Gene "Woolly-Headed Numerology" Smith tells more lies in public

Gene "Woolly-Headed Numerology" has now told two more lies in public
by implication.

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From: "Gene Ward Smith" <gwsmith@s...>
Date: Sat Apr 17, 2004 4:05 am
Subject: Re: Keep your eyes on the ball

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, "xenharmonic" <xed@e...> wrote:

> Gene Smith tried to tell the lie that I was
> an "imbecile" and that one blew up in his
> face when I asked to provide evidence to
> prove that I'm mentally defective.

Gene Ward Smith responded:
"Being unable to distinguish hyperbole from mendacity?"

So now telling the lie that someone is an "imbecile" gets
redefined as "hyperbole" -- this is well-known logical
fallacy of using weasel words, otherwise known as the
fallacy of euphemism.

Let us consider an obvious example to see how dishonest
and how fallacious Gene "Woolly-Headed Numerology" Smith's
reasoning is:

When Pol Pot didn't actually call for the destruction for
the intellectuals in Cambodia because they were parasites
on society, he was merely using hyperbole.

When Stalin said that "the kulaks are working to destroy the
state and must be wiped out" he was just being hyperbolic.

When Ku Klux Klansman say that "all niggers are subhuman" they're
just using hyperbole.

Gosh...what's you're problem -- are you "unable to distinguish
hyperbole from mendacity"?

Use common sense. Words mean what they mean.

And earlier when I remarked that "crackpots never quit," Gene
"Woolly-Headed Numerology" Smith responded: "irony?"

The logical inference of your claim, Gene Smith, is that I am
meant to be considered a crackpot. Provide evidence that calling
for critical thinking (as I have done) is an indication that I
am a crackpot, or stand revealed as a liar and a character assassin.

I have consistently stated that we must use facts and logic to test
the claims of Gene "Wooly-Headed Numerology" Smith against reality --
why does this make me a crackpot? Provide evidence that using facts
and logic to test claims against reality makes me a crackpot, Gene
Smith, or stand revealed as a liar and a character assassin.

A person may lie by omission, or lie by implication, or lie by
innuendo, or lie by suggestion. A person can even lie by asking
misleading questions in a poll -- this is a felony, and is known as
"push polling." (Nixon used these lies against Helen Gahan Douglas by
hiring phone banks full of people to ask prospective voters, "Did you
know that Helen Gahagan Douglas is a communist?") Gene "Woolly-Headed
Numerology" Smith has here lied by implication...not just once, but
twice.

Having been caught in outright lies, Gene Smith is now trying to get
away with telling lies by implication.

It won't work, Smith. Each time you lie, I will call you on it.

---------
--mclaren

xenharmonic wrote:

> Gene Ward Smith responded:
> "Being unable to distinguish hyperbole from mendacity?"
> > So now telling the lie that someone is an "imbecile" gets
> redefined as "hyperbole" -- this is well-known logical > fallacy of using weasel words, otherwise known as the
> fallacy of euphemism.

No, Gene's got a point there. Any intelligent person would have known that he wasn't literally describing you as mentally defective. Your apparent inability to realize this could be taken as evidence of a mental defect -- the inability to infer meaning from context.

> Let us consider an obvious example to see how dishonest
> and how fallacious Gene "Woolly-Headed Numerology" Smith's
> reasoning is:
> > When Pol Pot didn't actually call for the destruction for
> the intellectuals in Cambodia because they were parasites
> on society, he was merely using hyperbole.

Wow! Pol Pot gets a mention! You've now compared us to all the greatest butchers of modern history except for Th�oneste Bagosora. All in a meta-discussion of music theory. Of course, there are mass graves to prove that these people meant what they said. How many has Gene Smith murdered in the name of tuning theory?

> Gosh...what's you're problem -- are you "unable to distinguish
> hyperbole from mendacity"? > > Use common sense. Words mean what they mean. No, use common sense instead of mindless literalism. When somebody calls you "a baboon" does that really mean they are making the factual statement that you are a member of the the genus papio? I know of no recorded instance of a baboon understanding English, or being able to use a QWERTY keyboard. To claim that a participant in an online discussion is a baboon is not a credible statement, and any intelligent human should assume that it isn't intended as a literal assertion.

Similarly, when you say that somebody "... now slinks away, tail between his legs, having soiled himself with fear and rage, and whimpering like a little boy bitten by the puppy he tried to set on fire." we know that you aren't literally stating that this person has a tail, has stained himself with his excrement, or is making submissive noises. We know it is a metaphor. Nobody says "this individual does not have a tail. Provide evidence that this person has a tail or stand exposed as a contemptible liar" because that would be ridiculous. However, no more so than making similar accusations because you were called a "baboon" or an "imbecile".

On the other hand, stating that you were banned from a Yahoo Group is a credible, factual statement. Yahoo Groups has a mechanism for (as far as I can work out, permanently) banning accounts or e-mail addresses from a Group. You go to "members", then "ban" from a link at the top which you get if you are a moderator. For metatuning, this gets me to:

/metatuning/ban_members

The instruction is

"""
Banning a member will prevent that person from joining your group. You may enter up to 50 email addresses or Yahoo! IDs, one per line. You can ban 50 members from your group per day.
Example: jsmith@...
pat2000
"""

If you state that somebody has banned you from a Yahoo Group, that's a clear, factual statement. If it's untrue, then it's a lie. I didn't notice you apologizing to Carl Lumma for falsely accusing him of banning you from the ATL.

> And earlier when I remarked that "crackpots never quit," Gene
> "Woolly-Headed Numerology" Smith responded: "irony?"
> > The logical inference of your claim, Gene Smith, is that I am
> meant to be considered a crackpot. Provide evidence that calling
> for critical thinking (as I have done) is an indication that I
> am a crackpot, or stand revealed as a liar and a character assassin.

Yes, I think you've interpreted him correctly there. Your posts are full of this kind of irony. That very paragraph is an example of it. You imply that Gene calls you a crackpot because you call for critical thinking, whereas in fact he calls you a crackpot because you are a crackpot.

> I have consistently stated that we must use facts and logic to test
> the claims of Gene "Wooly-Headed Numerology" Smith against reality --
> why does this make me a crackpot? Provide evidence that using facts
> and logic to test claims against reality makes me a crackpot, Gene
> Smith, or stand revealed as a liar and a character assassin.

Yes, you have consistently stated that we must use facts and logic, while mis-stating facts ("The Comfy Pillow"???) and falling into logical fallacies -- generally personal attacks ("Gene `Wooly-Headed Numerology' Smith"), appeals to ridicule, straw men, false dilemmas, fallacies of composition, ad hominem, ... the list goes on.

> It won't work, Smith. Each time you lie, I will call you on it. If you can find a single instance where Gene Smith told a lie in, be sure to tell us. Perhaps you could also apologize for the lies you have told in public:

- That Carl Lumma banned you from the ATL
- That the ATL censors skeptical, critical thinking
- That Gene Smith's tunings are indistinguishable from 12-equal
- That a website with mp3s typically costs $3750 per month
- That Gene Smith can't manage simple arithmetic
- That Dante Rosati is ignorant of music history
- That Dante Rosati is uninformed about elementary music theory
- That William Sethares does not have a website
- That Kyle Gann does not have a website
- That metatuning is false or pretentious
- That Gene Smith is false or pretentious
- That the ATL stands for censorship
- That the ATL stands for repression
- That the ATL stands for thought control
- That the ATL stands for tyrants
- That the ATL stands for brutality
- That the ATL stands for sadism
- That the ATL stands for cruelty
- That the ATL stands for rigid musical ideology
- That the ATL praises only paper credentials
- That the ATL stands for lies
- That the ATL stands for superstition
- That the ATL believes the mob is god
- That the ATL believes only numbers and mathematics are important

Graham

--- In metatuning@yahoogroups.com, Graham Breed <graham@m...> wrote:
> xenharmonic wrote:
>
> > Gosh...what's you're problem -- are you "unable to distinguish
> > hyperbole from mendacity"?
> >
> > Use common sense. Words mean what they mean.
>
> No, use common sense instead of mindless literalism.
> When somebody calls you "a baboon" does that really mean
> they are making the factual statement that you are a member
> of the the genus papio? I know of no recorded instance
> of a baboon understanding English, or being able to use
> a QWERTY keyboard. To claim that a participant in an online
> discussion is a baboon is not a credible statement, and any
> intelligent human should assume that it isn't intended as
> a literal assertion.

hy·per·bo·le
n.
A figure of speech in which exaggeration is used for emphasis or
effect, as in "I could sleep for a year" or "This book weighs a ton".

men·dac·i·ty
n. pl. men·dac·i·ties
1. The condition of being mendacious; untruthfulness.
2. A lie; a falsehood.

men·da·cious
adj.
Lying; untruthful: "a mendacious child".
False; untrue: "a mendacious statement".
See Synonyms at "dishonest".

(from the American Heritage Dictionary -- www.dictionary.com)

-monz