@1003, I think you just proved 1000s point right there. And no, a college degree does not necessarily prove that you are hard-working or extremely intelligent. People who don't have degrees, or failed to get one because of the major failures of our education system, can be just as hardworking and intelligent as someone who got a degree. Just because you have a masters degree in, say, education doesn't mean you know what your talking about when it comes to law enforcement, for example. And, finally... just because you have a degree from college, or two, or three, doesn't mean your not an idiot. The smartest people can be idiots too sometimes. Your college degree doesn't suddenly mean your the ultimate authority on a particular matter, and the way you phrased 998 came off as quite arrogant -- "I have multiple degrees from the top three colleges in the world and therefore I'm right on this matter and everything I say should be respected and no one should call me an idiot even if what I say sounds stupid to them". And yes, that's not precisely what you said, but its the message you sent. Here's the thing: 996 is my opinion. And I have the right to my opinion, and I have the right to voice it. If I insulted you, then I'm sorry, because I didn't intend to insult you in particular, but I will not retract my statement because I believe that anyone who believes that [all] guns should be taken away, and who fails to actually think about all the logistics of such an operation, is indeed an idiot. And as for me being "less smarter than you"? Excuse me, but that's a bit presumptuous, condescending and arrogant of you, don't you think? Which makes me wonder why I should've even had to write that, because if your so much smarter than I am, I shouldn't have had to write that, now should I? After all, your the one with multiple master's degrees, and therefore I should just automatically assume that you know what your talking about, and that your an authority on the subject matter that we're discussing.... right?
My point is that just because you might have spent a ton of money to earn a degree, and even more to earn two, doesn't mean you can't be an idiot sometimes. Your not immune to this little thing humanity calls stupidity. Now, could I have worded this post a bit nicer? Sure I could've. Could I have not generalized in 996 and called everyone who has the opinion of "take all the guns away" an idiot? Yeah, I could have. But if I'd used any other word to describe them, I imagine you'd be just as insulted as you apparently are now. Yes, you may have a few degrees under your belt, and I respect you for taking the time and dedicating yourself to that, and I respect you for proving yourself to the education system. But if you have an opinion that I think is idiotic or stupid, I'm going to tell you so. Your degrees do not make you immune to criticism, direct and blunt as it might be. I may not have a master's degree. I can tell you that I don't even have a bachelor's degree yet, but that I'm working towards it. But knowing that little tidbit of information does not make it suddenly possible for you to judge my intelligence or knowledge, and I find you calling me "less smarter" than you -- in other words, I'm "dumber" than you -- quite insulting myself, especially since you don't exactly know much about me. Me calling a minority a bunch of idiots for thinking of an idea like "take all the guns away" is not intended as an insult, and if you view it as that way then that's fine. The actual intent is to call the idea of it idiotic, and I know that that very minority could've spent the time together to actually come up with a much better one. Ultimately, your going to find people calling you idiots all over the place, and you just have to take it because there's nothing you can do about it. Did I intend to call you an idiot? Nope; if I did, I would've directed that at you and not at every single person who holds similar to identical opinions on this gun issue as you. But I definitely didn't mean for that to be an insult, and I'm surprised that you'd take it that way. If I had meant it as an insult I probably would've phrased it in a much more derogatory fashion.

@1005, yep.

@1007, I'm confused on where you got the idea that I had the idea that you were an expert on everything. Because I certainly didn't claim that anywhere in 1004. Yes, earning degrees shows intelligence and hard work ethic. But that doesn't make you immune from stupidity or idiocy occasionally, which is what I was getting at. And as for you making your statement? Alright then, I acknowledge that -- you've stated your opinion quite clearly on this topic and we'll just have to agree to disagree on that one then. Finally, the opinion of 1005 was not something I stated, but something I agreed generally with in 1006 to demonstrate that degrees do not mean your above me. Your smart, and I generally respect what you have to say, and I hope you can say the same about me. But that doesn't mean your above me in some way. If you interpreted post 996 as condescending, than okay... not really sure why it came off to you like that but okay. Finally, I'm now quite curious exactly what subjects you studdied that would 'make my head explode'. Quantum physics, perhaps? Because I still get confused by that -- and I've got several books and have read the ones I have -- though they were primarily on quantum computing. But when you talk about quantum computing, you always gotta bring in quantum physics and quantum mechanics as background. But getting back to my point... okay, so you might've had to study subjects that I wouldn't understand yet. But that doesn't make me somehow less smarter than you at all. Depending on the subject matter, that could just be an indicator that our strengths are not on the same page, or even that I don't necessarily care for what you studied because I feel that what I study is more important to me. I could say the same about the subjects I tend to research sometimes and making your head explode.
We've dragged this way, way off course though... can we try to make an effort to return this discussion to its original purpose after resolving any remaining disputes?

@1009, I didn't think I was taking things out of context, but maybe I am... hmmm. I probably went a bit overboard in 1004.

Jayde, I responded quite harshly because I saw that post as a clear attempt to insult me, and thus I responded in kind.  Also, for people here to casually say, well you were some rich kid who had loads of money, and earned your degrees that way pushes all my buttons, and  generally pisses me off. Itts like someone spitting in your face. It is an insult to all the hard work and dedication  I put into my studies.  Jayde, if I remember right, you were working for a degree as well? Wouldn't you feel a tiny tiny bit pissed off when people suggest you throw around money to get it done?
Ethin, the subjects generally that were hard to understand,  and that I had to produce work about were  formost top down versus bottom up processing models of speech processing, and evidence supporting each of them. I looked at the interactive processing model for  top down and the parallel processing model for  bottom up.
Back to gun control, when I said people should not be allowed to own guns,  I was talking about an ideal world, and I did mention given the current climate it wasn't likely feasable to implement this in a short time scale. Though I think it could be done phase by phase for the longterm.

Uh...so this is where I do want to actually straight-up draw a line here.

Observe the following fictional scenario.

Bob says:
Your degree really doesn't mean much. People can throw around a ton of money and just get a degree that way, and that doesn't make them intelligent, doesn't mean they earned their degree. So just because you have a degree doesn't mean you earned it.

So fine. Shots fired.

Now you don't get to then turn around and say, "Well Bob didn't actually mean to call you out". Yes, he absolutely did. You don't build a strawman like that for nothing.

Either money matters to Enes's degree, or it doesn't.
If it does matter, then own your attack.
If it doesn't, then it should not have been cited. As Enes rightly pointed out, this is a really slimy and backhanded way to cast doubt on someone's qualifications. Because okay, sure, it does happen. But unless you have a reason to think it happened in this scenario, there's no reason to mention it.

Good faith means that you:
1. Accept that Enes earned his degree legitimately until proven otherwise, rather than putting him on the defensive, and
2. accept that Enes possessing a degree means that he is qualified in at least one area of expertise

Good faith does -not require that you take everything Enes says as gospel truth. He's not infallible simply because he has accreditation from prestigious academic institutions. It should mean, however, that in a very general sense, he had the wherewithal to earn his accreditation honestly (again, until proven otherwise). That counts for something.

On the flip side, you didn't help yourself out much, Enes. When some folks do what you just did, wave their credentials as proof that they aren't foolish, it does look a lot like posturing. I respect that you were made defensive by comments inferring that you were an idiot, but your overreaction might have made this worse than it already was.

Tl.dr: don't bring shit up unless it's relevant. Don't throw mud unless you're willing to hold up your dirty hands and say, "Yeah, that was me, and here's why". Lacking that reason, just don't bother. I don't feel there's any really good defense for bringing money (as it relates to a degree) directly into this discussion.

@1014, point taken. I didn't see post 1005 as insinuating that though, and again, the only reason I agreed was because it was one particular way and had no intention of insinuating that Enes in particular had done that. Maybe 1005 intended that, but I certainly didn't.

Enes, I'll counter that by saying that just because you have a degree, that obviously doesn't mean you can't be wrong, or can't embarrass yourself. I think my responses out too. Generally you'd hope that most of us would do this, and that we'd respect the educational credentials we talk about not to run around yelling as loud as we can. Some folks don't do this, however.
There's no cause to call you an idiot, but there's no cause for you to wave your academic success here as some sort of panacea against being an idiot. I think that's the point that's been made. Just because one has a degree does not make one immune to criticism.

But this has become an exercise in sophistry. I trust we've all made our various points and can lower our tail-feathers a bit? That last is not directed at any one person or group any more than any other.

@1019, the point that Jayde and I are trying to make is that I wasn't explicitly calling you an idiot. Nowhere did I say or imply that you in particular were an idiot. If I meant to say that, I'd have no reason to hide behind some facade and call the people who want guns taken away idiots -- I would've flat out called you one and that would be that and this discussion would be entirely different. I generalized and called people who want to take "all the guns away" idiots because that, to me, is an idiotic idea, and I'd expect better, because taking all the guns away is holy unrealistic and is just not gonna happen in my lifetime. Better gun control yes, take all the guns away no. I've acknowledged this previously but I'll acknowledge it again: could I have not worded my statement as such? I certainly could've. But if I had, I most likely would've had still insulted you. Insulting you was purely an accident; there was no reason you had to wave your creds around as if that somehow fixed the problem or made you somehow superior. Calling me "less smarter" because I don't have a degree yet only aggravated the problem and was definitely insulting towards me and only made things worse, hence my rather harsh response in 1004.

I really think it is because of trump's lax attitude with the virus, his refusal to wear a mask, thus  setting a bad example,  and  his push to fully open states before infections were under control.

@1023, that's... messed up. And with that we've reached a kilobyte of posts.