I actually win one with Hunchbacked

[raven]

To be completely fair, there is a lot in there I don't understand either.

[gillianren]

Oh, goodness, yes.  Don't ever believe me if I claim to understand, say, orbital mechanics!  The important point is that I then don't make claims based on a presumed knowledge of orbital mechanics.  In order for a hoax belief to make sense, though, everything explained in all those fields must be wrong!  Which means that you have to be ignorant in all of them to believe in the hoax--or else just not thought of the implications.

[raven]

That's probably where you'll find the fence sitters. They didn't think of the implications of their claims, like the contradiction between, "We placed the mirrors with unmanned landers capable of pin-point accuracy in rough terrain." and, "We didn't have the computers powerful enough to get us to the moon."

[gillianren]

Yes, probably.  It's one of the reasons I refuse to ascribe mental illness as a cause for everyone who believes in the hoax.  In a lot of cases, I think it's just because they really haven't thought about what it would all mean.  In a lot of cases, I think it's because they have an idea that sounds interesting and haven't considered everything it would mean.  It isn't all that important to them.  We just see the ones to whom it is important.

[raven]

Oh, absolutely. Claiming mental illness is just a lazy way to dismiss people without having to look at the root causes for their behaviour, not to mention incredibly ignorant.

[ineluki]

Yes, probably.  It's one of the reasons I refuse to ascribe mental illness as a cause for everyone who believes in the hoax.  In a lot of cases, I think it's just because they really haven't thought about what it would all mean.

Gilian's Variation on Hanlon's Razor:
"Never attribute to insanity what can be explained by stupidity."

[gillianren]

Gilian's Variation on Hanlon's Razor:
"Never attribute to insanity what can be explained by stupidity."

Ignorance, at any rate.  And definitely mental illness, not insanity.  "Insane" is an overused term that doesn't mean what most people think it means.

[raven]

Gilian's Variation on Hanlon's Razor:
"Never attribute to insanity what can be explained by stupidity."

Ignorance, at any rate.  And definitely mental illness, not insanity.  "Insane" is an overused term that doesn't mean what most people think it means.

"Dunked in a certain Parisian river"?
I do have to wonder how so many conspiracy theorists all ended up in the world's longest river though.

[gillianren]

"Insane" is a legal term, not a medical one.  It means "incapable of understanding that society thinks the person's behaviour is wrong," or thereabouts.  This means, for example, that people like Ted Bundy and Charles Manson aren't legally insane (hence the fact that both were initially sentenced to death, not a hospital), because they knew society thought what they were doing was wrong.  They just didn't care.

[Zach]

Hunchbacked is French, so I'm willing to cut him some slack. But he tends to persist with his rather idiosyncratic language even when he's informed of the correct terminology. "Incoherence" (as a noun) is one of his favorite words, so I like to use it in quotes.

Okay, but here's my thing.  If he's going to argue in English, he needs to improve his English.  Gods know I speak no language other than English well enough to argue in it.  (I can order meals and a few other things in Spanish, I can talk about the weather in Gaelic, and I know scattered words in about a dozen other languages, and that's it.)  I admire the heck out of people who do.  I've never made fun of Jackie Chan's accent, because I know how awful I would sound if I tried to learn Chinese.  However, two of the people whose spelling/grammatical errors I jump on most are both non-native speakers, and I do it because they asked me to.  They're trying to improve their English, which they know isn't perfect.

I know we end up dealing with non-native speakers sometimes, and it always makes me wonder--why?  Are there no sites in their native language that they can bother, where they aren't fighting an uphill battle against science and English?  Sometimes, it's obvious that they're trying to improve their English, and that's fine.  I actually kind of admire that.  But when we get "English isn't my first language, so don't waste your time correcting me," I keep thinking that it's got to be easier to get your point across when you're actually fluent in the language.  Or even just working on improving it.  When you're struggling to make yourself understood, why are you wasting your time?

Why does Hunchy argue in English? Because when he's cornered, it becomes a shield. Hunchy's English isn't bad, but when you press him on highly technical points or otherwise get him flustered, he starts spewing jibberish (more so than his usual baseline amount). It's a defense mechanism, whether intentional or not. He may be grasping at any words that come to mind, much as a drowning man grabs for anything that may be floating in the water. Or he may be intentionally kicking up a verbal "cloud of dust" to (in his mind) obscure his ignorance. Either way, it's a great "tell" that you've struck a nerve.

If he were arguing in his native language, he would not be able to pull off such a stunt.

[Noldi400]

You're probably right that he uses it as a shield, but you'd think that after hundreds (!) of videos over three years and replying to what has to be thousands of comments, he'd be more fluent by now.  He's certainly had the practice.

[raven]

Eh, though that may be part of it, I think there is a much simpler explanation. English is the most international of languages. Hunchbacked wants to reach a large audience as possible, so he uses the language most likely to be understood. Also, English is tough. It is full of loan words that break every 'rule' of grammar and spelling we have. I am not surprised he still has trouble with it.

[ka9q]

As one of Hunchbacked's primary antagonists I have to cut him some slack. There's plenty to criticize in his writings without getting anywhere near his English language skills.

An old joke that's relevant here:

Q: What do you call a person who can speak several languages?
A: Multilingual.
Q: What do you call a person who can speak only one language?
A: An American.

[Noldi400]

As one of Hunchbacked's primary antagonists I have to cut him some slack. There's plenty to criticize in his writings without getting anywhere near his English language skills.

I'll have to agree with that one - I can usually understand what he's trying to say, although sometimes his arguments are so convoluted they'd be hard to follow in any language.

I still have to give him points for attitude, though.  He's pretty much the only HB who doesn't quickly devolve into insults and personal attacks (although he does get a little cranky on occasion).