What is 'Poe'?

[starbrewer]

I've seen people throw this word around, and I'm sure the instances are open to debate.

I'd like to give an example: AngryNotice -- some years back, he started this thing about gravity, or denying its existence. Some fundies like Carico and Trinidad&Tobago ate it up and spewed their own stupidity regarding gravity. In this example, AngryNotice would be the poe.

[Lady Renae]

Generally speaking, a poe is a person who pretends so well at being a fundie that it is difficult to tell whether they are faking it or not, and most fundies would readily and enthusiastically call them one of their own. Once the poe is realized as a poe, however, the portrayal is usually viewed by non-fundies as hilarious and by fundies as 'persecution', 'hate speech', or whatever the whine of the week is.

Here is a good link. rationalwiki.com/wiki/Poe's_Law

[starbrewer]

so some people here are guessing that Carico is a poe? Could you compute odds while I take bets?

[Lady Renae]

Last I heard, everyone was of the opinion that she was genuine.

[starbrewer]

there was something in either F&B room or Preaching that she might be a poe. No one can be that stupid!

[Lady Renae]

Apparently you are not recalling Einstein's quote on the limits of human stupidity. Briefly put, there most likely are none. I tend to agree.

[Sigmaleph]

Mar 18, 2009 6:40:41 GMT -5 Lady Renae said:

Apparently you are not recalling Einstein's quote on the limits of human stupidity. Briefly put, there most likely are none. I tend to agree.

I agree too, mostly, but I still have my doubts about Carico. Not saying it's impossible to be that stupid, but there are some subtle hints here and there that make me doubt her authenticity. Nothing definite.

ETA: Just for clarification, Poe's law deals with parodies, not people who want others to believe they are actually fundies. Carico is not a poe, but a troll.

[szaleniec]

Mar 18, 2009 5:21:59 GMT -5 Lady Renae said:

Once the poe is realized as a poe, however, the portrayal is usually viewed by non-fundies as hilarious and by fundies as 'persecution', 'hate speech', or whatever the whine of the week is.

Fundie talk of hate speech always amuses me considering how many of them opposed the introduction of hate speech laws.

[Star Cluster]

Mar 18, 2009 6:25:58 GMT -5 Lady Renae said:

Last I heard, everyone was of the opinion that she was genuine.

Well, actually, I'm one of those that is not convinced she isn't a Poe. Some of the mind-numbingly dumb things she has said are just too stupid to come from even a Bible-thumping, Jesus-humping fundie. And as I said in that other thread, it isn't the religious crap she spews that makes me think this way, it is the other topics where she has lost all sense of sincerity or authenticity.

Redhunter and I have already given some examples in this thread, so I won't go through them again. These are just a few examples of things that even the most hardcore fundie knows are false.

Add to this that she constantly gets banned from even Christian websites because she argues with them when they call her on her bullshit.

But that's just the way I see it. Hell, she may be real, but I still have a hard time believing she is. Poe, troll, or batshit insane fundie champion of all time, she garners all the attention she wants and more than she deserves.

[Lady Renae]

Ah. Then there are conversations that I missed.

Current: I was gathering from usage that even though Poe's Law regards parody that faking it to appear genuine was included under the umbrella of parody. I will correct this misunderstanding based on what you've communicated. Usage has a tendency to throw me off balance with words. It's frustrating.

[Paradox]

We might want to put a link to the RationalWiki page on Poe's Law up on the main page, as this is a very common question.

[frogflayer]

I sometimes get the feeling that the whole lot of them are poes and they're laughing at us. Just because you're paranoid doen't mean they're not out to get you.
Carico's bad enough. Wasn't it supersport who was going on about how the speed of light used to be different in order to explain distant galaxies?
It's the curious mix of goddidit blended with a few scientific terms that generally makes me smirk or headdesk.
Just noticed I'd mistyped that as suppersport.

[Paradox]

Mar 19, 2009 20:40:33 GMT -5 frogflayer said:

Carico's bad enough. Wasn't it supersport who was going on about how the speed of light used to be different in order to explain distant galaxies?
It's the curious mix of goddidit blended with a few scientific terms that generally makes me smirk or headdesk.
Just noticed I'd mistyped that as suppersport.

That's actually quite a common belief among young-earthers. It's either that or claim that God created the light already en route, and that would make God a liar.

[frogflayer]

Mar 19, 2009 23:02:05 GMT -5 Paradox said:

Mar 19, 2009 20:40:33 GMT -5 frogflayer said:

Carico's bad enough. Wasn't it supersport who was going on about how the speed of light used to be different in order to explain distant galaxies?
It's the curious mix of goddidit blended with a few scientific terms that generally makes me smirk or headdesk.
Just noticed I'd mistyped that as suppersport.

That's actually quite a common belief among young-earthers. It's either that or claim that God created the light already en route, and that would make God a liar.

Yeah go figure!

When reality and the Bible conflict reality is wrong.

[szaleniec]

Of course, what they don't seem to realise is that a change in the speed of light would completely alter physics as we know it. My favourite example is that if light were slower now than it used to be, then everything in the universe would now be heavier as a result of the mass-energy relation (E=mc^2) and the conservation of energy. This alone would have more knock-on effects than I care to imagine, and that's just one obvious consequence of variable c.