The Courtier's Reply

[beam me up scottie]

From Pharyngula: The Courtier's Reply
Posted on: December 24, 2006 by PZ Myers


There's a common refrain in the criticisms of Dawkins' The God Delusion that I've taken to categorizing with my own private title—it's so common, to the point of near-unanimous universality, that I've decided to share it with you all, along with a little backstory that will help you to understand the name.

I call it the Courtier's Reply. It refers to the aftermath of a fable.

I have considered the impudent accusations of Mr Dawkins with exasperation at his lack of serious scholarship. He has apparently not read the detailed discourses of Count Roderigo of Seville on the exquisite and exotic leathers of the Emperor's boots, nor does he give a moment's consideration to Bellini's masterwork, On the Luminescence of the Emperor's Feathered Hat. We have entire schools dedicated to writing learned treatises on the beauty of the Emperor's raiment, and every major newspaper runs a section dedicated to imperial fashion; Dawkins cavalierly dismisses them all. He even laughs at the highly popular and most persuasive arguments of his fellow countryman, Lord D. T. Mawkscribbler, who famously pointed out that the Emperor would not wear common cotton, nor uncomfortable polyester, but must, I say must, wear undergarments of the finest silk.

Dawkins arrogantly ignores all these deep philosophical ponderings to crudely accuse the Emperor of nudity.

Personally, I suspect that perhaps the Emperor might not be fully clothed — how else to explain the apparent sloth of the staff at the palace laundry — but, well, everyone else does seem to go on about his clothes, and this Dawkins fellow is such a rude upstart who lacks the wit of my elegant circumlocutions, that, while unable to deal with the substance of his accusations, I should at least chide him for his very bad form.

Until Dawkins has trained in the shops of Paris and Milan, until he has learned to tell the difference between a ruffled flounce and a puffy pantaloon, we should all pretend he has not spoken out against the Emperor's taste. His training in biology may give him the ability to recognize dangling genitalia when he sees it, but it has not taught him the proper appreciation of Imaginary Fabrics.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/12/the_courtiers_reply.php


PZ does it again. I love that man. :)

[cosmik debris]

1. Dawkins' response

"Congratulations to P Z Myers on this brilliant piece of satire. It applies not just to Allen Orr's review in NYRB, but to all those many reviews of TGD that complain of my lack of reading in theology. My own stock reply ("How many learned books of fairyology and hobgoblinology have you read?") is far less witty.

Richard"

I can't verify that this is a real response as I found it on a web site that I do not trust. But I thought it was amusing, so just take it for what it is worth.

Edit: OK, I verified it.


http://richarddawkins.net/article,463,The-Courtiers-Reply,PZ-Myers

[trotsky]

2. That is a GREAT observation by Pharyngula.

Spot on.

[immoderate]

3. A good find.

--IMM

[BurtWorm]

4. Me love Pharyngula and PZ Myers

Me find it very intelligent web site. Me get smarter just opening page.

:toast:

[beam me up scottie]

5. Did you see the Pharynguloid Lunch Hour Movie on the Giant Bat Eating Centipede?

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/06/giant_bateating_centipede.php

I mean, I've always loved horror movies, but there are no words to describe THAT experience.

[BurtWorm]

6. Dang! The BBC had YouTube remove it.

I missed that show.

:scared:

[beam me up scottie]

7. Well. That just sucks.

It was one of David Attenborough's finest moments.

I'll have to check out bit torrent....

[charlie]

8. Google still has the squicky part

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8313878609430213933

There's just something wrong about a bug that can snatch a bat out of the air.

[BurtWorm]

9. I just watched another centipede eat a mouse on YouTube.

Am I ready to watch a larger centipede chew on bat? Not really, but I'm going to anyway.

PS: the smaller centipede attacking a mouse is even more disturbing. Not at all for the squeamish or freshly fed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CL2hetqpfg&eurl=

[charlie]

10. Aiyiyiyi

Good gawd, that thing is a monster. *shudder*

[beam me up scottie]

15. Holy Arthropod, Batman! (dial up warning)

You know, as bad as that was, and it was bad, at least it killed the mouse fairly quickly.

Spiders, on the other hand...


Say hello to Charlotte, my neighbor last summer:



Charlotte was very good natured and an incredible mother.

[charlie]

17. She's a beaut

If you want to meet a bad customer, say hello to this mantis:

http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/backyardbirds/hummingbirds/mantis-hummer.aspx

[beam me up scottie]

18. ...

:wow:

I had no idea. That is a bug-loving photographer's dream come true.

Remind me to buy an extra battery and some more cards so that I can use the video on my camera in case I ever come across something like that.



Poor hummer, though. I love those little birds. :(

[charlie]

20. Yes, she's a lovely critter

Now that I've moved to the desert, I'm missing my bugs. Cicada song in the spring, brushing mantid hitchhikers off my coat, junebugs under the streetlights, butterflies, inchworms... all gone now. Bummer.

[beam me up scottie]

22. That's too bad.

Can you go looking for scorpions at night?

Mike_c hunts them with a black light, they GLOW, talk about awesome...

[charlie]

23. Haw!

It's funny you mention that. I've lived here before, long ago, and never once saw a scorpion. Not once, and I was an avid camper, climber, and hiker. Moved to Georgia and caught 2 of those suckers inside my house, both of them crossing my living room while I was reading on the floor. In Georgia! Go figure.

I never thought of hunting bugs with a black light, that sounds really cool. I've got a portable flourescent, I'll have to pick up a tube a Spencer's and try it sometime.

[beam me up scottie]

25. Check it out:

[charlie]

26. Whoa

Thanks for those pics. That is wild. Like something out of a space monster movie. Black lights make finding bugs... almost too easy. That's something I'll definitely want to do when things come back to life in the spring. It's an arid moonscape around here right now (it got down to 22 degrees at night 5 days running a couple of weeks ago, can you believe that? Another sign of the times)

[beam me up scottie]

27. It's a roller coaster ride down here.

Temps in the 70's one day, down in the 20's the next.

Very bad for the bugs, animals and flora.

[charlie]

28. Seems I'm hearing that from everyone, everywhere

It's a bit unsettling.

[BurtWorm]

30. This has become quite a grisly little thread.

:toast:

[beam me up scottie]

32. Yes, it has.

We should hijack my threads more often! :toast:

[BurtWorm]

29. Wow! She's gorgeous!

You took that extraordinary photo, bmus? I'm awestruck...

[beam me up scottie]

31. Thanks, but it's the camera that deserves the credit.

And the model, of course, she never once became aggressive even though I photographed her at close range many times.

She lived outside my bedroom window all summer, I miss her.

I did relocate both of her extremely large egg sacks, though. I really don't want thousands of little Charlotte's running around the house. :D

[beam me up scottie]

13. "It will take it an hour or so...

but it will eat all of the bat's flesh." ...:yoiks:

[charlie]

14. Yowza

Who could imagine a bug would be able to eat an entire rodent? Gaaah!

I once read the main reason there aren't footstool-sized bugs and insects around anymore is because the air isn't as oxygen-rich as it used to be. So, it turns out there's an upside to greenhouse gasses... they keep the MONSTER KILLER BUGS from eating us all! :)

[beam me up scottie]

16. Good thing,

'cuz they grow them big enough down here as it is.

The slugs on my back patio are as big as that mouse.

[charlie]

19. Oddly

the forested ravines outside Tokyo are filthy with centipedes. Big old things, 4-6", some hardshell, some with spiny hairs as long as their body. I lived in a Korean War vintage traditional house (meaning flimsy and porous to the elements) and would run into 3-5 of them a day, must've smooshed a couple thousand while I was there. Ordinarily, I ferry bugs outside, but these suckers were just too quick, dodgy, and dangerous. I got bit once, rolled over one on my futon, didn't suffer more than a welt on my arm, but some varieties can rot a limb off without treatment. So it was death to any centipedes I saw.

[beam me up scottie]

21. I do the same thing, I never kill any bugs.

But then again, I haven't found any centipedes larger than 2.5" or so in my house yet.

I lost track of one last year in my bedroom, the cats had it cornered, I went to get the bug-sucker and when I came back it was gone.

Cats are whistling nonchalantly like nothing happened.

I was only gone a few seconds, there was no way they could have eaten him.

I checked my damn sheets for WEEKS after that.

[charlie]

24. Haha

I know that pensive feeling when you've lost track of a nasty one. I still shake my shoes out before putting them on.

[NMMNG]

11. LOL

His training in biology may give him the ability to recognize dangling genitalia when he sees it, but it has not taught him the proper appreciation of Imaginary Fabrics.

[beam me up scottie]

12. If you're ever bored, check out the trolls that posted in that thread.

PZ Meyers is hysterical. He warns them a few times and then "dis-em-vowels" them.

Their posts end up looking like this:

"th hgh-tst thlgcl prts f rlgn r stll n f th bst llstrtns f dgnrtng prblm shft knw f."

grd. n prblm s s wh s gng t rd bk nttld >Th Gd Dlsn, smn wh s nt th rd-bldd rlgn r smn wh s strtng t sns ths dgnrtng prblm shft bt s stll clngng r tryng t fnd bck ths sns?

Posted by: J. J. Ramsey | December 24, 2006 07:39 PM

You'd think that would discourage them from posting again, wouldn't you?

Nope!

Rch: " thnk tht Dn s msrprsntng th dctrn f rgnl sn."

Srt f. S hr: lnk

Ths bt s ntrstng:

"St. Bsl ttrbts t s th ct f th frst mn: 'Bcs w dd nt fst (whn dm t th frbddn frt) w hv bn trnd t f th grdn f Prds' (Hm. d jjn., v). rlr stll s th tstmny f St. rns; 'n th prsn f th frst dm w ffnd Gd, dsbyng Hs prcpt' (Hrs., V, xv, 3)....

"'wtht bsrdty t my b sd t b vlntry' (St. gstn, "Rtrct.", , x)."

thnk th "wtht bsrdty" prt s dsptbl, t pt t pltly.

Posted by: J. J. Ramsey | December 25, 2006 04:38 PM

:rofl:

[kiahzero]

33. Begging the question is fun, isn't it?

:eyes:

[beam me up scottie]

34. Begging the question that there is a god?

I don't think that's quite what he was getting at, but you're close.

[kiahzero]

35. The argument relies on an unstated premise to prove the premise.

It only makes sense if you presuppose that the emperor is wearing no clothes, or in the specific case, that there is no such thing as divinity.

[beam me up scottie]

36. Gee, I wonder what kind of people PZ was thinking about when he penned that?

:rofl: