Vent Your Spleen... (from below; this one is for all but especially for you, son of spam)
Posted by anyman on May 30, 2002 at 23:50
(61.183.182.220)i'm moving it up...
because it is a reasonable question and it looked lonely below...and i know that none of you would want that :-)
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Posted by son of spam on May 22, 2002 at 09:11
every time i decide to post a question or a reply i am confronted by a dialogue box with the title 'vent your spleen'. where did this saying come from, what does it mean, and how did it come to mean what it means???.
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spleen
soft, purplish-red organ that lies under the diaphragm on the left side of the abdominal cavity. The spleen acts as a filter against foreign organisms that infect the bloodstream, and also filters out old red blood cells from the bloodstream and decomposes them. These functions are performed by phagocytic cells that are capable of engulfing and destroying bacteria, parasites, and debris. Ordinarily, the spleen manufactures red blood cells only toward the end of fetal life, and after birth that function is taken over by the bone marrow. However, in cases of bone marrow breakdown, the spleen reverts to its fetal function. The spleen also acts as a blood reservoir; during stress or at other times when additional blood is needed, the spleen contracts, forcing stored blood into circulation. It is sometimes necessary to remove the spleen entirely, particularly in trauma cases, although recent studies have shown the spleen to be far more important than initially suspected in the fight against infection. (see encyclopedia.com )
similar to the appendix, whose primary function especially in neo-natals is immunological, the spleen was once considered among the so-called *vestigial organs* that were supposed to be one of (the vestigial organ argument was one of the major pro-evolutionary **evidences** put forth in the scopes monkey trial; along with virtually every other evolutionary argument put forth in that trial, it too has been falsified :-) key evidences in the evolutionary stable of arguments...it has since been falsified...the spleen is not only NOT vestigial, but it is active and important to optimal physiological function on several levels
more about the *vestigial organ argument* below
anyway, the spleen's primary, though certainly not its only, post-fetal function is immunological...it specializes in producing phages or *anti-bodies* that consume and disperse foreign matter or matter that invades the body
therefore, idiomatically speaking, the phrase **vent your spleen** has come to mean to vent or allow your anger toward, distaste for, disagreement with those things that assault the intellect or common sense to flow from your lips or your pen or even to be expressed in the form of emotional body language or even even even (on the internet) emoticons :-)
it is roughly analogous to “speak your mind…strongly” to put it nicely
to give strong counter argument to what you see on this board or have heard or read elsewhere
it is closely related to “pithy” in style...ie the introduction to the board says that this is the place to leave your “pithy comments” etc
to give vent to your **anti-feelings/sentiments/thoughts/evidences/arguments** toward some pop or nonsensical antiquated or contemporary belief(s)...(such as the cosmological and biological evolutionary philosophies :-) or to argue against those that are more realistic (like the biblical account of creation and the flood, which posits a far more realistic explanation for the existence of the universe and the earth, the observed order of things, how and how long ago life and especially humanity came to be, and the myriad geological manifestations we see today :-)
to argue such things as the merits or demerits of global warming (here's to dano, dale, et al :-)
to argue the implications of significant quantities of water on mars (sorry, mike..."water [does NOT necessarily] mean life" :-)
to argue the anthropological implications of different hematological groups (not to forget mara :-)
it's actually far broader than all of the above in its potential applications...but this should suffice to explain the phrase's intended meaning, application, and purpose for this board
now...back to vestigial organs :-)
even when the vestigial organ argument was in vogue (some of the ill-informed, including many textbooks still attempt to invoke it, even it has itself long since become a **vestigial** argument for evolutionary thought :-), it was never a real argument that would in any way evidentially support the evolutionary philosophy (it was, however, albeit falsely and tautologically extremely effective in misleading those less given to critical thinking :-)
at its best the argument only attempted to explain the survival or dismissal of earlier function of various organs and physiological systems...it was never able to explain the arrival of anything totally new...which is what is required of the darwinian paradigm
in other words, if it would have explained anything at all (it didn’t), it would only have explained ( once again ) the LOSS of previously extant highly specific information...it could never explain the arrival of brand new highly specific information...or more importantly, a net increase of biological information
ergo...the **vestigial organ** argument was/is fallacious in the extreme and not only no help, but an embarrassing gaffe, gaff, and faux pas for the darwinian paradigm :-)
btw -- of the ~180, and in at least one case more than 200, organs proposed to be vestigial in humans earlier this century (oops, in the 20th century), virtually all of them, including the appendix, have been found to be functional and, when properly functioning, to optimally enhance the overall anatomy and physiology of humanity...
of the very very few remaining, if any, they simply await the discovery of their functionality and contribution to the holistic human harmony...
not unlike so-called **junk DNA** some of which has already been found to be functional since the project(s) for mapping the human genome were undertaken (they are far from finished)...evolutionary espousers are threatened by this development, though they will no doubt come up with some more plastic elastic nonsense to explain it, because it is imperative that they maintain 99+% junk rate or thereabout for DNA in the human genome...
but we'll save that one for another day :-)
so...come on ante up...or anti up as the case may be...VENT YOUR SPLEEN...o son of the spam
give us your good stuff...or spill your toxic stuff :-)
hope that helps
Follow Ups:
- Re: Vent Your Spleen... (from below; this one is for all but especially for you, son of spam) son of spam 31/5 12:00 (0)