I really think that when the actual author of a product in question posts an important comment about the article like this, the Slashdot editors should at least mention the post in the story itself, so people who don't read the comments can be informed.
No racism, not even subtle. "Chinese" is not a race.
Precise definitions aren't what I care about.. I care about popular definitions.. the ones everyone actually uses.. and the popular definition of "racism" is would definitely include discrimination of any group from a particular country. (Also, Chinese people can definitely be easily physically distinguished from those of other countries, which seems like "race" enough to me.)
Anyway, my point is that if anyone were to say, "I hate all Chinese people," or, hell, "I hate all Canadian people," no one would hesitate for a second before calling you a racist, and they'd be right to do so.
You have this backwards. In reality, the civilians of Iraq suffer because Saddam Hussein hates them. The embargo allows for food, medicine, and other supplies, but Hussein has either refused these or hoarded them for himself.
Which of course why conditions in Iraq have fallen drastically since before the war, when Hussein was already in power, why many top UN officials have resigned in protest of sanctions, why even Bush is trying (though not hard enough) to create "smarter sanctions", which means even those most in favor of sanctions recognize that there are problems.
Hey, fuck Iraq too. I'm tired of paying $2 a gallon so some Oil kingpin can have another hooker and a line of coke.
Please read my post again.. My whole POINT is that by embargoing Iraq, we punish NOT those kingpins, who have plenty of money anyway, but the CIVILIANS, who have done nothing wrong!
The whole POINT of my post was precisely to show that by making statements like "fuck Iraq", you're condemning no one but the innocent, that you need to separate the government of a country, especially when it's not very democratic, from its people... That just because Hussein's a bastard, and there are Arab terrorists, you don't condemn the population of the whole country and the whole race.
You are right, Afghanistan is completely fucked up too. But that's a religion based thing, right?
Yes and no. I mean, it was religion-based in the same sense that witchhunts and the Spanish Inquisition were.. That is, religion is just an excuse for selfish behavior.
China for the most part doesn't value human life because they choose not to, not because God tells them not to.
I think it's far to simplistic to say "China doesn't value human life." The line the Chinese gov't feeds is that what they do is needed for "stability", that "having food and shelter is an even more basic human right". Yes, this is in large part bullshit, but it does have some merit.. Look at the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia has been in deep shit, in part because of the lack of stability caused by the collapse.
The upshot is that there is a balance between moving toward more ideal human rights and dealing with practical problems, between short-term and long-term goals. I personally think the Chinese gov't should focus on long-term goals much more than they currently do, and I agree that many of the human rights abuses are extremely excessive and counterproductive, but to say that the gov't doesn't value human life is going too far.
One thing people forget when they cavalierly talk about the importance of letting the local population decide their freedom is a little something called the American Civil War.. The North wouldn't let the South secede.. and actually DID go to war over it.
I personally don't really have an opinion on the Taiwan issue, but I just want to point out that secession is rarely a simple issue.
Uh.. yeah.. the Chinese gov't is going to see a random individual on Nightline saying something negative and HUNT THEM DOWN? Actually, amazingly enough, there is quite a bit of dialogue about changes needed to the government in China, especially in Hong Kong, without any smackdown. The gov't pretty much only cracks down on really popular dissidents these days, which is certainly still a bad thing, I agree, but your average citizen voicing discontent is hardly in any danger of harm.
I just want to state the facts here, having been there recently and having relatives there.
See, this is the type of attitude that I think is very dangerous.. Why claiming to be arguing for the welfare of Chinese people, you're clearly mocking Chinese people. "Oh, can you respond? No? Ha! See? Yo mama.. er.. I mean Your country sucks!" is basically what you're saying.
It bothers me that this bashing of the Chinese gov't, which does many bad things, starts turning into a subtle form of racism, as this badness is associated with anything and anyone Chinese. "The Chinese gov't sucks! Embargo them!" Do you think that's the best thing for the Chinese people?
Because of our hatred of Saddam Hussein, we embargoed Iraq, and the Iraq civillians are the ones who really suffer.. Who are we really protecting and punishing here?
Fact is, there are tons of proxy servers that Chinese people use to get around the firewalls. Ordinary people in China are working hard to find practical solutions to the problems there, while we Americans just use the whole country as a punching bag.
You want to see human rights violations? Look at Afghanistan, where Ph.D.-wielding women have been reduced to prostitution because they're not allowed to work, where men aren't allowed to treat female patients, but where women aren't allowed to be doctors... Look at any number of African countries where genocide is still rampant (and often fundamentally caused by imperialism).
Yeah, China has problems, but this scape-goating and hate-mongerinig is so McCarthy-esque it's scary.
This is hardly scientific, but I recall watching a Nightline episode where they polled Americans in DC about whether they think Hong Kong citizens would rather be under Chinese or British rule. Over 80% said British rule.
They then went to Hong Kong and polled Hong Kong citizens, asking them which they'd prefer. Over 60% said Chinese rule.
Moral: Don't assume you know what the people of a place want if you're not from there.
The real problem with micropayments, as I see it, is that people like flat-rate plans. People prefer flat-rates when paying ISPs, for instance, even when their usage pattern shows they'd save money with a pay-as-you-go system. I just don't think people will want to undergo the stress of having to think about whether to pay for every little thing they read.
This article, linked to by Tycho, sums up my feelings about that.
What that article does not mention, however, is that flat-rate programs currently in use ALSO fail on the Internet.. So who knows? Maybe the analogies in that article don't hold after all, and people would be more willing to part with a few cents than with a few bucks on the Internet?
Personally, I feel that there's a good chance that will not be the case, and someone will have to come up with some billiant new idea, since none of our current ideas, micropayments included, work. *sigh*
I totally agree. I think Jerry had interesting things to say, but he was saying what he said in (understandable) anger, so it was much harsher and less rational than it could have been.
What I REALLY don't grok is why "shit" is worse than the millions of words that mean exactly the same thing.
It seems to me that if it were ever okay for these words to be spoken, society would find a new set of words to label as swear words.. It seems to me that the whole point of swear words is to label them as bad so you can work out aggression by saying them. I mean, if no one wanted to say them, they would no longer be bad.... the whole point is that we want some "bad" words.
So are you saying you're against all taxation? As a previous reply to your post pointed out, the Bible also says taxation is okay. And if you look at it from a secular pov, everyone here pays taxes because it's part of the social contract. We obey many laws that require us to sacrifice something for the greater good; social security is one of them.
No one is "forced" to pay social security.. You can always leave the country, reject the social contract of this country.
Re:taking all the fun out of web-based narrative :
on
AI Movie Promo
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· Score: 1
That's what he meant by "nice allusion", I think.:)
I'm normally all for standards organization, but with ICANN's brilliant "biz" and "name" TLDs, they'e shown that they need a kick in th pants to get with the program.
I mean, seriously.. they expect people to pay extra money to have a cheesy ".biz" TLD? And.biz is supposed to make a website seem more legit? And ".name" has got to be the lamest choice for a TLD imaginable. Just try saying something like "janesmith.name". That just sounds so awful!
I think that if they get a little competition, maybe they'll wise up and hire some people to come up with ICANN-approved TLDs that don't suck.
I mean, if NASA were to have pictures taken with a telescope or another orbiter, hoax-believers would just claim that those pictures were faked, too. The only thing that would settle it once and for all for them is if there were some cheap, consumer-affordable way to either look at the moon or fly there... after which they'd just move on to some other conspiracy theory and quietly abandon this one.
Wait.. what are you trying to argue? That tidal lock is a fallacy? What would that prove? That the moon is a human fabrication? A bit cardboard cutout in the sky? I can see the motivations behind calling the landing a hoax, but I don't see why you'd want to argue that tidal lock is a hoax (as it has nothing to do with the landing, for one..)
True that TV still sucks, but it'll certainly be nice for HD-DVDs to start coming out so at least we'll have nicer-looking movies! After all, movies are where the higher-resolution is more needed anyway..
That's the same as most cordless phones. Yes, it's 900 MHz. They also have 2.4 GHz phones.. It has nothign to do with clockspeed.. It's just the carrier frequency of the signal.
Slashdot Mirror
I really think that when the actual author of a product in question posts an important comment about the article like this, the Slashdot editors should at least mention the post in the story itself, so people who don't read the comments can be informed.
Precise definitions aren't what I care about.. I care about popular definitions.. the ones everyone actually uses.. and the popular definition of "racism" is would definitely include discrimination of any group from a particular country. (Also, Chinese people can definitely be easily physically distinguished from those of other countries, which seems like "race" enough to me.)
Anyway, my point is that if anyone were to say, "I hate all Chinese people," or, hell, "I hate all Canadian people," no one would hesitate for a second before calling you a racist, and they'd be right to do so.
Which of course why conditions in Iraq have fallen drastically since before the war, when Hussein was already in power, why many top UN officials have resigned in protest of sanctions, why even Bush is trying (though not hard enough) to create "smarter sanctions", which means even those most in favor of sanctions recognize that there are problems.
Please read my post again.. My whole POINT is that by embargoing Iraq, we punish NOT those kingpins, who have plenty of money anyway, but the CIVILIANS, who have done nothing wrong!
The whole POINT of my post was precisely to show that by making statements like "fuck Iraq", you're condemning no one but the innocent, that you need to separate the government of a country, especially when it's not very democratic, from its people... That just because Hussein's a bastard, and there are Arab terrorists, you don't condemn the population of the whole country and the whole race.
Yes and no. I mean, it was religion-based in the same sense that witchhunts and the Spanish Inquisition were.. That is, religion is just an excuse for selfish behavior.
I think it's far to simplistic to say "China doesn't value human life." The line the Chinese gov't feeds is that what they do is needed for "stability", that "having food and shelter is an even more basic human right". Yes, this is in large part bullshit, but it does have some merit.. Look at the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia has been in deep shit, in part because of the lack of stability caused by the collapse.
The upshot is that there is a balance between moving toward more ideal human rights and dealing with practical problems, between short-term and long-term goals. I personally think the Chinese gov't should focus on long-term goals much more than they currently do, and I agree that many of the human rights abuses are extremely excessive and counterproductive, but to say that the gov't doesn't value human life is going too far.
One thing people forget when they cavalierly talk about the importance of letting the local population decide their freedom is a little something called the American Civil War.. The North wouldn't let the South secede.. and actually DID go to war over it. I personally don't really have an opinion on the Taiwan issue, but I just want to point out that secession is rarely a simple issue.
Uh.. yeah.. the Chinese gov't is going to see a random individual on Nightline saying something negative and HUNT THEM DOWN? Actually, amazingly enough, there is quite a bit of dialogue about changes needed to the government in China, especially in Hong Kong, without any smackdown. The gov't pretty much only cracks down on really popular dissidents these days, which is certainly still a bad thing, I agree, but your average citizen voicing discontent is hardly in any danger of harm. I just want to state the facts here, having been there recently and having relatives there.
Right on.. We're already scapegoating China, let's not scapegoat the US as well.
It bothers me that this bashing of the Chinese gov't, which does many bad things, starts turning into a subtle form of racism, as this badness is associated with anything and anyone Chinese. "The Chinese gov't sucks! Embargo them!" Do you think that's the best thing for the Chinese people?
Because of our hatred of Saddam Hussein, we embargoed Iraq, and the Iraq civillians are the ones who really suffer.. Who are we really protecting and punishing here?
Fact is, there are tons of proxy servers that Chinese people use to get around the firewalls. Ordinary people in China are working hard to find practical solutions to the problems there, while we Americans just use the whole country as a punching bag.
You want to see human rights violations? Look at Afghanistan, where Ph.D.-wielding women have been reduced to prostitution because they're not allowed to work, where men aren't allowed to treat female patients, but where women aren't allowed to be doctors... Look at any number of African countries where genocide is still rampant (and often fundamentally caused by imperialism).
Yeah, China has problems, but this scape-goating and hate-mongerinig is so McCarthy-esque it's scary.
They then went to Hong Kong and polled Hong Kong citizens, asking them which they'd prefer. Over 60% said Chinese rule.
Moral: Don't assume you know what the people of a place want if you're not from there.
This article, linked to by Tycho, sums up my feelings about that.
What that article does not mention, however, is that flat-rate programs currently in use ALSO fail on the Internet.. So who knows? Maybe the analogies in that article don't hold after all, and people would be more willing to part with a few cents than with a few bucks on the Internet? Personally, I feel that there's a good chance that will not be the case, and someone will have to come up with some billiant new idea, since none of our current ideas, micropayments included, work. *sigh*
I totally agree. I think Jerry had interesting things to say, but he was saying what he said in (understandable) anger, so it was much harsher and less rational than it could have been.
What I REALLY don't grok is why "shit" is worse than the millions of words that mean exactly the same thing. It seems to me that if it were ever okay for these words to be spoken, society would find a new set of words to label as swear words.. It seems to me that the whole point of swear words is to label them as bad so you can work out aggression by saying them. I mean, if no one wanted to say them, they would no longer be bad.... the whole point is that we want some "bad" words.
No one is "forced" to pay social security.. You can always leave the country, reject the social contract of this country.
That's what he meant by "nice allusion", I think. :)
I mean, seriously.. they expect people to pay extra money to have a cheesy ".biz" TLD? And .biz is supposed to make a website seem more legit? And ".name" has got to be the lamest choice for a TLD imaginable. Just try saying something like "janesmith.name". That just sounds so awful!
I think that if they get a little competition, maybe they'll wise up and hire some people to come up with ICANN-approved TLDs that don't suck.
I mean, if NASA were to have pictures taken with a telescope or another orbiter, hoax-believers would just claim that those pictures were faked, too. The only thing that would settle it once and for all for them is if there were some cheap, consumer-affordable way to either look at the moon or fly there... after which they'd just move on to some other conspiracy theory and quietly abandon this one.
Wait.. what are you trying to argue? That tidal lock is a fallacy? What would that prove? That the moon is a human fabrication? A bit cardboard cutout in the sky? I can see the motivations behind calling the landing a hoax, but I don't see why you'd want to argue that tidal lock is a hoax (as it has nothing to do with the landing, for one..)
I actually find it quite amusing that the most paranormal-embracing network is also the home of the most popular skeptical, anti-kook show around..
Because the the US is actually puppet gov't of the Soviets? At least, that's what the conspiracy theorists would say.. :P
As of the time of this posting:
If it's a "truly flat network", wouldn't it be more appropriate to call it "The NORDIC Network"? :P
True that TV still sucks, but it'll certainly be nice for HD-DVDs to start coming out so at least we'll have nicer-looking movies! After all, movies are where the higher-resolution is more needed anyway..
"The suits target open-source Linux computer code known as DeCSS that..."
Uh.. YEAH..... :P
actually, the mirror was quite slow for me. The geocities one is much better. :)
That's the same as most cordless phones. Yes, it's 900 MHz. They also have 2.4 GHz phones.. It has nothign to do with clockspeed.. It's just the carrier frequency of the signal.