Because as an American living in a multi-cultural society I do not want to share my resources with anyone who doesn't look like me, think like me, vote like me, or has a dissimilar amount of purchasing power. I prefer to associate only with those of my own socio-economic-ethnic background, because I'm sick and tired of having to pretend to get along with everyone else. I only do that for my own family, mind you. Everyone else is weird, stupid, and they all smell funny. And then you're asking me to subsidize the poor driving habits and behaviors of those who are inferior to me (or whom I believe are inferior, because obviously they -are- inferior to me)? And even worse, you're asking me to subsidize those who are superior to me (those damn bastards, they already have the world) and their fast hot sexy cars? Fuck them, and fuck diversity--I want my own damn monoculture because I'm tired of being uncomfortable around those who are different from me. So I want insurance and health care tailored to my particular socio-economic-ethnic background and damn all the rest to hell.
No--Jesus's resurrection and miracles are pointless and irrelevant. What's relevant is his message of love and humility. He said to Love God, and Love Your Neighbor. That's it. That's all, and if people need omnipotent displays of power in order to give any credence to that message, then they worship the power and not the message.
It does, but it also exposes indoctrinated young Creationists to alternative ways of thinking, and even better: critical thinking. The whole point is to get critical thinking implanted into those who would otherwise be stifled by oppressive dogma without any idea that they are being oppressed.
I disagree. Teaching dogmas AND critical thinking in school is excellent. Why should anyone fear teaching Creationism side-by-side with Evolution in a science class, especially given that our school system does a passable job of teaching rebellious teens critical thinking? Creationism falls apart when critical thinking is applied to it... always has (unless a threat of force to believe no matter what is applied).
It's called biblical ineffability--it's the idea that the Bible is NOT the literal Word of God, it is an allusion-and-metaphor filled collection of memoirs and tales by prophets inspired by God, and must be treated as such. Adopting that viewpoint allows one to read through the Bible as a rough guide, using critical thinking and personal experience to figure out for oneself what God or His prophets are saying.
Yeah, I'll try being more logical when you stop resorting to smear tactics using negative fallacies. "A vast majority of our government is composed of greedy, power-hungry fools" my ass--there's no proof behind that assertion, just an attempt to troll or justify your own irrationality.
it's cool and hip to demonize those in power. Our fellow posters have a marked tendency to come on here and bloviate about how cruel, stupid, and corrupt everyone else is. Caught up in the venting of the toxic fumes emanating from their ego, they never once stop to ask if they themselves would be any better, or consider that the vast majority of our government is indeed composed of good, honest, tax-paying citizens, who get up every morning resolved to do the best they can, just like the rest of us.
I agree with you; the problem is, how do you explain that to the families of the victims of Boston, Fort Hood, and 911? Many, if not most of them campaigned for putting the Patriot Act in place, and for beefing up internal and external security. They did so out of grief, anger, and trauma-induced xenophobia. How, as a society, do we counter that? Because in my experience it's nearly impossible to use reason with someone who's near out-of-their-mind with grief, anger, and a suddenly-awakened fear of strangers that's horrifically melded to PTSD.
And it's the number one tool social caste-preferring Americans growing up in a Judeo-Christian culture prefer for defining who's Right and who's Wrong.
And it won't matter (though I at least appreciate that you're calling out the false assumptions). Have you read through the commentary on this thread? There's no trust anymore. Just about everyone posting on this forum thread has lost trust in the US government, and ultimately, in each other. Each comment builds upon the paranoia of the previous, and I find myself wondering--what's the end result? A world without trust? If we can't trust our government, then we can't trust each other. And if we can't trust each other, what then? What kind of world is that, where we're so paranoid about corruption and about those in power that we don't allow anyone to be in power? That's not enlightened anarchy, that's the fall of civilization right there.
Very few things in life are worth challenging the weight of reality behind the GIFT theory... freely-given private pictures of boobies from happy female friends and lovers are one of those things. This is WORTH FIGHTING FOR.
Mod me down as a troll, but I'm going to call your stupid and asinine statement out. I _want_ to live in a world where my girlfriend, or certain adventurous female friends of mine, feel safe in sending me nudie pics on my phone, and do so because they feel they can without fear of reprisal, revenge, blackmail, or hacking. Because a world like that means that YOU, and every other man out there can also reap that kind of benefit.
What's stupid, is asshats like Kevin Bollaert and others like him slut-shaming women for the lulz, and then profiting via blackmail. When that shit happens, then women don't feel safe in sending nudie pics to men they trust, and we don't get to see them. So I damn well hope they throw the book at him, and I damn well hope we can reverse this trend, because I'd personally like to receive more nudie pics from happy, well-adjusted women with roaring sex drives and a desire for a little exhibitionistic titillation.
What you said is gibberish to most of America, and that's the problem. YOU would be able to construct an adequate defense against scriptkiddies, but for the majority of America, a packaged security platform sold by the likes of Kaspersky or McAfee is going to be necessary. And that's even assuming people install, use, and update those packages appropriately. You're failing to account for the power of human stupidity.
it's just that the people in whom you won't make a dent are the ones that responded to you with their tales of woe and anger. You'll find that deep down, they're just angry, and want validation for the way they've been treated in the world. However, you did make a dent, because you got modded up in many of your comments and rebuttals. You did make a difference. May not seem like it, but you did.
Or, President Obama doesn't dare risk dismantling those policies due to the enormous political backlash he'd face from half the country (who, not coincidentally, makes a lot of money off of defense contract/intelligence work). You dismantle that apparatus, and you put a lot of tax-paying American citizens in Red states out of work, and make them and their political representatives even MORE vehemently opposed to you than they already are. Nothing's ever easy or black-and-white, especially when you're the President.
If you don't trust the government (fed/state/local), and you don't trust big business, who do you trust? Where does this loss of trust end? Because if you don't trust big business, then why would you trust small business? And if you don't trust government in any form, then why would you trust any government, or literally anyone else? And if your own family betrays you, then what? See, I don't understand this active deconstruction of trust. At some point it has to end, or you end up isolated, alone, paranoid, and suicidal.
How many innocents are you willing to kill in the name of your revolution? At what pre-determined point does the blood flow stop? And is there forgiveness for your enemies, and leniency available? Or are you simply going to kill anyone who is the enemy, extend that to any who don't agree with you, and stop only when there's no one left to shoot at?
We tend to forget that the 10th Amendment exists not just for us, but for those whom we disagree with as well. The same thing can be said for the rest of the Bill of Rights. The current state-level issues we face are a natural result of the way we've structured our society. Typically in the past, an Empire would deal with this by promoting one Imperial language, one Imperial-approved religion, etc. Since we're not an empire but a democratic republic, we don't have the luxury of tyranny to promote one culture's views over another's.
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Because as an American living in a multi-cultural society I do not want to share my resources with anyone who doesn't look like me, think like me, vote like me, or has a dissimilar amount of purchasing power. I prefer to associate only with those of my own socio-economic-ethnic background, because I'm sick and tired of having to pretend to get along with everyone else. I only do that for my own family, mind you. Everyone else is weird, stupid, and they all smell funny. And then you're asking me to subsidize the poor driving habits and behaviors of those who are inferior to me (or whom I believe are inferior, because obviously they -are- inferior to me)? And even worse, you're asking me to subsidize those who are superior to me (those damn bastards, they already have the world) and their fast hot sexy cars? Fuck them, and fuck diversity--I want my own damn monoculture because I'm tired of being uncomfortable around those who are different from me. So I want insurance and health care tailored to my particular socio-economic-ethnic background and damn all the rest to hell.
It's trolling, but it's effective trolling.
No--Jesus's resurrection and miracles are pointless and irrelevant. What's relevant is his message of love and humility. He said to Love God, and Love Your Neighbor. That's it. That's all, and if people need omnipotent displays of power in order to give any credence to that message, then they worship the power and not the message.
It does, but it also exposes indoctrinated young Creationists to alternative ways of thinking, and even better: critical thinking. The whole point is to get critical thinking implanted into those who would otherwise be stifled by oppressive dogma without any idea that they are being oppressed.
I disagree. Teaching dogmas AND critical thinking in school is excellent. Why should anyone fear teaching Creationism side-by-side with Evolution in a science class, especially given that our school system does a passable job of teaching rebellious teens critical thinking? Creationism falls apart when critical thinking is applied to it... always has (unless a threat of force to believe no matter what is applied).
It's called biblical ineffability--it's the idea that the Bible is NOT the literal Word of God, it is an allusion-and-metaphor filled collection of memoirs and tales by prophets inspired by God, and must be treated as such. Adopting that viewpoint allows one to read through the Bible as a rough guide, using critical thinking and personal experience to figure out for oneself what God or His prophets are saying.
Yeah, I'll try being more logical when you stop resorting to smear tactics using negative fallacies. "A vast majority of our government is composed of greedy, power-hungry fools" my ass--there's no proof behind that assertion, just an attempt to troll or justify your own irrationality.
it's cool and hip to demonize those in power. Our fellow posters have a marked tendency to come on here and bloviate about how cruel, stupid, and corrupt everyone else is. Caught up in the venting of the toxic fumes emanating from their ego, they never once stop to ask if they themselves would be any better, or consider that the vast majority of our government is indeed composed of good, honest, tax-paying citizens, who get up every morning resolved to do the best they can, just like the rest of us.
This is a very good troll, and it's a good thought-provoking post.
I agree with you; the problem is, how do you explain that to the families of the victims of Boston, Fort Hood, and 911? Many, if not most of them campaigned for putting the Patriot Act in place, and for beefing up internal and external security. They did so out of grief, anger, and trauma-induced xenophobia. How, as a society, do we counter that? Because in my experience it's nearly impossible to use reason with someone who's near out-of-their-mind with grief, anger, and a suddenly-awakened fear of strangers that's horrifically melded to PTSD.
And it's the number one tool social caste-preferring Americans growing up in a Judeo-Christian culture prefer for defining who's Right and who's Wrong.
Our government is made up of our fellow citizens, with representatives who advocate the beliefs of their constituents.
Because killing apologists will delay the inevitable realization that such actions/intents makes him as bad (if not worse) than those he hates.
And it won't matter (though I at least appreciate that you're calling out the false assumptions). Have you read through the commentary on this thread? There's no trust anymore. Just about everyone posting on this forum thread has lost trust in the US government, and ultimately, in each other. Each comment builds upon the paranoia of the previous, and I find myself wondering--what's the end result? A world without trust? If we can't trust our government, then we can't trust each other. And if we can't trust each other, what then? What kind of world is that, where we're so paranoid about corruption and about those in power that we don't allow anyone to be in power? That's not enlightened anarchy, that's the fall of civilization right there.
Self-righteous blustering... yeah, you'r right. You got me. Stupidity + instantaneous access to /. wins again. You have a good rebuttal.
Very few things in life are worth challenging the weight of reality behind the GIFT theory... freely-given private pictures of boobies from happy female friends and lovers are one of those things. This is WORTH FIGHTING FOR.
Mod me down as a troll, but I'm going to call your stupid and asinine statement out. I _want_ to live in a world where my girlfriend, or certain adventurous female friends of mine, feel safe in sending me nudie pics on my phone, and do so because they feel they can without fear of reprisal, revenge, blackmail, or hacking. Because a world like that means that YOU, and every other man out there can also reap that kind of benefit.
What's stupid, is asshats like Kevin Bollaert and others like him slut-shaming women for the lulz, and then profiting via blackmail. When that shit happens, then women don't feel safe in sending nudie pics to men they trust, and we don't get to see them. So I damn well hope they throw the book at him, and I damn well hope we can reverse this trend, because I'd personally like to receive more nudie pics from happy, well-adjusted women with roaring sex drives and a desire for a little exhibitionistic titillation.
What you said is gibberish to most of America, and that's the problem. YOU would be able to construct an adequate defense against scriptkiddies, but for the majority of America, a packaged security platform sold by the likes of Kaspersky or McAfee is going to be necessary. And that's even assuming people install, use, and update those packages appropriately. You're failing to account for the power of human stupidity.
then so can someone else.
it's just that the people in whom you won't make a dent are the ones that responded to you with their tales of woe and anger. You'll find that deep down, they're just angry, and want validation for the way they've been treated in the world. However, you did make a dent, because you got modded up in many of your comments and rebuttals. You did make a difference. May not seem like it, but you did.
Or, President Obama doesn't dare risk dismantling those policies due to the enormous political backlash he'd face from half the country (who, not coincidentally, makes a lot of money off of defense contract/intelligence work). You dismantle that apparatus, and you put a lot of tax-paying American citizens in Red states out of work, and make them and their political representatives even MORE vehemently opposed to you than they already are. Nothing's ever easy or black-and-white, especially when you're the President.
If you don't trust the government (fed/state/local), and you don't trust big business, who do you trust? Where does this loss of trust end? Because if you don't trust big business, then why would you trust small business? And if you don't trust government in any form, then why would you trust any government, or literally anyone else? And if your own family betrays you, then what? See, I don't understand this active deconstruction of trust. At some point it has to end, or you end up isolated, alone, paranoid, and suicidal.
I don't use Ebay anymore for the reasons you cited--I'm not interested in enriching Power Sellers, I'd like to reward small sellers with my business.
How many innocents are you willing to kill in the name of your revolution? At what pre-determined point does the blood flow stop? And is there forgiveness for your enemies, and leniency available? Or are you simply going to kill anyone who is the enemy, extend that to any who don't agree with you, and stop only when there's no one left to shoot at?
We tend to forget that the 10th Amendment exists not just for us, but for those whom we disagree with as well. The same thing can be said for the rest of the Bill of Rights. The current state-level issues we face are a natural result of the way we've structured our society. Typically in the past, an Empire would deal with this by promoting one Imperial language, one Imperial-approved religion, etc. Since we're not an empire but a democratic republic, we don't have the luxury of tyranny to promote one culture's views over another's.