You will notice that there is still a comments box underneath this one, which you might take as, let’s say, an invitation to post? A suggestion that I am interested in continuing this conversation, even though my words say otherwise? YEAHNO. I can’t turn comments off without hiding all the comments that are already here, and I don’t want to do that (though I will if people fuck with me on this). Instead, I am using my words to tell you all that I no longer wish to continue this conversation, and as the blog-owner, it is my right to set such boundaries! Go figure!

COMMENTS ON THIS POST ARE NOW CLOSED. ANY COMMENT AFTER THIS ONE WILL BE DELETED, AND THE USER WILL BE BANNED.

And Sweet Machine: I once read an article by an economist that argued that there would be less risk of STDs if people who had been low-risk or virginal just slept with more people. By making themselves more available, they dropped the overall population risk and so more people would feel safe having unprotected sex.

(At least, I think that was the argument.)

Such as “It doesn’t matter a pair of fetid dingo’s kidneys.”

Jay, and for that matter several other men who have disagreed with this post:

The post can be summarized as “We feel that men are showing us severe disrespect when they act in a particular way. If you want to show us respect — and we hope you do — here is how to do it.” Now, if you don’t understand terms people are using, or want clarification on a particular argument, fine. But there really is no non-jerky way to disagree with the idea that you should act respectfully towards people. If you feel that there are philosophical problems with this strategy because men won’t leave women alone unless there is something in it for them, then for one thing this makes me want to go move to one of those Planet of the Lesbians in bad 50′s sci-fi, but if you’re seriously concerned, write your own post. You know the male psyche better than most of us — give your reasoning a try. But if we actually followed your advice and gave up on this post, we are left back where we started from. You have admitted that the reasoning here is sound — if you feel it lacks persuasive force, then actually make yourself useful and suggest arguments that would be taken better.

And yeah, upon further reflection. I’ve been bored for some time. And I’m done.

That doesn’t make it worthless, since it can give you some insights into a problem, the same way modeling a horse as a massless spheroid in freshman physics isn’t worthless and in fact can tell you quite a lot if you take it and run with it.

But in the end, you’ll wind up with a lot of false information if you don’t keep revisiting the fact that you started from false premises. A lot of people who think they are economists forget that. A lot. All over the popular press these days.