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Al Gore or the Unabomber?

Jennifer's picture
2008, August 12 - 19:08 — Jennifer

I just found this quiz, which contains quotes from Al Gore's "Earth in the Balance" and the manifesto written by Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber. Never having read either one, I tried taking the quiz (where you guess if a quote was from Gore or Kaczynski), and I got an abysmally low score (about half right).

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2008, August 12 - 19:15 — Fin Fang Foom 3000
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

4 of 12

2008, August 12 - 19:31 — Jadagul
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

I got 8 of 12. Never read either, but I have read PJ O'Rourke's All the Trouble in the World, which has a chapter or two mostly devoted to mocking Earth in the Balance.

2008, August 12 - 19:40 — tymac
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

8 out of 12.

2008, August 12 - 20:42 — Aresen
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

4 out of 12.

Obviously, I am not familiar with the works of the Unagore (or is that the Alabomber?)

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2008, August 12 - 20:53 — JD
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

7 out of 12. I have to think more about what the point was (some time when I don't have three beers in me, perhaps), but it was surprisingly hard. Evidently Ted Kaczynski was more eloquent than I thought.

2008, August 12 - 21:22 — Shem
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

10 out of 12. But only because I read Earth in the Balance. Even having read it; God damn that was challenging.

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2008, August 12 - 21:52 — Stevo Darkly
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

I got 8 out of 12. I have not read either document.

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2008, August 13 - 11:20 — J sub D
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

JD wrote:
7 out of 12. I have to think more about what the point was (some time when I don't have three beers in me, perhaps), but it was surprisingly hard. Evidently Ted Kaczynski was more eloquent than I thought.

I bombed. 3 out of 12. Not only is Kaczynsky more eloquent, Al Gore is more of an alarmist than I thought.

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2008, August 13 - 11:45 — fyodor
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

7.

Damn, after getting the first three wrong, I aced 7 in a row and thought I'd gotten the hang of it, but then I crapped out on the last two!!

This is fun, but of course little snippets like this could be misleading. And the worst part about Kazynski would have to be whatever led him to believe that random killing was the way to get his ideas across. (Though gotta admit, it's worked, to a degree!)

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2008, August 13 - 12:19 — Ayn_Randian
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

Yikes, I only had 4 of 12 right...and I've taken this test once before this.

Not to give too much away, but this one:

Al Gore wrote:
"Modern industrial civilization, as presently organized, is colliding violently with our planet's ecological system. The ferocity of its assault on the earth is breathtaking, and the horrific consequences are occurring so quickly as to defy our capacity to recognize them, comprehend their global implications, and organize an appropriate and timely response. Isolated pockets of resistance fighters who have experienced this juggernaut at first hand have begun to fight back in inspiring but, in the final analysis, woefully inadequate ways."

terrifies me. Who the hell are these heroic pockets of resistance fighters? Gore talks like there's a literal war going on.

I'm going to say it: Gore would have been worse.

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2008, August 13 - 14:53 — mediageek
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

6 out of 12. I totally nailed all of the ones dealing with ManBearPig.

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2008, August 13 - 15:29 — Warren
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

UnaGore

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2008, August 13 - 15:57 — Jennifer
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

Ayn_Randian wrote:

I'm going to say it: Gore would have been worse.

I must disagree. If nothing else, Gore wouldn't have been re-elected in 2004 by torture-apologist yahoo cowards who shit their pants in fear at the thought of gays getting married.

2008, August 14 - 00:17 — Aresen
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

Jennifer wrote:
Ayn_Randian wrote:

I'm going to say it: Gore would have been worse.

I must disagree. If nothing else, Gore wouldn't have been re-elected in 2004 by torture-apologist yahoo cowards who shit their pants in fear at the thought of gays getting married.

I'm not sure if AR meant worse than Bush or worse that the Unabomber.

Can't say for sure about the first, but considering the economic damage and human toll of the policies Gore has advocated (how many have died of starvation because of the Ethanol subsidies?) I'd definitely say he's worse than the latter.

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2008, August 14 - 08:30 — pbirmingham
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

Aresen wrote:

(how many have died of starvation because of the Ethanol subsidies?)

Now, I come to bury ethanol subsidies, not praise them (I understand ethanol to be barely break-even in energy terms, and I wouldn't be in favor of subsidies even if it were a good energy source) but I'm not sure why people are so eager to lay starvation at the feet of ethanol. If corn were the only staple experiencing large price increases, I'd think this criticism had some teeth, but pretty much everything people eat is experiencing similar rises, and this criticism looks a lot like "<policy I hate> KILLS PEOPLE!"

Since corn is a plant that any farmer can grow when the demand is high enough, this should iron itself out, right?

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2008, August 14 - 11:58 — Warren
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

Quote:
Since corn is a plant that any farmer can grow when the demand is high enough, this should iron itself out, right?

Uh no. This is why the increase for all food is being laid at the feet of corn. The subsidization of corn (already grotesque before fuel mandates) drives more acres to be planted in corn at the expense of other crops. Recent news that this years crop will be the second largest ever (much bigger than expected due to spring flooding in Iowa) has caused the price to retract somewhat, but is still 40% higher than a year ago. Government's obedience to the corn lobby has put more demand on corn than can possibly be supplied. Resulting in huge shortages for all agriculture goods.

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2008, August 14 - 19:07 — Fin Fang Foom 3000
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

Warren wrote:
Quote:
Since corn is a plant that any farmer can grow when the demand is high enough, this should iron itself out, right?

Uh no. This is why the increase for all food is being laid at the feet of corn. The subsidization of corn (already grotesque before fuel mandates) drives more acres to be planted in corn at the expense of other crops. Recent news that this years crop will be the second largest ever (much bigger than expected due to spring flooding in Iowa) has caused the price to retract somewhat, but is still 40% higher than a year ago. Government's obedience to the corn lobby has put more demand on corn than can possibly be supplied. Resulting in huge shortages for all agriculture goods.

Yeah, with ethanol demand rising, and corn demand rising, and other foodstuff demand rising, people switch to ethanol crops and some countries, e.g. Argentina, put up export controls to ensure that the locals can afford the food they want (in Argentina, beef, at the expense of soybeans grown for export).

2008, August 15 - 10:19 — Isaac Bartram
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

J sub D wrote:
JD wrote:
7 out of 12. I have to think more about what the point was (some time when I don't have three beers in me, perhaps), but it was surprisingly hard. Evidently Ted Kaczynski was more eloquent than I thought.

I bombed. 3 out of 12. Not only is Kaczynsky more eloquent, Al Gore is more of an alarmist than I thought.

Yep. I got 4 out of 12 for the same reason. Since I don't normal totally recall books I've read, I'm not sure I'd have done better if I had read either or both of these.

As far as I can tell the only difference if Gore had stolen 2000 is that Enron would've gotten a bailout. I'm still wondering what Ken Lay was thinking when he gave Bush all that money.

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2008, August 17 - 10:46 — mediageek
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Re: Al Gore or the Unabomber?

Quote:
If nothing else, Gore wouldn't have been re-elected in 2004 by torture-apologist yahoo cowards who shit their pants in fear at the thought of gays getting married.

I just want to point out that this is the best bit if uncut, high-grade snark I've seen all week.

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