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Armed Man Takes Hostages At Discovery Channel HQ

An anonymous reader writes "The manifesto of the man holding the Discovery Channel hostage with a bomb has been released. He has fired shots and taken hostages. His main complaints are about overpopulation, religion and civilization. He wants them to avoid encouraging people to produce more 'disgusting human babies,' to get people to accept 'Malthus-Darwin science,' reject civilization and its 'disgusting religious-cultural roots,' and to stop 'ALL immigration pollution.'" The man has now been shot by police, and the hostages have been freed.

53 of 1,090 comments (clear)

  1. It's always refreshing by gameboyhippo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's always refreshing when Atheists are the psychos. I'm mean, c'mon! This guy is a representation of all atheists, right? :)

    1. Re:It's always refreshing by Peach+Rings · · Score: 5, Informative

      He's not completely psycho. Discovery's (TLC's) support of Jon and Kate Plus Eight, 19 Kids and Counting, etc is disgusting. Those parents should be in jail, not rolling in money.

    2. Re:It's always refreshing by Doctor+Morbius · · Score: 5, Insightful

      TLC is the freak show network. All these ridiculous shows about dwarves, women with giant legs, women with no lower body, and families with too many kids are stupid.

      --
      If I disagree with you it's because you are wrong.
    3. Re:It's always refreshing by Cruciform · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They made Communism their religion.

      Dogmatic faith is a monster, whatever guise it wears.

      It is the enemy of reason. As soon as people tell you to stop questioning an idea, beware their intentions.

    4. Re:It's always refreshing by SpeZek · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He might be an atheist, but he definitely has some very strong religious convictions regarding nature. I wouldn't be surprised if Mother Nature was his deity, in fact.

    5. Re:It's always refreshing by blair1q · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I was questioning the idea that telling me to stop questioning an idea is a questionable idea.

      What's the idea of telling me to stop?

    6. Re:It's always refreshing by wjousts · · Score: 4, Informative

      It's not been "The Learning Channel" for a long time. I believe they are officially know as TLC and TLC no longer stands for anything (quite apt actually). Kinda like how KFC insist that KFC doesn't stand for "Kentucky Fried Chicken" anymore and MTV isn't "Music Television".

    7. Re:It's always refreshing by cyphercell · · Score: 4, Funny

      must be openbsd.

      --
      Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism
    8. Re:It's always refreshing by Cruciform · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People gathering together for a cause isn't an issue. It's when someone creates an element of unquestionable authority that you must submit to.

      Whether that's Skygod Crankypants, Sauron, or Mao.

      Dogmatism is a breeding ground for such "authorities".

    9. Re:It's always refreshing by Zak3056 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He's not completely psycho. Discovery's (TLC's) support of Jon and Kate Plus Eight, 19 Kids and Counting, etc is disgusting. Those parents should be in jail, not rolling in money.

      I personally think having that many kids is pretty damn weird, but who the hell are you to judge? It's not like they're on welfare and you're paying for it--apparently, they were fine financially before the reality stuff. The US isn't an overpopulated nation, either. Our birth rate is below replacement, so we can tolerate the occasional outlier--and "outlier" is exactly what these people are--like this.

      "In jail?" Fuck you.

      --
      What part of "shall not be infringed" is so hard to understand?
    10. Re:It's always refreshing by ShakaUVM · · Score: 4, Informative

      >>No, even back then 19 kids was not normal. More like 6-12 at the most.

      I've got a family tree from the 1800s framed up in my guest room. Yeah, 6-12 was the average, but some had more. The average woman had 5 to 7 kids in the 1800s. A family of 19 wouldn't have been called "disgusting" - as the GGP did - back in the day.

      >>Even so, back then, half the kids died before they reached 1 year of age.

      A 50% infant mortality rate? I don't think so.

      http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/haines.demography

    11. Re:It's always refreshing by professionalfurryele · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you look at history you will find plenty of evidence of atheists doing unpleasant things. Pol Pot for a start.

      The question when we assign blame to ideologies is did the ideology lead the the unpleasant actions. Pol Pot and Stalin and so on didn't kill people because they were atheists. They killed people because they were radical communists, and communists need to have a look at their ideology and ask themselves why every time communists get sweeping powers they do such unpleasant things.

      Same goes for Christianity, Islam, every ideology / religion. Christianity encourages the respect of authority, the widely held conception of faith is dangerous, the idea that salvation through grace as opposed to works is dangerous. Some of the bad things people have done in history have been a direct result of their interpretation of Christianity and when that repeatedly happens people will begin to wonder if the ideology / religion itself is a good thing.

      Some ideologies are better than others, and if we measure them on their track record it is pretty darn clear that most religions are not conducive to a good social order. Communists should not go around acting all surprised when people point to Stalin and Pol Pot when they talk about their ideology and Christians cant complain when the Crusades and Slavery get brought up. That is the history of those ideologies and ideologies are judged on those histories.

      Which brings us nicely to atheism. By it's very nature atheism doesn't do diddly. Go ask your average theist and they will tell you that atheism has nothing to offer, and they are in essence right. No one gets anything out of being an atheist. It doesn't compel anyone to do anything. Are you compelled to do stuff because you don't believe in the tooth fairy? Or Thor? Of course not.

      This guy was a Malthusian whack job, you want to complain about that ideology have a field day. But suggesting that atheism had anything to do with his actions is just silly.

    12. Re:It's always refreshing by Peach+Rings · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's a child protection issue not a financial issue. There's no way that the parents can pay adequate attention to each child. They educate each other (public school is evil etc), take care of each other, and fend for themselves most of the time. There is such a thing as a criminally irresponsible parent (leave your kid in a locked car for example).

    13. Re:It's always refreshing by hedwards · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yeah, they should be in jail. The only way that a family like that can subsist is by making the older children parent the younger ones, and all the children end up suffering the effects of neglect. Having food, shelter and medical care isn't all the a parent needs to provide for a child to grow up to be a well adjusted, contributing member of society.

  2. Well... by u38cg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I guess he did his bit for over-population.

    --
    [FUCK BETA]
  3. Why discovery channel by 0racle · · Score: 4, Funny

    Seriously, who holds the people at the Discovery Channel hostage for anything?

    This won't affect shark week will it?

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    1. Re:Why discovery channel by blair1q · · Score: 5, Funny

      Seriously, who holds the people at the Discovery Channel hostage for anything?

      People looking for their hostage situation to become a long-running reality series.

  4. the manifesto by Joe+Snipe · · Score: 5, Informative

    is cached.

    --
    Sometimes, life itself is sarcasm...
  5. It's a good thing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... this guy was against religion. We all know how crazy religious people are!

  6. re: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    dear crazy guy,

    we stoped producing babies (or even trying to) years ago.

    the slashdot readership.

  7. 'disgusting human babies' by Gorimek · · Score: 4, Funny

    Invader Zim is back!

  8. Malthus Primer by CommieLib · · Score: 5, Informative
    We're talking 19th century economist Thomas Malthus here. His main point was that the food supply only grew linearly, while the population could grow exponentially. Thus, there were only three restraints on population growth:
    • Misery, i.e., war, plague and starvation.
    • Vice - birth control - Malthus was Catholic,
    • Moral Restraint - keeping it in your pants.

    Millibrain here seems to have got it exactly backwards (http://tmz.vo.llnwd.net/o28/newsdesk/tmz_documents/0901_demands.pdf):

    Develop shows that mention the Malthusian sciences about how food production leads to the overpopulation of the Human race.

    I was wondering for a while whether this dumbass was going to make an unexpectedly personal contribution to the zero population growth movement with the help of the local police. At any rate, "Malthusianism" is a perjorative in economics, as in "that's nothing more than warmed over Malthusianism". Where Malthus got it wrong was in not forseeing the economics pressures that drove innovation that in turn increased crop yields so that food supplies could indeed grow exponentially. His reasoning, per se, isn't wrong - but he starts from a false premise.

    --
    If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
    1. Re:Malthus Primer by Nadaka · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The food supply curve is not exponential. It has exceeded exponential growth for a century, but only by consuming ever increasingly scarce resources to do so. Soil quality and aquifer levels are dramatically declining, soon even oil based fertilizers (that will become prohibitively expensive with peak oil) won't be enough to keep up production.

      Malthus was failed to account for technological advances and declining human fertility. But he also failed to account for destruction of the soil and irrigation systems from over production. His ideas were far from perfect, but they do have merit.

  9. His website's text by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Discovery Channel MUST broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet and to do the following IMMEDIATELY:
    1. The Discovery Channel and it's affiliate channels MUST have daily television programs at prime time slots based on Daniel Quinn's "My Ishmael" pages 207-212 where solutions to save the planet would be done in the same way as the Industrial Revolution was done, by people building on each other's inventive ideas. Focus must be given on how people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution. A game show format contest would be in order. Perhaps also forums of leading scientists who understand and agree with the Malthus-Darwin science and the problem of human overpopulation. Do both. Do all until something WORKS and the natural world starts improving and human civilization building STOPS and is reversed! MAKE IT INTERESTING SO PEOPLE WATCH AND APPLY SOLUTIONS!!!!

    2. All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs' places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.

    3. All programs promoting War and the technology behind those must cease. There is no sense in advertising weapons of mass-destruction anymore. Instead, talk about ways to disassemble civilization and concentrate the message in finding SOLUTIONS to solving global military mechanized conflict. Again, solutions solutions instead of just repeating the same old wars with newer weapons. Also, keep out the fraudulent peace movements. They are liars and fakes and had no real intention of ending the wars. ALL OF THEM ARE FAKE! On one hand, they claim they want the wars to end, on the other, they are demanding the human population increase. World War II had 2 Billion humans and after that war, the people decided that tripling the population would assure peace. WTF??? STUPIDITY! MORE HUMANS EQUALS MORE WAR!

    4. Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is. That, and all its disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed. Broadcast this message until the pollution in the planet is reversed and the human population goes down! This is your obligation. If you think it isn't, then get hell off the planet! Breathe Oil! It is the moral obligation of everyone living otherwise what good are they??

    5. Immigration: Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that. Find solutions to stopping it. Call for people in the world to develop solutions to stop it completely and permanently. Find solutions FOR these countries so they stop sending their breeding populations to the US and the world to seek jobs and therefore breed more unwanted pollution babies. FIND SOLUTIONS FOR THEM TO STOP THEIR HUMAN GROWTH AND THE EXPORTATION OF THAT DISGUSTING FILTH! (The first world is feeding the population growth of the Third World and those human families are going to where the food is! They must stop procreating new humans looking for nonexistant jobs!)

    6. Find solutions for Global Warming, Automotive pollution, International Trade, factory pollution, and the whole blasted human economy. Find ways so that people don't build more housing pollution which destroys the environment to make way for more human filth! Find solutions so that people stop breeding as well as stopping using Oil in order to REVERSE Global warming and the destruction of the planet!

    7. Develop shows that mention the Malthusian sciences about how food production leads to the overpopulation of the Human race. Talk about Evolution. Talk about Malthus and Darwin until it sinks into the stupid people's brains until they get it!!

    8. Saving the Planet means saving what's left of the non-human Wildlife by decreasing the Human population. That means stopping the hum

    1. Re:His website's text by marcmerlin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      well, obviously the guy was deranged, but some of his points are valid.
      The problem is that most countries rely on ever increasing population for their economy to strive and the politicians to do well (starting with social security that is not funded by people other than the ones who get the money).

      The world clearly could do better with a decreasing population, but most governments encourage exactly the opposite, so indeed right now humans are going to spread until they've taken over all the resources available and at the expense of pretty much all other lifeforms on the planet.

      I'll be dead before then, but thinking about it makes me sad.

    2. Re:His website's text by dangitman · · Score: 4, Funny

      I'd watch a Discovery Channel game show based on Time Cube!

      I'm sorry, moonbender, the answer is "Word Animal Singularity Brotherhood." You are educated stupid. Goodnight.

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
  10. But... by ScentCone · · Score: 4, Funny

    If we don't have any more disgusting babies, how will we get people to work the boats on Deadliest Catch, or drive the rigs on Ice Road Truckers?

    Why didn't he just jump off the building, and then make an immediate appearance on Ghost Lab? He would have had all the air time in the world to rant about "parasitic human infants" if he could make the first ever actually non-BS appearance on an idiotic cable ghost hunting show.

    Anyway, let's hear it for the Montgomery County PD for taking care of this clown. Alas, we'll now get to listen to him rant in court, too.

    --
    Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
    1. Re:But... by machxor · · Score: 4, Informative

      Alas, we'll now get to listen to him rant in court, too.

      Only if your Ghost Lab option comes true... Oh and the court decides to start trying ghosts...

      The gunman, identified as James Lee, was killed by police following four hours of negotiations but the hostages are all safe, said Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger.

  11. Of only it was for a good cause by Daimanta · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Like making Discovery Channel an interesting channel to watch again. I am not interested in (*City) Ink or in a cake-baking italian. No more seasons of crab/lobster/nessie fishing. I want the interesting stuff back again, learning things I wouldn't have learned otherwise. I will tolerate endless Rex Hunt reruns if this would be the case.

    But no, mister hostage taker has some sort of higher goal here. Typical.

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power lost.
  12. Busted... by bugs2squash · · Score: 5, Funny

    Jamie Heinemann shot the perp with a potato cannon and knocked him into a tank full of sharks.

    --
    Nullius in verba
    1. Re:Busted... by sizzzzlerz · · Score: 5, Funny

      ... and Mike Rowe cleaned up the mess left behind.

    2. Re:Busted... by Tackhead · · Score: 4, Funny

      Jamie Heinemann shot the perp with a potato cannon and knocked him into a tank full of sharks.

      ... and Mike Rowe cleaned up the mess left behind.

      I love potatoes,
      I love to kick some ass,
      I love the SWAT teams,
      Who aim for center mass!

      ~Boom-de-headshot, boom-de-headshot, boom-de-headshot, boom-de-headshot~

    3. Re:Busted... by Culture20 · · Score: 4, Funny

      But that wasn't explosive enough. Let's use Buster to see what would have happened if the perp was wearing 50 pounds of unstable TNT!

  13. Re:Sure fire way by Mongoose+Disciple · · Score: 5, Funny

    Committing violence is never the way to gain true followers.

    Violence is like XML -- if it's not solving your problem, you're not using enough of it!

    (See, naysayers! We can turn anything into News for Nerds.)

  14. Re:Thanks a lot, Jackass by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now you understand how Right-wingers feel at being labeled 'The American Taliban.'

    Seriously, judging any movement by it's most extreme elements is silly.

    --
    Qxe4
  15. Re:Thanks a lot, Jackass by thetoadwarrior · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They'll have to work a lot harder to undo that one as long as the tea party is around.

  16. The crackpot's web site by tomhudson · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://www.savetheplanetprotest.com/
    Domain name: SAVETHEPLANETPROTEST.COM

    Administrative Contact:
    Lee, James savetheplanetprotest.com@freeprivateregistration.com
    P.O. Box 81024
    Burnaby, BC V5H 4K2
    CA
    852-3594-1708
    Technical Contact:
    Hostmaster, Domain hostmaster@doteasy.com
    Suite 210 - 3602 Gilmore Way
    Burnaby, BC V5G 4W9
    CA
    (604) 434-4307 Fax: (604) 608-6832

    Registrar of Record: In2net Network Inc.
    Record last updated on 03-Jan-2010.
    Record expires on 07-Jan-2011.
    Record created on 07-Jan-2008.

    Domain servers in listed order:
    DNS4.DOTEASY.COM 65.61.199.12
    DNS3.DOTEASY.COM 65.61.198.12

    Domain status: clientTransferProhibited
    clientUpdateProhibited

    The Discovery Channel MUST broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet and to do the following IMMEDIATELY:
    1. The Discovery Channel and it's affiliate channels MUST have daily television programs at prime time slots based on Daniel Quinn's "My Ishmael" pages 207-212 where solutions to save the planet would be done in the same way as the Industrial Revolution was done, by people building on each other's inventive ideas. Focus must be given on how people can live WITHOUT giving birth to more filthy human children since those new additions continue pollution and are pollution. A game show format contest would be in order. Perhaps also forums of leading scientists who understand and agree with the Malthus-Darwin science and the problem of human overpopulation. Do both. Do all until something WORKS and the natural world starts improving and human civilization building STOPS and is reversed! MAKE IT INTERESTING SO PEOPLE WATCH AND APPLY SOLUTIONS!!!!

    2. All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions. In those programs' places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.

    3. All programs promoting War and the technology behind those must cease. There is no sense in advertising weapons of mass-destruction anymore. Instead, talk about ways to disassemble civilization and concentrate the message in finding SOLUTIONS to solving global military mechanized conflict. Again, solutions solutions instead of just repeating the same old wars with newer weapons. Also, keep out the fraudulent peace movements. They are liars and fakes and had no real intention of ending the wars. ALL OF THEM ARE FAKE! On one hand, they claim they want the wars to end, on the other, they are demanding the human population increase. World War II had 2 Billion humans and after that war, the people decided that tripling the population would assure peace. WTF??? STUPIDITY! MORE HUMANS EQUALS MORE WAR!

    4. Civilization must be exposed for the filth it is. That, and all its disgusting religious-cultural roots and greed. Broadcast this message until the pollution in the planet is reversed and the human population goes down! This is your obligation. If you think it isn't, then get hell off the planet! Breathe Oil! It is the moral obligation of everyone living otherwise what good are they??

    5. Immigration: Programs must be developed to find solutions to stopping ALL immigration pollution and the anchor baby filth that follows that. Find solutions to stopping it. Call for people in the world to develop solutions to stop it completely and p

  17. A kernal of sense in an insane mind by hellfire · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What sucks about this is this guy has got a point, but that's lost because his actions are plain nuts and will drown out most mainstream discussion. But the point is that we are at a point where we are deeply concerned with climate change and resources on this planet, and people think that it's not at all irresponsible to have 19 children, and then the media encourages it!

    China may be run by dictatorial fuckwads, but they have a point with their laws on having children. The entire society can't sustain it's population now, so adding another billion hungry mouths over 20 years is just going to fuck things up even more. With the scientific information I've been seeing as of late with global warming, potable water, oil, etc, I can actually envision near future where first world countries start considering birth limits. I understand the personal liberties some people feel they have a right to, but there comes a time when your insistence on having more children affects me and my family. If just you, me, and your spouse left on the planet, and there is only enough food to feed 3 people, and you and your spouse go and have a child without asking me, someone is going to have to give up food. You just impinged on me and my ability to stay alive by having a child. This is not a matter of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, this is good old fashioned primitive instinct of I want to live.

    This guy might be an insane fuckwad, but he has a point. We should not be glorifying having 19 children when every new child strains our resources. Sure, we need to have babies to keep the species alive, but without resources to sustain them, there will be a huge population crash.

    --

    "All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"

    1. Re:A kernal of sense in an insane mind by huckamania · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Europe doesn't need growth limits. At their current rate of replacement, there won't be many Europeans left in this world in a few generations.

      The US is not over-populated. The world is a different question and one that many 'experts' have been very, very wrong about many, many times.

    2. Re:A kernal of sense in an insane mind by tsm_sf · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's interesting to note which people oppose the simple solutions to this problem: sex education, contraceptives, and abortion.

      Generally it's the same people complaining about the situation.

      --
      Literalism isn't a form of humor, it's you being irritating.
    3. Re:A kernal of sense in an insane mind by Count+Fenring · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Honestly, this whole thread has devolved into fucked-up "BLAME THE POOR!" bullshit, so I'm not going to argue with you past pointing this out: in states where guns are readily available, THEY ROB YOU AT GUNPOINT.

      And you know what? The immensely greater lethality of firearms, and the ease of learning to use them means that, no matter how AWESOME and FULL OF TESTOSTERONE you are, in a confrontation involving guns on both sides, you're just about as likely to end up being shot as the other guy.

      P.S. For anyone who bought the "robberies aren't as common in states with permissive gun laws" line, check out the statistics on violent crime and cross-reference by gun ownership statistics. If that's TLDR, I'll let you in on the twist ending - MOAR GUNZ != LESS CRIMEZ!

  18. Re:Get Hell off the Planet!!! by spun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This guy is not a teabagger despite the fact that he hates immigrants. He isn't a liberal despite the fact that he likes the environment. He is a dead crazy guy because he took hostages. He didn't need any help from political partisans to achieve his stunning degree of lunacy, I'm pretty sure he got there all on his own.

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  19. the real question is by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Funny

    what is his slashdot id?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  20. Re:Ok you first... by Artifakt · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He also advocated ending all immigration and the "Anchor baby Filth'. I'm not going to blame him in the right just for that, but if you read his manifesto enough to find your quote and ignored that part, you are deliberately lying. Lee was insane. Trying to use him to paint a political movement you don't like as the cause is a good way to get more violence going. I doubt you have enough discipline to control your hatred by actually seeking to speak the truth first and foremost, but I do urge just that on you - learn to care more about the truth and human life than you do about spreading lies and hatred. Actually reading Lee's manifesto with understanding reveals he thought many people were valueless or of negative value. Your own life is worth more than he thought - don't waste it in lies and prove him right.

    --
    Who is John Cabal?
  21. Re:Get Hell off the Planet!!! by somersault · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Some of his points are valid, but I don't think telling any lifeform that their babies are disgusting is good marketing, considering any successful species is pretty much hard-wired to love babies..

    --
    which is totally what she said
  22. Re:Thanks a lot, Jackass by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now you understand how Right-wingers feel at being labeled 'The American Taliban.'

    And how Muslims in NYC feel when people try to punish them for 9/11.

  23. Re:Get Hell off the Planet!!! by causality · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This guy is not a teabagger despite the fact that he hates immigrants. He isn't a liberal despite the fact that he likes the environment. He is a dead crazy guy because he took hostages. He didn't need any help from political partisans to achieve his stunning degree of lunacy, I'm pretty sure he got there all on his own.

    The mantra of fanboys everywhere goes something like "never miss an opportunity to associate a nut with any group you don't like. It furthers the whole 'us against them' bullshit that is so easy to exploit. This is so important that a false association is better than none."

    --
    It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
  24. Re:Get Hell off the Planet!!! by konohitowa · · Score: 4, Funny

    any successful species is pretty much hard-wired to love babies..

    They taste suspiciously like chicken.

  25. Re:Thanks a lot, Jackass by PitaBred · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I disagree with the Tea Party and their hangers-on in matters of "fact" that they claim. Things like America being founded as a Christian nation. That religion is the answer to America's ills (hint: we're fighting terrorists who believe the same fucking thing, only a slightly different religion). Pretty much ANYTHING Sarah Palin states as fact.

    I don't like the Democrats or Republicans, and I try my damndest to not be partisan. The current Tea Party is based on misinformation and exploiting emotions rather than anything factual.

  26. Re:Get Hell off the Planet!!! by Psion · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, it's more like pork, with a slight hint of veal.

  27. Re:Get Hell off the Planet!!! by lgw · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Some of his points are valid,

    WTF? Some of his points? Are you arguing that civilization/technology is bad ... on an internet forum? If you're arguing that we need to "reduce the surplus population", well, you first buddy.

    Malthus was wrong. Overpopulation has not lead to unsurmountable obstacles, nor is the human population growing out of control. The worlds population is better fed than ever before (more people are overweight than underweight). Diseases are better controlled than ever before. High population density is usually a sign of a wealthy area, these days. This guy was a tool, and the only good thing about him is that he's dead.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  28. Re:I lol'd at the contradictions by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    more war == less humans. It comes out equal in the end.

    You're kidding, right? A modern war does not reduce the net world population except in the very short term. I challenge you to demonstrate otherwise. After the two bloodiest and most destructive wars in recent history, WWI and WWII, the population tripled within two generations, as pointed out by our illustrious manifesto writer du jour.

  29. Re:Get Hell off the Planet!!! by wrook · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Man, I don't even know who Malthus is, but you should probably research a little bit before you talk.

    First, more people are not overweight than underweight. That might be the case in your country, but I assure you that your country does not constitute anywhere near the majority of the planet. The number of obese (dangerously overweight) people in the world number about 300 million (from WHO). The number of malnourished (dangerously underweight) people number over 900 million (from the Wikipedia article on malnutrition).

    Maybe you are right about diseases being better controlled. But I for one can't find any data on the rates of pandemics. So who really knows. Our understanding is better, but our odds of world wide contagion is much higher due to the international travel.

    Finally, here is the list of the largest cities by population density. Stop me when you find one that doesn't have a huge poverty problem: Mumbai, Kolkata, Karachi, Lagos, Shenzhen, Seoul (maybe here?), Taipei, Chennai, Bogota, Shanghai, Lima, Beijing, Delhi, Kinshasa, Manila, Tehran, Jakarta, Tianjin, Bangalore, Ho Chi Minh City. Well, that's the top 20 anyway. There is wealth in many of these cities, but for the vast majority they also have crushing poverty.

    That guy may have been a tool, but he was crazy and is now dead. There's nothing we can do about him. But education is available for the rest of us. Please make use of it.