Politics Ben Carson: pyramids were grain storages for Joseph

[crowTrobot]

thus he's both crazy and a liar.

Still going with a combination of ignorance and stupidity

 

[magnifier661]

Still going with a combination of ignorance and stupidity

I don't know if I could call a brain surgeon stupid. I don't think Carson can run this country, but I don't think he could be stupid while being able to perform hundreds of delicate surgeries

 

[Denny Crane]

CBS News report on the same thing.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ben-carsons-unusual-theory-about-pyramids/

What Carson has in mind here is the seven years of plenty in Egypt, referred to in Genesis, when "Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure." In the Bible, Joseph fed Egypt and the rest of the world during the seven years of drought that followed.

 

[barfo]

I don't know if I could call a brain surgeon stupid. I don't think Carson can run this country, but I don't think he could be stupid while being able to perform hundreds of delicate surgeries

Surgery (and being an MD in general) has not that much to do with brainpower. In Carson's case, it is said that what made him an outstanding surgeon was exceptional hand-eye coordination.

That said, I don't think he's stupid. He might well be autistic, though.

Ignorant, definitely.

barfo

 

[crowTrobot]

Watch the video Mags posted.

I've watched it twice. He is speaking about multiple large pyramids with hermetically sealed chambers, then mentions scientists thinking they were tombs for the pharaohs.. and then babbles something about scientists thinking aliens had something to do with it.

He's quite obviously generalizing about popularizations - about what an average congregation member would think of when they hear "The Pyramids". He is NOT referring to small symbolic storage houses next to one specific pyramid that nobody in the congregation would have had a clue about.

 

[crowTrobot]

I don't know if I could call a brain surgeon stupid. I don't think Carson can run this country, but I don't think he could be stupid while being able to perform hundreds of delicate surgeries

He's mentally challenged in certain ways (not all ways). I guess you could define that as crazy if you want.

 

[magnifier661]

He's mentally challenged in certain ways (not all ways). I guess you could define that as crazy if you want.

Okay, I can live with crazy.

 

[barfo]

In other science news:

Kangaroo farts not as environmentally friendly as previously thought

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

I've watched it twice. He is speaking about multiple large pyramids with hermetically sealed chambers, then mentions scientists thinking they were tombs for the pharaohs.. and then babbles something about scientists thinking aliens had something to do with it.

He's quite obviously generalizing about popularizations - about what an average congregation member would think of when they hear "The Pyramids". He is NOT referring to small symbolic storage houses next to one specific pyramid that nobody in the congregation would have had a clue about.

Yeah, I agree about that. The source of his belief is grounded in religion, of course. But it is actually backed by archaeology.

 

[crowTrobot]

But it is actually backed by archaeology.

Haphazardly trying to shoehorn a literal reading of a Biblical story where it doesn't remotely fit isn't matching it to archaeology. It's like glancing at the Grand Canyon without any consideration of geology and saying Noah's flood must have carved it (which I assume he also believes).

 

[Denny Crane]

Haphazardly trying to shoehorn a literal reading of a Biblical story where it doesn't remotely fit isn't matching it to archaeology. It's like glancing at the Grand Canyon without any consideration of geology and saying Noah's flood must have carved it (which I assume he also believes).

If the bible says "they stored grain at the pyramid" and archaeologists find evidence grain was stored at the pyramid, I'm not going to quibble.

I'm not taking the bible as gospel by any means. I do believe there was grain stored at the step pyramid, if not others. Carson may believe the right thing for the wrong reason.

 

[magnifier661]

Don't want to make another Carson thread, so I will just put this here @barfo and @Denny Crane can argue this.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/politics/ben-carson-2016-childhood-violence/index.html

At the core of his narrative of spiritual redemption are his acts of violence as an angry young man — stabbing, rock throwing, brick hurling and baseball bat beating — that preceded Carson's sudden transformation into the composed figure who stands before voters today.

In his 1990 autobiography, "Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story," Carson describes those acts as flowing from an uncontrollable "pathological temper." The violent episodes he has detailed in his book, in public statements and in interviews, include punching a classmate in the face with his hand wrapped around a lock, leaving a bloody three-inch gash in the boy's forehead; attempting to attack his own mother with a hammer following an argument over clothes; hurling a large rock at a boy, which broke the youth's glasses and smashed his nose; and, finally, thrusting a knife at the belly of his friend with such force that the blade snapped when it luckily struck a belt buckle covered by the boy's clothes.

"I was trying to kill somebody," Carson said, describing the incident -- which he has said occurred at age 14 in ninth grade -- during a September forum at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

But nine friends, classmates and neighbors who grew up with Carson told CNN they have no memory of the anger or violence the candidate has described.

That person is unrecognizable to those whom CNN interviewed, who knew him during those formative years.

All of the people interviewed expressed surprise about the incidents Carson has described. No one challenged the stories directly. Some of those interviewed expressed skepticism, but noted that they could not know what had happened behind closed doors.

Gerald Ware, a classmate at Southwestern High School said he was "shocked" to read about the violence in Carson's book.

"I don't know nothing about that," said Ware, who still lives in southwestern Detroit. "It would have been all over the whole school."

CNN was unable to independently confirm any of the incidents, which Carson said occurred when he was a juvenile.

 

[Denny Crane]

It seems CNN is out to get him.

Digging for dirt in his past.

 

[barfo]

It seems CNN is out to get him.

Digging for dirt in his past.

Gee, they are treating him almost like he's running for president or something.

barfo

 

[MarAzul]

Ha! I don't think this part of the story was written correctly;

"Carson felt God's influence again at Yale when he went to bed feeling unprepared for a chemistry test he had to pass in order to continue his pre-med studies. A shadowy figure came to him in his dreams, he said, with most of the questions that would appear on the exam the following morning. He scored a 97."

I can recall reading text in my sleep when the urgency of a test pushes the ability to action. I often come up with the answer to something that needs correcting the same way, even today.

Perhaps it is the hand of God at work, but I always thought it was memory being utilized.

 

[stampedehero]

Does this crap really matter? I'm going with the Egyptian version.

 

[barfo]

Ha! I don't think this part of the story was written correctly;

"Carson felt God's influence again at Yale when he went to bed feeling unprepared for a chemistry test he had to pass in order to continue his pre-med studies. A shadowy figure came to him in his dreams, he said, with most of the questions that would appear on the exam the following morning. He scored a 97."

I can recall reading text in my sleep when the urgency of a test pushes the ability to action. I often come up with the answer to something that needs correcting the same way, even today.

Perhaps it is the hand of God at work, but I always thought it was memory being utilized.

Or, maybe the shadowy figure was a classmate who had stolen a copy of the upcoming exam.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

Gee, they are treating him almost like he's running for president or something.

barfo

I'm fine with it as long as it's equal treatment for all the candidates of both parties. It doesn't seem to be. No, make that, "it isn't."

 

[barfo]

I'm fine with it as long as it's equal treatment for all the candidates of both parties. It doesn't seem to be. No, make that, "it isn't."

Really? Nobody ever dug into, say, Whitewater? Or Hillary's email server? Or...

barfo

 

[barfo]

I'm fine with it as long as it's equal treatment for all the candidates of both parties. It doesn't seem to be. No, make that, "it isn't."

It's not like this is some incredible violation of Carson's privacy. He wrote about it in a book. Seems like that makes it fair game, don't you think?

barfo

 

[PDXFonz]

I'm not extremely well versed in my Egyptian history, so if somebody can correct this or shed light please do so.

I think about the ancient Egyptians beliefs in an afterlife and wonder if they not only believed in an afterlife, but perhaps even reincarnation. Maybe they believed that reincarnation was reserved for the highest and select few. Is it possible they believed the pyramids were required for their pharaohs to accomplish reincarnation?

 

[Denny Crane]

Really? Nobody ever dug into, say, Whitewater? Or Hillary's email server? Or...

barfo

They didn't dig into speeches Hillary made in high school.

 

[Denny Crane]

It's not like this is some incredible violation of Carson's privacy. He wrote about it in a book. Seems like that makes it fair game, don't you think?

barfo

Nah, I think it's a tabloid site, gawker.com that publishes stuff like "Lewinsky having Clinton's baby" type stories digging this up and the mainstream press running with anything detrimental to a republican.

 

[Denny Crane]

So why don't we see this on the mainstream news? It's only going back to 2004.

And frankly, it's a lot worse than believing what Carson does about the pyramids. She was in a position to really hurt people and did.

 

[barfo]

They didn't dig into speeches Hillary made in high school.

This isn't about a speech Carson made in high school. It's about an autobiography he wrote as an adult.

barfo

 

[barfo]

Nah, I think it's a tabloid site, gawker.com that publishes stuff like "Lewinsky having Clinton's baby" type stories digging this up and the mainstream press running with anything detrimental to a republican.

Again, the source is Carson himself, not some tabloid story.

barfo

 

[Denny Crane]

Again, the source is Carson himself, not some tabloid story.

barfo

The source is some video tape from 1992 that gawker dug up.

 

[Denny Crane]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/05/politics/ben-carson-pyramids-grain/index.html

In a college commencement speech 17 years ago, Carson told the graduates of Andrews University in Michigan that it is his "personal" belief that the pyramids were built as storehouses for grain and not, as archaeologists say, for the interment of dead pharaohs.


17 years ago. 1998, my bad.

And the site is buzzfeed:

"My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain," Carson said in taped remarks first reported by Buzzfeed on Wednesday. "Now all the archeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs' graves. But, you know, it would have to be something awfully big if you stop and think about it."

 

[barfo]

The source is some video tape from 1992 that gawker dug up.

You lost track of the topic. We were talking about post #42, Carson's imaginary violent past.

barfo

 

[MarAzul]

Carson seems to be drawing fire from every quarter. err except Fox News! They fawn over the guy, save there rough stuff for the Donald.