Our New Home

We have a new home, come join us at WeAreSMRT (We Are Skeptical Minds & Rational Thinkers)

The Forum

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Who is "Steven J ?"

Steven J is the perennial commentator over at Cumfort's blog, a person of infinite patience. His perspicacity is becoming legend. He rarely gets angry and is usually not rude even when he should be.

There are few Fundies left that will now challenge him, probably because their assholes are sore from getting them reamed by Steven J. I have been watching him deconstruct the inanities from RTB/ Vera the last couple days and have come to the conclusion that Vera must be a sock puppet for Hugh Ross himself. She is possibly the most absurd and irrational commentor on that blog- evah. She treats Ross like he is the world's most prominent authority on everything.

Apparently, Steven is highly motivated to kick over the sacred cows that are the idols of Ray and his minions.

I am beyond curious to find out who Steven might be. Dawkins? PZ? etc?
He has related no personal information whatsoever except to show that he has a very wide range of knowledge and I would expect him to be a fairly mature scientist. Anyway, I have enjoyed reading his stuff and if anybody knows him it would be really cool to invite him over so we can say hello.

21 comments:

  1. My guess would be that he's not anyone you've ever heard of, but actually a guy named Steven J.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mud,
    I agree. I was just trying to create some interest.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've said it before; I think Steven J (and possibly Dimensio too) are Creationist Poes. A rare specimen indeed.

    They're satirizing the typical evolutionist/atheist appeals to 'logic', 'reason' and 'intellectual honesty' to get a few laughs for their fellow believers.

    The fact that we go along with all these 'reasonable conclusions', 'well thought out comments' and appeals to 'evidence' just shows how truly lost and gullible we heathens really are.

    It's quite brilliant really.



    In fact, so brilliant that no fundie could pull it off...scratch that hypothesis.

    ReplyDelete
  4. He actually said once that he's not a scientist at all and doesn't have a formal science education. I have no idea how a dilettante could be that meticulous and precise - but then again, some of the greatest scientific minds were formally untrained.
    Even if it's some sort of cover for a personality or a scientist of that name (there are a lot of steven j.s active in science), it doesn't change one iota about how good and correct he is.

    ReplyDelete
  5. On a side note, does it seem to anyone else that Ray is losing his once firm confidence in his arguments?

    His posts lately seem rather...fluffy.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really have no idea. Maybe it's a new strategy he's developing - New New Creationism. 'Look kids - it's true even if everything else is wrong! Amazing!'

    ReplyDelete
  7. SJ has been a source of curiosity for me as well. Regardless of who he is, I enjoy reading his responses; assuming they're not completely fallacious, I've learned quite a bit from them.

    Invite him if you want, but he seems pretty content to not align himself with any group (as far as I've been able to tell). I've inferred that he'd rather let his speaking do his speaking (heh) rather than his affiliations.

    ReplyDelete
  8. perspicacity-
    Acuteness of perception, discernment, or understanding

    I love it when I learn new words!


    only surprise- under perspicacity antonyms,
    creationists

    ReplyDelete
  9. mudley said...

    On a side note, does it seem to anyone else that Ray is losing his once firm confidence in his arguments?

    Yes. When I first started listening to Ray and Todd on the radio, part of the pitch was to not be intimidated by anyone's intellect. The Ray method of evangelizing bypasses the intellect and appeals to the conscience.

    It works when your ambushing unprepared teenagers outside Arby's. On the rare occasion I heard Ray radio witness to someone with some reasoned comebacks, he would throw out a tortured analogy and steer the interview back to what wretched sinners we all are.

    He can't steer the conversation on his blog without looking like a total despot. The onslaught of reason and evidence has him flustered and flailing about. He's become a petulant child.

    That's my take anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I invited him to drop by and say hello on the ""Mistakes” in The Book of Genesis" Post.

    He is ripping Vera over there and I am playing the role of antagonist.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Oh yes,

    Steven j. is a intriguing dude (if in fact a dude?), dimensio is a machine.

    ReplyDelete
  12. expatmatt,

    No fundie could use logic that good, just read one of jrk83's posts where he uses "logic".

    ReplyDelete
  13. Steven is no fundie. He might believe in a god, but not a fundie for sure. I am trying t remember, becauee once he did get angry (kinda), but I do not remember the ocassion. Maybe a comment by jrk83, but not sure. Anyway, he has said he is not trained as a scientist, and he has said that he has no access to scientific journals requiring subscriptions.

    However, I am not surprised by those who are no scientists yet know a lot. There is people with good intellects who have science and knowledge as a playground, but do something else. Once I met this taxi driver who, oh my, knew so many things so well!

    Anyway, I think Steven just says what has to be said, and that is it. He enjoys the putting together of words, and answering, and explaining. Maybe a teacher?

    G.E.

    ReplyDelete
  14. GE,
    I agree. One of my cronies is a truck driver. He is very well read and surprises me all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  15. "I've said it before; I think Steven J (and possibly Dimensio too) are Creationist Poes. A rare specimen indeed."

    I disagree because:

    1) Creationists are almost to a person too dense to be able to correctly articulate such points.

    2) There's no hint of parody in what he's saying. There's nothing (at least in the little of him that I've read) that would belittle the scientific viewpoint, no sentences like, "Evolution proves that life is meaningless and we can do whatever we want."

    ReplyDelete
  16. All,

    Just to absolutely clear; I was kidding.

    Fin

    ReplyDelete
  17. Expat,

    I knew immediately what you were up to there!

    No prob!

    ReplyDelete
  18. His handle reminds me of Stephen Jay Gould, one of my heros and one of the greatest freethinkers ever.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I've always assumed that's what/who he was implying, RM.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Since Dimensio's name came up in this discussion, I'd also like to see more of his other writing, beyond what I've read at Comfort's blog and the Expelled site's comment threads (which is where I first saw his replies).

    My read on him is that his points are made for the greater goal of having creationists do research, even if it's to places that they'll agree with. It's a method that I completely agree with, and would like to try to perfect.

    Regardless, I love how he just stops most of their bullshit cold.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I think Stephen Jay Gould has been over-appreciated. The guy likes extra elaborating. I cannot understand how so many people read Gould with so much gusto.

    G.E.

    ReplyDelete

Unlike Ray we don't censor our comments, so as long as it's on topic and not spam, fire away.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.