Thursday, June 26, 2008

Meet Bob.

In one of the most fantastic pieces of shrill idiocy yet displayed in politics (it's an election year, no-one's short of examples), Senator Gayle Slossberg wants GTA IV legislated against because it contains a rape scene.

Problem is, it doesn't. She made it up. And everyone knows it. Doesn't stop her though. She says the only reason she can't confirm it's existence is that she's not good enough at the game to reach it.

This is a classic case of what I like to refer to as 'Bob The Magic Goblin' syndrome. If you are going to say something is true because it cannot be disproved, check first that your argument doesn't dissolve into undignified slop when it's subject is replaced by the words 'Bob The Magic Goblin'. Just becauase no-one has any evidence of it's existence doesn't mean it's not there of course. We're likely to come across new fundamental particles in the next few years. But if you have no evidence whatsoever, making bold claims, be it on the street or in the US senate is a bad idea.

Bob The Magic Goblin. Effective against 99% of known media scares, new age cures and deities.

2 comments:

Mister Aedan said...

Thought this comment from the article responses was quite pithy:

"It seems like she is looking for a unicorn in a hay stack"

Might steal that.

Oh, and hello Bob. Expect we'll be seeing a lot of you in the coming months.

Dave said...

Bob won't let you down. He might tinkle on your tulips, or lurk outside your house masturbating in a fashion that can only be described as brazen, but he won't let you down.