Please enlighten me on this.

[Jeannie]

Why is the saying "A genius can do anything except make a living" any less pathetic than "Girls can do anything"?

[Dan Rowden]

I don't see any real conceptual relationship between the two statements. "A genius can do anything except make a living" is a statement about how society works and the fact that genius is not recognized in any utilitarian way by said society (and that a genius is unlikely to share the normative values of that society and therefore be productive to it in a conventional way). "Girls can do anything" is just puerile feminist claptrap designed to boost the egos of women.

The saying really should have been: "Girls are entitled to do what they want." That would have made a lot more friggin' sense.

[zarathustra]

Dan, vaginas are made for f-----g, not for looking at!

[Dan Rowden]

Um, that's pretty debatable, as all things aesthetic are.

[Jeannie]

The word "anything" is quite broad. In fact, it could mean "anything".

Can geniuses fly to the moon by themselves?

The fact society at large does not see the utilitarian of genius seems irrelevant.

Can geniuses do "anything" or not?

[Jeannie]

Dan, vaginas are made for f-----g, not for looking at!


Well, gee...there's an enlightened comment...NOT!

[Dan Rowden]

The word "anything" is quite broad. In fact, it could mean "anything".

Can geniuses fly to the moon by themselves?

The fact society at large does not see the utilitarian of genius seems irrelevant.

Can geniuses do "anything" or not?

I think you're taking the quote a tad too literally rather than seeing the point contained therein. But yes, in that literal sense, both quotes are a tad silly. However, the quote about women being able to do anything was meant to be taken quite literally.

[Dan Rowden]

Dan, vaginas are made for f-----g, not for looking at!

Well, gee...there's an enlightened comment...NOT!

So? Why did you direct that at me? I didn't say it.

[Jeannie]

I am sure nobody thought women could fly to the moon by themselves...sheesh! Maybe you are reading it too literally? :)

Of course I did not direct that comment at you. It may have followed your post but obviously it was directed at the poster.

[Dan Rowden]

I'm not here to babysit posters. I would have thought you can tell that I know a silly statement when I see one. I don't need to have them pointed out to me.

[guest_of_logic]

Dan, I think Jeannie was quoting this post.

Jeannie, there's a handy "quote" button in the top right of each post just for occasions when you don't want to confuse Dan.

As for the topic: the genius mould was broken here at GF - here, "anything" has a somewhat more restricted meaning...

[Jeannie]

Thanks guest_of_logic.

Although, I am not sure why Dan responded as he did. It seemed quite obvious I was in no way referring to him.

[guest_of_logic]

My guess is that it's because he's been copping a lot of undeserved flak lately, some of it reflected, to the point that he's lost a lot of his patience with the punters.

[Dan Rowden]

It was directed at me because the post started with my name; needlessly.

Dan, vaginas are made for f-----g, not for looking at!


Well, gee...there's an enlightened comment...NOT!

I don't need to have the words of others pointed out to me as if it meant something to or about me.

[guest_of_logic]

It was directed at me because the post started with my name; needlessly.

Dan, your name was already in what was quoted (to provide the link for a second time) - it wasn't added by Jeannie.

[Dan Rowden]

Ah, crap, so it was. My bad. Just goes to show I don't take much notice of moments of passing banality.

Now I know why you directed Jean to the quote function.

Carry on. I'm in a mood, as you can tell :)

[guest_of_logic]

Understandably.

[Dan Rowden]

Well, sort of. I don't really like it that I am, but I can't pretend I'm not. Mo fo :)

[guest_of_logic]

Well you know that I don't share your anti-emotion perspective, so with any luck you'll grant me the "right" to say that I don't think that what's being handed out to you elsewhere is fair, and that it's reasonable ('"reasonable" emotions... hahahaha', I hear you chortle...) that the injustice would piss you off.

[Diebert van Rhijn]

Anything or everything is a not uncommon short for "all relevant matters" or "a great deal".

It's all about the context here or at least what one finds relevant or great.

[guest_of_logic]

Diebert, neither of those alternatives are any more specific than the original.

[Diebert van Rhijn]

Actually it answers very specifically the question. If you'd look up the context of the original statements you could find a clue to what's meant with relevant and great in both cases.

But never mind, you're just here to troll and moan without any real interest or capacity for the topics. You're not even able to stop.

[mensa-maniac]

"A genius can do anything except make a living"

A genius is not super-human, only highly intelligent. He can hardly do anything at all except for what his abilities allow him to do. He can't make a living because it is to difficult for his over intelligent brain to relate with mediocre-mindedness or low digit I.Qers, meaning that he must teach himself to speak in more understandable terms. His intelligence allows him to relate with anyone on any mental level, but his preferance is not to relate with others intellectually because it takes much mental effort on his part to challenge his ability to speak with others who have a lesser degree of intelligence. In other words he's mastered the ability to relate with anyone, but a preference to only speak with those who could possibly understand his intellect.

His abilities in any field are to entertain people because he knows he can, like music, or writing, both captivate and mesmerize the audience. He understands that he loses his listeners in conversations because of their short attention spans and inability to understand intellectual concept.

[guest_of_logic]

Diebert, I was tired and I wasn't thinking clearly when I made that post - I withdraw it.

[Jeannie]

Seems only budding geniuses are able to make criticisms...truly.......if an outsider thinks what is said is crap, particularly when it is merely an opinion, don't they have as much right?

Why didn't the quote say "Geniuses have no interest in making a living" or something like that to avoid confusion. I love the old "you have to put it in context" line. Just like the Scriptures, hey?