinking of Woo Muthafucka

I think.

[PowerToThePeople]

2. lame

trashcanned.

You will probably be alerted on, though not by me.

[lame54]

7. because i'm curious and frustrated?

[otohara]

14. I Was Wondering About Woo Too

so many new terms - hard to keep up with them.

[AgingAmerican]

27. Your response is perplexing

I want to know what 'woo' is too. Does this mean I'm a bad person who must be trash canned and alerted on also?

[PowerToThePeople]

29. Let me explain

OP creates new OP with no inherent value. What little verbiage is actually there is just outright profanity. And the subject they are questioning? Just some made up bullshit. SO, they create an profane OP to ask to be explained what bullshit is. Lame.

[AgingAmerican]

32. Lame, perhaps

...but not worth running around with hair on fire over.

[PowerToThePeople]

33. imo not an appropriate OP

But, also most of the "Woo" OPs I have trashed. So, I may not see how truly bad it is out there.

[HangOnKids]

35. Oh poor you having to reply to OPs you do not like

Charming!

[PowerToThePeople]

41. I don't HAVE to respond to anything

just like I did not have to respond to your shitty, personal attack response post.

[Capt. Obvious]

48. AUTOMATED MESSAGE: Results of your Jury Service

AUTOMATED MESSAGE: Results of your Jury Service
Mail Message
At Mon Jan 6, 2014, 02:59 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

I don't HAVE to respond to anything
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4288510

REASON FOR ALERT:

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS:

Really? "shitty personal attack post" Not seeing that but this post is over the top.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Mon Jan 6, 2014, 03:04 PM, and the Jury voted 3-3 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT and said: Based on assholish behavior throughout this thread, not just this post.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: Poster is defending themselves from another one of the raging, abrasive a-holes that seem to control DU now.
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: No alerter, it is not over the top. Vote to leave.
Juror #4 voted to HIDE IT and said: Personal attack. Other poster may've done that too, but two wrongs don't make a right.




Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE and said: I hope this is an 0-6 Leave so the alerter can't do it again for 24 hours.
Juror #6 voted to HIDE IT and said: No explanation given

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[PowerToThePeople]

53. It says a lot.

Thank you for posting this.

[HangOnKids]

49. LOL PowerToThePeople

You might want to rethink your username. Charming. My "shitty personal attack" withstanding. LOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOLLOL. Thanks for playing,

[PowerToThePeople]

57. trololololololol. n/t

[HangOnKids]

68. Sorry dear

That would be you.

[PowerToThePeople]

69. Hang on kids

You are the lucky first winner of my ignore list...

[HangOnKids]

70. Thank You

What a blessing and honor! Now carry on with your involvement on DU I can see it has been very prodigious!

[okieinpain]

84. lol, I agree. some times DU is a little uppity.

[L0oniX]

46. ...and yet here you are ...responding to what you have trashed.

[PowerToThePeople]

50. "My Posts" turns yellow

so I check it. I come back to this turd again. I did not alert on OP. But, I think it should have been alerted. I guess I am a minority opinion on this...

[L0oniX]

52. The \/\/ ( ) ( ) is weak with this one.

[L0oniX]

45. The DU alert system not working for ya?

[HangOnKids]

51. But I had a shitty response

My heart is breaking.

[Duer 157099]

3. I think it's like art

you're supposed to know it when you see it

[hrmjustin]

4. Woooooooo! Woooooooo! Wooooooo!

There I said it trice.

[d_b]

5. right here

[Egnever]

13. Woo wooooo

[d_b]

15. lol the best part is when he almost crashes his car

[Egnever]

19. LOL

That was funny, but I like where he says you should be making breakfast for someone... It's like an alarm clock! Woo wooooo!

[ChisolmTrailDem]

6. Woo...woooo!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. LOL!

[Cleita]

8. A meaningless word that can be used to attack a variety of

spiritual practices others, who don't know how to mind their own business, don't like.

[dipsydoodle]

11. Sounds accurate.

.

[Orrex]

12. More accurate

It's a catch-all term describing a style of magical thinking in which anecdote and witnessing are respected more highly than evidence and empirical analysis.

[Cleita]

17. Empiricism shall forever be your banner.

To bad you don't show any evidence of trying that empirical analysis yourself.

[Orrex]

22. It's the basic method of rational inquiry

Since you've demonstrated no facility with empirical analysis and embrace notions that can't survive it, your assessment of my own analytical ability means nothing to me.

[HangOnKids]

37. It means nothing BUT you had to reply

Your slip is showing .

[Orrex]

59. No, that's simply an obvious rhetorical trap

If I respond, then it's "Ha! You obviously care enough to answer."

If I don't respond then it's "Ha! You obviously have no way to answer!"

As the expression goes, I have no stomach for games.

[Cleita]

64. Yes I know I'm just an ass aren't I? n/t

[LanternWaste]

83. Like politics.

Like politics.

[kristopher]

16. Best definition on DU I've seen by Bluenorthwest

"I assume the Knights Who Say Woo would have accepted the 'disease' theory as 'science' and mocked anyone who suggested otherwise. I am free to assume that because 'woo' is a bit of meaningless jargon, not actual language, and it's meaning is improvised to suit any moment."

I've strung two of Bluenorthwest's posts together. I'm assuming BNW won't mind. Original discussion here, but this is the cream of the crop.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024281840#post15

Woo in the English language does not mean quackery or medical fakery, pseudo-science or therapeutic fraud, it is a verb meaning 'to seek the affections of another with romantic or matrimonial intent'.
This usage on DU is a jargon use, not the actual, accepted definition of the word in actual English. A process that is science based, including mere discussion, would make use of clear and actual definitions in an officially shared language. The use of jargon almost always causes confusion and misunderstanding, which reason based people seek to avoid. By using the actual language.

...

The improvisational 'definition' you posted is gibberish in that it is not the definition of the word. I'll help you out, it's just something people say to remain vague while sounding mean. They wish to stay vague because they fear actual reasoned discussion with terms which are solidly defined and prefer magical wording for their ritual arguments.
Just to be clear, 'jargon' specifically means a terminology that is used by one group or community which is not used by the wider population at all or in the same way. So the fact that professionals in this area use the term but others do not is what makes it jargon. This leads to confusion and a lack of specificity, things most people of science do not care for much. Several people in each of these threads asks what is meant by the word, because it is a piece of jargon. It requires definition because others do not know what is meant by those who say it. I assume those using it use it because it lacks specific meaning. Specificity seems to frighten them.

The august experts of medical science, in my lifetime, claimed being gay was a mental disorder. After that sort of display, the curtain has been torn, the wee man has been revealed to be making wild guesses and naming it knowledge far too often and with far too much certainty.

Here's an example of how stable and reliable the scientific community can be.

"During the first half of the nineteenth century a number of individuals in Europe began to study homosexuality scientifically. The theories developed during this time suggested that homosexuality was a disease, and these theories influenced how homosexuality was regarded by the scientific community until well past the mid twentieth century. It wasn't until the late twentieth century that there was a paradigm shift in the science of psychiatry and medicine regarding the pathology of homosexuality. In the early twentieth century, psychiatrists considered homosexuality a disease that could be cured through psychotherapy and treatment options were assessed, yet gradually, theories of a hormonal and genetic origin of homosexuality arose and became accepted. This paradigm shift impacted the political and social climates of the United States, while at the same time; these outside influences also affected science. In 1973 the American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from the list of mental disorders, and patients practicing homosexuality were no longer treated as if it were a disease. Thus, since its conception in the early nineteenth century, the scientific definition of homosexuality has greatly evolved; this evolution has been closely associated with the progression of the social and political definition of homosexuality as well."
https://confluence.cornell.edu/display/WWC/The+Evolution+of+the+Medical+Definition+of+Homosexuality

Assumptions made and called fact influenced the scientific community from the 1800's until the 1970's. Gay was a disease, that was the accepted, tested science.

To me, that's a history of extreme quackery and theology posing as science. A community that called me diseased until 73 based on no evidence at all needs to wait a few decades before criticizing other people for things they think to be true. If my choice is some raging nut saying gay people have a disease and a person offering an herbal tea for my digestion, I'll call the second one doctor and the first idiot, fool, brittle brained nonsense dribbling dogma lover. But that's just me. I assume the Knights Who Say Woo would have accepted the 'disease' theory as 'science' and mocked anyone who suggested otherwise. I am free to assume that because 'woo' is a bit of meaningless jargon, not actual language, and it's meaning is improvised to suit any moment.

[Orrex]

23. We could use the term "silly pseudoscientific bullshit," if you'd prefer

In practice, it's quicker to call it "woo."

Also, the claim that it's not a real word are unpersuasive. "Allopathic" wasn't a word until it was made up by a homeopath, but now it's accepted by alt med fans almost universally.

[Bluenorthwest]

38. And that's your entire response? That the jargon is not jargon?

No comment on the hundred years of 'science' saying gay people were diseased, not a word about how that might color claims of excellence and of not being harmful? Of course not.
'woo' is a word, but the use you give it is a jargon use, not meaning what the actual word actually means in the wider and official use.
Folks who use jargon do so because they fear the specificity and clarity of a common language.
That sort of jargon helped allow the scientific and medical communities to commit the ignorant atrocities I cited. Vague words created for the moment, used to control and at times to imprison perfectly healthy people.
Woo as you use it is a bit of jargon used in that way only by the community that recently was certain being gay was a disease. I don't blame them for speaking in furtive terms after being shown to be so capable of such storms of horrific stupidity.
It's hard to respect the 'we thought gays were sick' crowd be they in lab coat or collar. Both pushed made up crap as truth.

[Orrex]

61. No, the response is this:

Whether or not it is jargon is unimportant, and complaining that it's jargon is not the same as addressing the concept, that silly pseudoscientific bullshit is exactly that.

You can't seriously be complaining about the appropriation of "woo," as in "to court." First of all, no one has used the word in that sense except perhaps ironically). For decades. Secondly, even if the word was "intended" to have another meaning, so what? Look up the word "set" and tell me how many different meanings it's allowed to have.

Your point about labels is interesting, though misguided. Silly pseudoscientific bullshit makes use of all kinds of terms to which it has no real claim, such as "quantum," "paradigm," and "energy," to name just three of the most obvious, and proponents of S.P.B. have used it to fool millions of people and rake in billions of dollars. If you truly feel any concern about the misuse of words, then you should direct your ire at that kind of verbal trickery, eather han at the word "woo."

If you don't care for the term "woo," you are free to propose an alternative that pleases you. If others find your suggestion pleasing and effective, then I'm sure that they will adopt it, at least until someone else comes along with a middling complaint about the legitimacy of your chosen term.

[tiny elvis]

66. words mean what chuck norris means them to mean

[URL=http://imgur.com/CyVgp2c][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[Orrex]

67. Finally, a voice of reason.

[left on green only]

77. Except, Isn't That Seven Segal?

Or maybe it's Arnie Swartz.

[HappyMe]

18. If you wear a copper bracelet

and tape a magnet to your forehead in an effort to cure your cold - it's the woo.

[deutsey]

20. You mean the rug-pisser?

[nyquil_man]

24. Rug pee-ers did not do this. nt

[Dash87]

21. Woo is who?

[L0oniX]

43. Woo made you?

[SidDithers]

25. It's a catch-all for pseudoscientific bullshit...

It describes those who believe that water has memory, that the government is spraying chemicals in jet exhaust, that your bodily energy flow affects your health, or that pot cures cancer, among other things.

Sid

[blackspade]

39. I prefer pseudoscientific bullshit.

'Woo' sounds like a term made up by a 12 year old with a limited vocabulary and weak debate skills.

[G_j]

47. I think it was

a term made up by a 12 year old with a limited vocabulary and weak debate skills.

[Zorra]

26. Woo is the essence of who we are. Without woo, there is no you.

Woo is the life force that animates our bodies. Woo is the thought that we exist.

When our bodies die, woo are we then?

Yes, grasshopper.

Without love, woo would you be now?

No, grasshopper.

Believe in nothing. Everything is sacred.

Believe in everything. Nothing is sacred.

Zen.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. Isn't he the guy on first base?

[Jimbo S]

30. Ronnie Woo Woo

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

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://www.chibarproject.com/Reviews/WrigleyField/WrigleyField.htm&h=201&w=300&sz=12&tbnid=SlI6j4w4GZbkcM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=134&zoom=1&usg=__wNS06vEVM9Aeke7An7mEVsqDw1w=&docid=7D_h21x0NcVlVM&sa=X&ei=fwLLUrDxFKPu2gW-sIDwBw&ved=0CEMQ9QEwAw

[eShirl]

31. It's Tricky

Tricky Woo:

[Glassunion]

34. I thought it was not what, but who is woo?

I thought I knew the gnu was the woo as he was new at the zoo. However I remembered that was an add for beer.

So on cue I threw my new clue with much ado, and I suddenly found that woo was not the new gnu at the zoo, but in 2001 was the new shrew who threw for Boston, but then flew to Montreal where he made his debut and threw a for few for the Blues, but then he got the screw and bid adieu, and is now in the pitching crew in Korea. Woo is not the neither the new Woo, nor the only Woo, but one among many Woo in the queue. Woo is one of 4 woo on the crew, not to be confused with the two Yoo and one Soo, but at Pitching Woo, he is the best...

[NCTraveler]

36. I think woo is a general term used to belittle people whith whome one disagrees....

while making sure a debate never occurs. Where a person thinks the others thoughts or opinions are so far out there that it is stupid and not even worth debate. The only true and consistent woo at du is religion. I say that as an agnostic who believes in a higher power, I just don't claim to know what it is. Many would say that is woo. The fact is I can't show them something physical or based in science to back up my thoughts on it so maybe it is woo. I think that is the homerun subject for those wanting to belittle others with the woo term.

Other things I have heard here that are woo because they cannot be backed up: Marijuana can cure some forms of cancer. 911 was an inside job. Contrails(such woo some members have been banned over it). The anti-vaccine crowd.

Most of these are very small faction. So small it is really insignificant. Religion on the other hand is enormous worldwide.

[TlalocW]

40. It's not, "Woo"

It's, "WOOOOOO!"

&w=240

TlalocW

[L0oniX]

42. We Don't Get Fooled Again - The Woo

[Vashta Nerada]

44. A quick google search led me here:

“Woo” is shorthand for “woo woo” and is not just limited to alternative medicine but rather represents an entire philosophy of credulity of the sort favored by New Age types. It’s clear that “woo” or “woo woo” can refer to either a person or a belief system. When it refers to the person, it is referring to a person who believes in woo. To me, when referring to “alternative medicine,” I view the “altie” and “woo” as largely synonymous, but woo has a broader meaning, embracing a wider variety of credulity. One thing is for sure, it is not generally meant as a flattering term–for very good reason.

So what is woo?

If I had to boil it down, I’d define woo as beliefs that clearly demonstrate magical thinking, uncritical acceptance of things for which no good evidence exists. This includes, but is not limited to, psychic phenomenon, ghosts, the paranormal, “energy healing,” the use of “colon cleansing” and “liver cleansing” to rid oneself of “toxins,” homeopathy (especially quantum homeopathy), and a wide variety of other mystical and pseudoscientific beliefs. Woo is resistant to reason. Indeed, woo has a double standard when it comes to what it considers to be good evidence. It is very accepting of a wide variety of fuzzy, mystical ideas, but is often incredibly distrustful and skeptical of anything having to do with “conventional” science or “conventional” medicine. Woos tend to be very quick to react to defend their particular brand of woo and very unforgiving of its being questioned.

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2006/08/01/reader-mailbag-what-is-woo-1/

That's the most accurate definition of woo I found anywhere online.

[opiate69]

54. A guy who pees on rugs.

http://thebiglebowski.wikia.com/wiki/Woo

[L0oniX]

55. Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

My attempt to break the all time DU record for woo!

[bobclark86]

56. I WANNA KNOW WHAT WOOOO IIIIIISSSSS!

(bah, dah, dah)

I WANT YOU TO SHOOOWWW MEEEEE!!!

I WANNA FEEL WHAT WOO ISSS!!!!!!

I KNOW YOU CAN SHOOOOWWWW MEEEE!!!!!

Aaaah woah-oh-ooh

[Jamaal510]

58. Moo.

[IMG][/IMG]

[dorkulon]

60. Belief in things for which there is no credible evidence.

See also: religion, spirituality, crystals, ghosts, angels, leprechauns, homeopathy, astrology, etc.

People get mad when you tell them they believe in nonsense; it's only natural.

[Cleita]

65. How about quantum physics,?

Can any Sheldon Cooper out there state that they know for sure there are branes, parallel universes and ten or eleven dimensions?

[dorkulon]

71. Some things are currently un-testable. And therefore unproven.

Last edited Wed Jan 8, 2014, 12:03 PM - Edit history (1)

No, it is not known for sure, nor would I profess to 'believe' in such things until and unless they can be proved. (Although you seem to be referencing string theory, not quantum physics.)

[SCVDem]

62. It's only January 6

It's amazing to find a word which should be canned due to being stupid and overused so early in the year.

Now how do I set up an ignore of a single word?

[tridim]

63. The woo-iest of woos was just legalized in Colorado...

My guess is the DU Woo Fighters are freaking out because the truth (that Cannabis is a medicine that has been used by people for thousands of years BECAUSE IT WORKS. And yes, it shrinks tumors), is heading toward them like a runaway freight train.

They know there is nothing they can do to stop it, so they are panicking and building their clownish strawman army.

Their minds are closed tight, just like every Conservative I know.

[dorkulon]

72. This is just dumb.

Pot is not woo. It's real. It has real, verifiable medical benefits. That's the opposite of woo.

Ghosts are woo. Selling little vials of water as homeopathic remedies, that's woo. Basing one's worldview on wishful thinking. Woo.

If pot cures cancer, we can test and verify that. That's not woo. Get it straight.

[tridim]

80. I've been fighting for cannabis legalization for 30 years.

I referred to it as woo because many people (even "progressives" on DU) believe the health benefits of cannabis are BS. I've known for decades that the effects are not woo.

[dorkulon]

81. Good for you. Now stop clouding the issue.

[tridim]

82. Whatever you say master dorkulon. nt

[MzShellG]

73. Good question...

And why are all these foolish woo threads DU? I thought this site was for more intellectual didiscussion.

[sabrina 1]

74. It's another one of those lame labels that we see so many of that is supposed to denigrate anyone

who dares to make their own personal choices when it comes to their own health issues. My theory is that it came from one of those think tanks or 'security contractors' who are hired to come up with smear campaigns for major corporations in order to try to silence anyone who is independent enough to question their practices, and/or who makes choices that are not profitable for them.

But that's just a theory. Whenever I see phrases and/or words/labels over and over again by a small group of people, I suspect someone is pushing those labels for some reason. This one is particularly lame though.

[lonestarnot]

75. I dunno, but Rug posted a whole thread of it and I think I love it.

[Agnosticsherbet]

76. From the URban dictionary: n.(or adj), the way a person is when they uncritically believe

unsubstantiated or unfounded ideas. Short for "woo woo".(See Russell's definition of woo woo)
. woo woo

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woo

Unfounded or ludicrouse beliefs

Belief in talking to the dead, belief in telikenesis, in fact any belief not founded on good evidence, the poorer the evidence the more Woo Woo the belief.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woo%20woo

[hay rick]

78. Six months ago...

woo was short for woo me with science. Now it's being groomed as the guaranteed flamefest successor to the war of the sexes.

[orleans]

79. fun thread.

psychic lisa williams, in her book "survival of the soul" uses the expression "witchy-woo"

(as in: "...so i never switched to my witchy-woo&quot
http://www.amazon.com/Survival-Soul-Want-Know-Everything/dp/1401928056/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389161424&sr=1-1&keywords=lisa+williams

in her book "life among the dead" she says "i looked around, frustrated, and that's when the witchy-woo feelings kicked in."
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Among-Dead-Lisa-Williams/dp/1416596372/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Woo-Woo: Becoming a Psychic at Fifty
http://www.amazon.com/Woo-Woo-Becoming-Psychic-at-Fifty/dp/0557291739/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389161829&sr=1-5&keywords=woo+woo

The Woo Way: A New Way of Living and Being
http://www.amazon.com/Woo-Way-New-Living-Being/dp/0893343498/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389161829&sr=1-7&keywords=woo+woo

Ready for the Woo-Woo Stuff? a Down-To-Earth Look at the Metaphysical
http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Woo-Woo-Stuff--Earth-Metaphysical/dp/160047716X/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389161829&sr=1-9&keywords=woo+woo

Woo! the Not-So-Scary Ghost
http://www.amazon.com/Woo-Not-So-Scary-Ghost-Ana-Larranaga/dp/0439169585/ref=sr_1_110?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389162841&sr=1-110&keywords=woo+woo

Woo! Woo! 911 A Resource Guide for Paranormal Exploration
http://www.amazon.com/Woo-Resource-Guide-Paranormal-Exploration-ebook/dp/B002E1A7KG/ref=sr_1_15?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389162949&sr=1-15&keywords=woo+ghosts

(that was pretty fun)