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It would stop if people got past the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" teachings of the Old Testament (I am not sure what the quran says about this but I bet there is a similar quote).

I suggest that it would stop if people stopped classifying people as the "other", and started seeing them as people. This would include not doing what you have done - which is simplify peoples motives and beliefs and indeed, arrive at conclusions which are a gross distortion of the actual situation.

Nobody needs to get past the "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" teachings of the Old Testament. But everybody has an inherent desire for vengeance for wrongs done, and the more personal that wrong, the more we are all inclined to exact vengeance. We are also all inclined toward prejudice toward others, of forming in our minds caricatures of entire people groups, and treating them a as single point on a graph - this is behaviour we default to. Apart form self awareness, there is no evidence that anything makes a difference to this behaviour, not being richer, not education, nothing.

I saw an interesting documentary last night (http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3545901.htm) about the effects of ISAF/Afghan government efforts to destroy poppy growing in Afghanistan, and thus to destroy a source of income for the Taliban and also reduce the supply of heroin. Of course, in reality, poppy farmers have borrowed from drug traffickers, anticipating a return from the crop - only to have the crop destroyed. Consequently they are forced to give their daughters away into sexual slavery in to "repay" the debt owed - girls, it seems, translate into monetary worth. Anybody who thinks we have done or are doing "good" in Afghanistan is wrong. Anybody who thinks the right people are being targeted by drone strikes is wrong.

Except that you don't have to fear for your life when you make caricatures of RMS.
Unless you put them under a non-free license, of course. ;-)

Science fiction stories that appear to predict the future do so only because they're already true. They're not so much predictions about the future as caricatures of the present, the modern equivalent of Aesop's fables or the biblical parables. Big Brother already existed in some form in the Soviet Union when Orwell wrote 1984 (1948). Psychohistory is behavioral psychology given a statistical twist.

The goal of Socialism is not to make everyone equal in the sense of being exactly the same. That is simply a right wing caricature.

The truth is that Socialism aims for something like Iain M Banks's Culture, or the society in Star Trek. where everyone has all the food, material goods and so on that they need, and they are free to pursue whatever interests, hobbies or careers take their fancy. In other words, everyone lives like an aristocrat of three hundred years ago.

Although this would seem to require access to almost unlimited cheap/free energy and resources, it doesn't mean it's a bad thing to aim for.

refrain from declaring us doomed if we don't shut down our civilization post haste

I wanted to make a separate response to this.

No one - not a single serious climatologist in the whole world - is saying that "we must shut down civilization post-haste". This is a terrible strawman argument being perpetrated by people who don't want you to actually read the scientists' actual proposals, for fear that you might realize that "chicken little" is a gross caricature of the actual scientists.

http://www.skepticalscience.com/co2-limits-economy.htm

Economic assessments of proposed policy to put a price on carbon emissions are in widespread agreement that the net economic impact will be minor. The costs over the next several decades center around $100 per average family, or about 75 cents per person per week, and a GDP reduction of less than 1%. Moreover, the benefits outweigh the costs several times over, as real-world examples illustrate.

Close, but no cigar. The skeptics don't demand a continued rise in CO2, and you would likely be hard-pressed to find an AGW skeptic who believed that we should stop R&D toward the goal of reducing CO2 emissions. What the skeptics are saying is that the "OMG! OMG! CATASTROPHE! Divert all money into halting CO2 emissions NOW! (and keep giving us grants so we can continue to produce doomsday predictions) or we're all DOOMED!"

So what I read is, minus your ridiculous strawman caricature of them, you generally agree with the "warmists."

--Jeremy

The beginning of the end for Apple

If they start pissing off arrogant, self-important hippies and douchebags, there goes their core market. By the way:

Except that Apple's market is a LOT more than hippies and douchebags now. The whole reason I went to Apple was because, simply put, they have the best commercial desktop OS, and I really liked the idea of a good commercial Unix OS. The "elegant" hardware is just a nice cherry on top. I'm willing to pay a little more to get OS X. That's what it all comes down to, and truth be told, I think that Apple's expanded market consists mainly of people like me more than the traditional caricature of the artsy, pretentious Mac user. Apple knows they have the freedom to move beyond that kind of buyer now, and you know what made that possible? The iPhone/iPod. People that never dreamed of buying a Mac desktop are buying iPhones, and it's opened up a whole new sphere of mindshare. Yes, the hippies and trendy douchebags are the most visible Mac users... but not the most numerous. Not anymore. Many of these so called "green certification" programs are basically political scams anyway, that do nothing to really limit the amount of waste in the production/purchase cycle. I applaud Tim Cook for more or less saying "You know, we're not going to play this game anymore, it's a fraud". If San Francisco... the city that tried to ban toys in Happy Meals... wants to make another useless political statement by not buying Apple stuff... hey, I don't think it'll hurt Apple's bottom line one bit. California is sliding down the tubes anyway. This is a bit like Rome swearing vengeance on some foreign foe the night before the Alaric and the Visigoths come crashing through the gates. I just don't think Apple's all that worried about it. Know where Apple's latest expansion will be? Texas. I think Apple is consciously trying to move beyond the whole "artsy Mac fan" thing to a broader customer base. If that's the case, then it's a smart move by Cook.

Or people got the right to not get treated and to pass on the crap they catch. I really can't decipher it. ...
But don't worry, this is all the evil Republican's fault

Well, if we're turning the world in caricatures, then yah, it is the republican's fault-- because aren't they the group that advocates smaller government, more individual freedoms and rights? And are against socialized healthcare?

How do you think that TB gets treated in poor people? Is it through a for-profit hospital that accepts cash and insurance only? Of course not, unless those places have a government mandate to treat a certain number of people for free.

So when it comes down to it, the way to ensure treatment is through public-provided health care!

If it were up to the republican's, if you don't have insurance, you don't have insurance--and that means no care if you can't pay. Considering an asprin is $25 per pill at a hospital, what are the chances that someone who can't afford insurance is going to be able to pay to be treated for TB?

As for quarantines and death-watch camps for the terminally ill --- do you really expect "don't take away my trucks or guns" republican's to go along with a GOVERNMENT program of institutionalizing people because they may be ill or have some condition? Geez get real.

The whole point is that if you expect to keep your population healthy, then heath care must be provided with citizenship.

And I have to say, in your case I'd be tempted to make an exception.

Why? Because you disagree with him? The original story BTW was a slam. I don't agree on motives, but it's pretty clear that the author of the piece was using it both as a hit piece on the Republican party while simultaneously putting a word in for a little socialized medicine, the state-funded hospital which specialized in treating TB cases. In other words, a caricature of human thought.

Digging around in the original story, I came across this interesting tidbit:

It was early February when Duval County Health Department officials felt so overwhelmed by the sudden spike in tuberculosis that they asked the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to become involved. Believing the outbreak affected only their underclass, the health officials made a conscious decision not to not tell the public, repeating a decision they had made in 2008, when the same strain had appeared in an assisted living home for people with schizophrenia.

âoeWhat you donâ(TM)t want is for anyone to have another reason why people should turn their backs on the homeless,â said Charles Griggs, the public information officer for the Duval County Health Department.

In other words, the outbreak allegedly was kept secret to protect the homeless from being ostracized. But the Slashdot-linked story only mentions the first paragraph, implying that Republicans had suppressed the information about these cases because it only affected an underclass. That may end up being true, but it's not a given from the original story.

And I have to say, in your case I'd be tempted to make an exception. Oh, I probably wouldn't, you understand, because just like most of my patients, I'm a decent human being. But I'd seriously consider it.

You could have just added, there's over a hundred cases in a difficult to treat population and it really is serious. But no you had to take the moral high road and tell him how tempted you were to off him without providing any reason whatsoever.

My view is that two stories have been linked which aren't necessarily connected. The TB story seems to me a typical case of someone burying an urgent problem for rather unseemly motives. It may be as claimed that they were attempting to protect an "underclass" (killing it in the process) or it may be that they were hiding an inconvenient problem for the political sausage making that was restructuring Florida's state-run health care at the time.

They have a large bunch of possible TB cases that need to be found and treated. We'll see if they do that.

The seemingly connected problem is that of the restructuring of state hospitals. It's worth noting here that the restructuring may be sound over the long term, but implemented in a way that hampers short term responses to emergencies. If nobody knows at the time who is supposed to do what (especially difficult given that a legislature decides a lot of those issues on the fly), then that can cause more problems during the period of uncertainty than the old system would have caused.

A similar situation happened just prior to the infamous flooding of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina (FEMA wasn't supposed to coordinate disaster response any more) and that weakened efforts to respond to the disaster.

But is the situation worsened because there's no longer a TB-specialized hospital out there? The primary complaint seems to be that the health departments no longer have a place where they can force homeless people to take TB medication. That doesn't sound like much of a complaint to me. You could always set up temporary wards at regular hospitals until the outbreak has been wiped out. It still remains that the usual background rate for TB is probably too low to justify a specialized hospital for it.

You're missing out on the caricature. You need a secret decoder ring, so I'll lend you mine.

Big Oil / Business / Defense Industry -> Republicans
Liberal Media / Hollywood / Pharmaceuticals -> Democrats

So, despite Lamar Smith running as a Republican, he is elected in an area with a greater percentage of Liberals (Democrats), whose interests are aligned, in this caricature, with Hollywood (MPAA, RIAA & friends); ergo, in representing his constituents, he represents their interests, which are those of Hollywood. You see this elsewhere with Blue Dog Democrats and so forth.

And remember, on Election Day, to vote for the Party of Purple: "It doesn't matter who you vote for when we control who is put on the ballot." ^_^

About 10 years ago I submitted a slashdot book review for the dark satire, KW Jeter's Noir.

When I first read it, I was convinced he intended it more as a satirical caricature than a cautionary tale.

Now I'm not so sure.

There *might be* more than one scientist in the bunch.

Yes, there are violent people who call themselves anarchists. There are anarchists who oppose a caricature of science (in my experience, they're much-confused about the history of science, especially the Enlightenment). Ask yourself these questions: How much violence has been done by self-proclaimed Christians and capitalists? How many Christians and capitalists have tried to attack or twist science?

Although "anarchist" has become a byword for "bombthrower", it derives from anti-labor propaganda in the 19th Century and (apparently) continues up until today.

And let's not forget that anarchism may be much closer to the heart of the free software/free culture movement than many would like to admit.

All the regulations in the world didn't stop the crooks, and never will.

Actually, they did. Canada did not roll back regulations like USA and the European Union and guess what? Canadian banks are doing just fine. Seriously, look it up.

That is why idiots like you don't and will never understand.

Oops, who is the idiot now?

Nobody could have regulations on something that never existed prior (derivative loan securities).

How come not? Certainly Warren Buffet identified the risk and called for regulations. He called "weapons of mass destruction".

And what will be your excuse for another one or two unfunded wars and Obama? Seriously, I'm asking.

Those wars exist only in your head.

The whole idea the (D) good (R) bad is just a load of crap.

Again that is just a caricature of what is being said.

then Clinton is responsible for 9/11 and the economic crisis that Bush inherited.

Nope. Clinton bombed Al-Qaida several times. In contrast, Bush received a warning by his own security council in August. He ignored it.

To be clear, both democrats and republicans have their faults, but for the last twelve years republican policies have been much worse than anything the democrats have devised since Carter lost the White House.

methinks it was irony. it made me smile, anyway.
because it's not completely unbelievable that some fuctard in some govt office or news show eventually dished out such and idiotic thought to fuel the turrsts panic story. in fact, it's a very accurate caricature. bitter, if you like, but caricatures often are.

I'm not trying to argue something inane like "GWB is gr8 and Clinton sux0rs!!11", as you seem to be suggesting.

No. You are drawing a caricature of my argument.

The fact that there are billions in capital and millions of jobs waiting on this election is real.

This is a made up fact. People are sitting on capital because they are afraid of the economic conditions worldwide. If the only problem were the US elections they would take their money and invest it elsewhere.

You can't wish it away,

Neither can you just make up imaginary reasons as to why this is so, reasons which defy the facts. Businesses have never talked about "holding back until the elections" and even today the only ones saying this are republican talking heads. The Fortune 500 companies have not stepped forward and said "yeah, we are waiting for the elections".

It's simply a republican meme, with no foundation in reality.

For the record: strongly disagree with this lawsuit.

There are limits to even your fanboi mental defect, eh?

It's one of the consequences of actually being a real person, not a caricature created by frothy Apple-hating slashdot users who have no other way to define themselves.

When you grow up, you'll understand.

...spoilt brats who don't give a crap about anything unless it is fashionable

You worked yourself into a lather about someone else's choice of product, to the point of creating a caricature to beat up. Be happy with your own choices and don't obsess over people who make a different choice.

*Translates as "good speech 16th". If you happen to be Jewish or Muslim, YMMV.

Congratulations, you've just invented the Caricature Assassination, my aren't we clever! Why do you people keep associating Obama with liberals? He is the limpest of milk-toast moderates, he's only liberal compared to the neo-nazi's and religious whack-o-doodles that wander mumbling to themselves on the Republican side of the House/Senate. I'm beginning to think that we should consider spiking the Republican water fountain with Thorazine as a national safety measure. I think the only true remaining liberal in the Senate is an ex-writer for Saturday Night Live. The Dems are now moderate conservatives and the Reps are simply shocking... no, I mean WTF, I get dizzy whenever I read the latest stupid thing uttered by a Washington Republican. They're like flounders, they only have a bottom and a right side. Its like Picasso had a psychotic break and breathed life into a one sided scribble.

You wanna know who's against managing illegal aliens? The Reps, because it would be bad for business. As for birth control, you can't have it both ways, you can't complain about them being here, then complain about the solution to fix the problem. Let me think, contraceptive pill 30 cents, new American Citizen with poor foreign national parents... from birth to 18, what $200,000 tax dollars? More? Even if you count all the contraceptive pills that couple can use over 18 years, those are some of the best tax dollar that ever got spent, talk about a bargain!

That's the other thing about these conservative spewings, they keep harping about the same crap, none of it makes any sense, none of it holds up to even the slightest logical inspection. Its just more mouth breathing, knuckle dragging noise being regurgitated by some "Click Head". You know why they call them "Click Heads" right? Because the poor little petrified bean between their ears makes a clicketty sound whenever the breeze between their ears rattles it around.

Oh, and one last thing... if you been getting that "called a racist, homophobic, bigot" thing a lot, perhaps its not the people pointing out the obvious who are the problem. Just a nugget for you to chew on, nightie, night.

That's because he's a zealot and you can't do anything about it. It's like arguing with ayatollahs about the existence of god.

You mean, if I make a caricature of Steve Jobs, I have to fear death threats?