Yeah, I've heard about the Rampart squad on the LAPD, and I know all about the abuses of the NYPD. But to say "Fuck the police. They are badge wearing gang bangers who murder people and get away with it?" No, that's beyond the pale. You're applying a general mis-informed malicious stereotype against millions of people. *Some* of them are probably close to what you describe. But MOST are not--they're tax-paying citizens who get up every morning, put on a Kevlar vest, a uniform, and a badge, and go out to deal with the best AND the worst of humanity. It's the Highway Patrolman who climbs into an ambulance to hold the hand of a severely-injured driver who has no one else there for her; it's the city beat cop who arrests the crack-addicted mother and then takes her child in for the first warm meal and a safe bed that the child's known in weeks--if not years; it's the sheriff's deputy who kicks down the door and discovers that the old man is a mentally-deranged cat hoarder and saves the lives of dozens of mal-nourished sick felines. It's the Detective who reopens a cold case, solves it, and brings peace & closure at last to a grieving family. You, on the other hand, well... I doubt I could say anything nice about you if I got to know you.
Yeah cool story bro... I'll side with OP. Last time I checked, European banking interests weren't all that solvent thanks to the dithering of the EU. Plus, an economy based on debt has done far more for the general good of humanity than an economy based on produced net assets ever has. There's a very good reason that the Dutch and the English eventually bested the French in the 1700's.
Okay, the trumpet player would be an exception to the rule. If he's able to drive while playing the trumpet--and do both competently--I would award that man the internets. That's just flat-out awesome. As for everything I wrote, it was a fun little bit of trolling hyperbole:)
Autonomous drones hovering above the highways, peering into our windshields. If there's some dumb retarded chick applying mascara while talking on her phone while driving--BAM!!! Bullet to the forehead! Some dumbass putting in headphones to listen to Pantera (or worse, Yanni) while driving--BAM!!! Bullet to the forehead! Texting--BAM!!! Bullet to the forehead. But so help me Satan, if somoene's actually surfing the web while driving, that drone should fire off a Hellfire missile and reduce that retard and his/her car into a smoking crater. Double-plus good if said retard's family is in there, as stupid tends to be passed on via nature and nurture.
Here's the problem with doing that: if you work with people you have nothing in common with, and your personalities are different, then that can backfire. You must be aware of who you can have casual-to-meaningful chats with, and who resides in a whole other universe. Anecdote time: I have coworkers that are Young & Beautiful People--they live viscerally with no real awareness of the moment. The YBP obsess over college and pro sports, going out to the bar, dating, and general conversation topics that are about one metaphorical inch deep. This is just who they are, because they're good looking, reasonably educated, come from well-to-do families, and generally have never experienced much of the darker side of life. They're competent, employable, amiable, and that's about it. There's no real character depth to them because Life has never demanded much development of them in that area. Sitting with them at lunch/sharing conversations is a trial for both them and me. It's hard for them, because they genuinely want to relate, and they cannot. It's hard for me because I cannot relate to them either. So what ends up happening is a lot of stalled-out conversations. These tend to add up over time, and they will exclude me simply because I'm a "downer". It's not that I'm pessimistic, it's because they literally cannot relate to any of my experiences or thoughts, and they end up feeling stupid as a result. Thus their conversational attempts tend to stall out and they exclude me. Again, this isn't because I'm anti-social, it's because I'm several years older and possess a background of experience they can't even fathom.
I can say that if any of you are stuck in situations like this, the best thing to do is be polite, pleasant, and helpful. The only time that you should worry about whether or not you can relate to your coworkers is if your management mandates that their reports be a "team" both during and after work. Then it's time to look for a new job and a better fit, because all the pleasantry and social politeness in the world will not obscure an inability to relate due to being from different worlds.
That is a very good point. I suppose I would be interested to know exactly how easy it would be to social-engineer the NSA from within, plus if it's been done before.
And there's some reason to believe that there isn't--then Snowden purposely used social engineering to fool colleagues into giving him their passwords. Do the ends justify the means? He's exposed the NSA's domestic spying, but now the wave's continuing onward and we're getting our normal espionage practices exposed. Are we allowed to ask if doing so does indeed put us more at the mercy of Russia, China, their actors, and Al Qaeda? At what point does this process stop? At what point does the good that was done become overshadowed by the potential harm?
We've been doing our damndest to change that, but when close to half the population -knowingly- and -willingly- supports said practices, plus benefits from a military-industrial economy that is geared up to specifically support that, then change is going to be a long time coming. Almost half our populace is tribalistic to the point where they are willing to support all of what you described, simply because it's done to those who aren't members of the tribe. Furthermore, the easy political solutions to this (liberal fascism, abolishment of the Congress and turning the Executive into a true tyrant, etc) come at too high a cost. What you're arguing about is the dark side of human nature... come back to me when you've come up with a cure that doesn't involve tyranny or death.
You have a good point; I will point out that our government in particular does listen to our people. By way of evidence, I offer the House of Representatives. Though its popularity is at an all-time low, the population of incumbents in the House is very high. That's because each congressional district keeps electing representatives that are indeed "representative" of that district's views (due to gerrymandering and/or good old-fashioned self-sorting by the populace). We all love "our" representative, and we hate everyone else's. So indeed, government does listen to us, and it listens to everyone else too. There's too many voices, and only a moderate application of centrist fascism will cure that.
I get why Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA and it's domestic spying programs. That needs to be addressed pronto. But can someone explain to me how revealing our normal espionage program against our allies and against rivals is supposed to convince our allies and rivals to open up about their own spying programs? How on earth is any of this going to convince the Russian and/or the Chinese electorate to demand transparency of their own governments' monitoring systems? Especially when said governments haven't even bothered to hide that they're doing so? Snowden keeps referring to spying and information control as a global problem, but how does he hope to convince the nations who always have engaged in blatant population control to stop doing so?
Dumbass--THINK about what you just wrote, AC. We don't live in a monarchy, we live in a democratic republic, where blocs of citizens elect representatives who mirror and/or promote their bloc's particular values against those of rival blocs. By saying "Government is the Enemy", you're saying WE are the enemy. What do you want, another civil war? Citizens killing off politicians, and then turning on the other citizens who elected those politicians? Anarchy for all? Here's a clue for you, MORON: Most people don't want to live in anarchy. They want to live in a society whose cultural values match their own. Gawddamn extreme anarchists--you're just as bad as those you call your enemy, and you are a discredit to sensible anarchists.
And it will be done again. There are people out there, whose notions of happiness are conjoined with the reliable structure of a caste-based society will drive them straight to this. Their happiness and contentment relies in part upon being superior to some defined "other" and they will not stop until they can perfect a reliable means of ensuring that distinction.
This. There is a significant number of people in our civilization who value vengeance so much that they're willing to expend significant political effort to keep the death penalty in place. The death penalty isn't to deter criminals, although that is the politically correct reason given. It's to assuage the lust for vengeance on the part of those who identify with the victims and believe in an "eye for an eye". If we didn't have the death penalty, we'd have vigilante squads soon enough, roaming around to deal out punishments they feel are appropriate. This group usually tends towards an apocalyptic, Calvinist mindset anyway.
The part about feeling a loss of "connection" in the article intrigued me. I've been struggling to understand the underlying cause behind behavior like demanding organic food over GMO's, urban chicken farming, environmentalism, being a boho, etc. To me, the term "pushback" could be applied to all the environmentalist/vegetarian-vegan/bicycle culture/anti-GMO/anti-globalism movements. Every cause that pushes back against modern society, but why? What is the underlying cause of that kind of rebellion? What if people choose organic produce over regular, or get into chicken farming, or become ardent environmentalists because adopting such a cause fulfills a need for connection? What if, for some people, being a citizen in today's society is a completely meaningless, bland existence that's only ameliorated through adopting causes and crusades that directly attack it?
I personally have a hard time imagining it, because I enjoy our society. I like feeling like a wandering soul looking at all the spectacle and taking in all the sights of what we can do--good and bad. But after reading TFA, I think I'm getting a glimmer of what people do when they cannot connect, and the lengths to which they'll go to do it.
And looks damn good with a bald head, I say: bring it on! The only way I will ever have hair again... is if I can have a JESUS-MANE of hair! Damn straight! I'll grow that out down to my shoulders! Hell yeah!!! Go long, or go bald--No in-betweens!!!!
The fear of terrorists comes because the average American is white (though this is on the verge of changing) has a functioning 10th grade education, has never gone overseas (or if they have, it's on a quick two week vacation to England, France, Italy, or Germany), is more racist/supremacist than they care to think about, and watched planes fly into towers 12 years ago. They think anyone with brown or black skin is scary, especially those from other countries (plus they smell funny). They watch the evening news, identify more with celebrity & sports culture than politics (because that's normal--politics and religion never get discussed in "polite" company unless it's by "smart" people). They're more conservative than they care to think they are, and the trauma of 9/11 left a lingering suspicion of the foreign and the "other" that will never quite fade. If you want a comparable analog, look at the WWII vets who fought in the Pacific Theater. To this date, the lingering hatred of the Japanese amongst them is still amazing. They've never given that up completely. When you consider in a nation of 300 Million, that the majority of our population are what I've described, then you'll understand why the government acts the way it does. Our government is a reflection of ourselves--not the other way around.
This article is pointless--the Federal fiscal year ended on September 30th. Of COURSE the Pentagon's going to spend money like crazy--just about every purchasing department in the Federal Government waits until the very last day to fill out their orders. Doing so allows them to negotiate for better deals to benefit us taxpayers, or allows them to be told how much they've got to spend. This is not a surprise, folks. It's just timing, that's all.
Thus creating more anarchy and inadvertently populating our government with inexperienced morons, which will lead further to society's degradation. No thanks. I'll stay with the current system. It may be corrupt, but at least it's competent.
It does indeed matter, because the existence of ghost writers using the psuedonyms of the Apostles directly contradicts the biblical inerrancy theory. And if you want to derail fundamentalist Christianity, then bringing up the ghost writers is crucial. At that point, the cognitive dissonance becomes so great that either the fundamentalist loses faith, or has to leap to ever-more-convoluted defenses that will ultimately undo his/her faith anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
An MBA is an MBA, but it's the psychopaths that are the culprit.
Yeah, I've heard about the Rampart squad on the LAPD, and I know all about the abuses of the NYPD. But to say "Fuck the police. They are badge wearing gang bangers who murder people and get away with it?" No, that's beyond the pale. You're applying a general mis-informed malicious stereotype against millions of people. *Some* of them are probably close to what you describe. But MOST are not--they're tax-paying citizens who get up every morning, put on a Kevlar vest, a uniform, and a badge, and go out to deal with the best AND the worst of humanity. It's the Highway Patrolman who climbs into an ambulance to hold the hand of a severely-injured driver who has no one else there for her; it's the city beat cop who arrests the crack-addicted mother and then takes her child in for the first warm meal and a safe bed that the child's known in weeks--if not years; it's the sheriff's deputy who kicks down the door and discovers that the old man is a mentally-deranged cat hoarder and saves the lives of dozens of mal-nourished sick felines. It's the Detective who reopens a cold case, solves it, and brings peace & closure at last to a grieving family. You, on the other hand, well... I doubt I could say anything nice about you if I got to know you.
Yeah cool story bro... I'll side with OP. Last time I checked, European banking interests weren't all that solvent thanks to the dithering of the EU. Plus, an economy based on debt has done far more for the general good of humanity than an economy based on produced net assets ever has. There's a very good reason that the Dutch and the English eventually bested the French in the 1700's.
Okay, the trumpet player would be an exception to the rule. If he's able to drive while playing the trumpet--and do both competently--I would award that man the internets. That's just flat-out awesome. As for everything I wrote, it was a fun little bit of trolling hyperbole :)
Autonomous drones hovering above the highways, peering into our windshields. If there's some dumb retarded chick applying mascara while talking on her phone while driving--BAM!!! Bullet to the forehead! Some dumbass putting in headphones to listen to Pantera (or worse, Yanni) while driving--BAM!!! Bullet to the forehead! Texting--BAM!!! Bullet to the forehead. But so help me Satan, if somoene's actually surfing the web while driving, that drone should fire off a Hellfire missile and reduce that retard and his/her car into a smoking crater. Double-plus good if said retard's family is in there, as stupid tends to be passed on via nature and nurture.
Here's the problem with doing that: if you work with people you have nothing in common with, and your personalities are different, then that can backfire. You must be aware of who you can have casual-to-meaningful chats with, and who resides in a whole other universe. Anecdote time: I have coworkers that are Young & Beautiful People--they live viscerally with no real awareness of the moment. The YBP obsess over college and pro sports, going out to the bar, dating, and general conversation topics that are about one metaphorical inch deep. This is just who they are, because they're good looking, reasonably educated, come from well-to-do families, and generally have never experienced much of the darker side of life. They're competent, employable, amiable, and that's about it. There's no real character depth to them because Life has never demanded much development of them in that area. Sitting with them at lunch/sharing conversations is a trial for both them and me. It's hard for them, because they genuinely want to relate, and they cannot. It's hard for me because I cannot relate to them either. So what ends up happening is a lot of stalled-out conversations. These tend to add up over time, and they will exclude me simply because I'm a "downer". It's not that I'm pessimistic, it's because they literally cannot relate to any of my experiences or thoughts, and they end up feeling stupid as a result. Thus their conversational attempts tend to stall out and they exclude me. Again, this isn't because I'm anti-social, it's because I'm several years older and possess a background of experience they can't even fathom.
I can say that if any of you are stuck in situations like this, the best thing to do is be polite, pleasant, and helpful. The only time that you should worry about whether or not you can relate to your coworkers is if your management mandates that their reports be a "team" both during and after work. Then it's time to look for a new job and a better fit, because all the pleasantry and social politeness in the world will not obscure an inability to relate due to being from different worlds.
That is a very good point. I suppose I would be interested to know exactly how easy it would be to social-engineer the NSA from within, plus if it's been done before.
And there's some reason to believe that there isn't--then Snowden purposely used social engineering to fool colleagues into giving him their passwords. Do the ends justify the means? He's exposed the NSA's domestic spying, but now the wave's continuing onward and we're getting our normal espionage practices exposed. Are we allowed to ask if doing so does indeed put us more at the mercy of Russia, China, their actors, and Al Qaeda? At what point does this process stop? At what point does the good that was done become overshadowed by the potential harm?
We've been doing our damndest to change that, but when close to half the population -knowingly- and -willingly- supports said practices, plus benefits from a military-industrial economy that is geared up to specifically support that, then change is going to be a long time coming. Almost half our populace is tribalistic to the point where they are willing to support all of what you described, simply because it's done to those who aren't members of the tribe. Furthermore, the easy political solutions to this (liberal fascism, abolishment of the Congress and turning the Executive into a true tyrant, etc) come at too high a cost. What you're arguing about is the dark side of human nature... come back to me when you've come up with a cure that doesn't involve tyranny or death.
You have a good point; I will point out that our government in particular does listen to our people. By way of evidence, I offer the House of Representatives. Though its popularity is at an all-time low, the population of incumbents in the House is very high. That's because each congressional district keeps electing representatives that are indeed "representative" of that district's views (due to gerrymandering and/or good old-fashioned self-sorting by the populace). We all love "our" representative, and we hate everyone else's. So indeed, government does listen to us, and it listens to everyone else too. There's too many voices, and only a moderate application of centrist fascism will cure that.
I get why Snowden blew the whistle on the NSA and it's domestic spying programs. That needs to be addressed pronto. But can someone explain to me how revealing our normal espionage program against our allies and against rivals is supposed to convince our allies and rivals to open up about their own spying programs? How on earth is any of this going to convince the Russian and/or the Chinese electorate to demand transparency of their own governments' monitoring systems? Especially when said governments haven't even bothered to hide that they're doing so? Snowden keeps referring to spying and information control as a global problem, but how does he hope to convince the nations who always have engaged in blatant population control to stop doing so?
Dumbass--THINK about what you just wrote, AC. We don't live in a monarchy, we live in a democratic republic, where blocs of citizens elect representatives who mirror and/or promote their bloc's particular values against those of rival blocs. By saying "Government is the Enemy", you're saying WE are the enemy. What do you want, another civil war? Citizens killing off politicians, and then turning on the other citizens who elected those politicians? Anarchy for all? Here's a clue for you, MORON: Most people don't want to live in anarchy. They want to live in a society whose cultural values match their own. Gawddamn extreme anarchists--you're just as bad as those you call your enemy, and you are a discredit to sensible anarchists.
And they are Legion.
And it will be done again. There are people out there, whose notions of happiness are conjoined with the reliable structure of a caste-based society will drive them straight to this. Their happiness and contentment relies in part upon being superior to some defined "other" and they will not stop until they can perfect a reliable means of ensuring that distinction.
This. There is a significant number of people in our civilization who value vengeance so much that they're willing to expend significant political effort to keep the death penalty in place. The death penalty isn't to deter criminals, although that is the politically correct reason given. It's to assuage the lust for vengeance on the part of those who identify with the victims and believe in an "eye for an eye". If we didn't have the death penalty, we'd have vigilante squads soon enough, roaming around to deal out punishments they feel are appropriate. This group usually tends towards an apocalyptic, Calvinist mindset anyway.
The part about feeling a loss of "connection" in the article intrigued me. I've been struggling to understand the underlying cause behind behavior like demanding organic food over GMO's, urban chicken farming, environmentalism, being a boho, etc. To me, the term "pushback" could be applied to all the environmentalist/vegetarian-vegan/bicycle culture/anti-GMO/anti-globalism movements. Every cause that pushes back against modern society, but why? What is the underlying cause of that kind of rebellion? What if people choose organic produce over regular, or get into chicken farming, or become ardent environmentalists because adopting such a cause fulfills a need for connection? What if, for some people, being a citizen in today's society is a completely meaningless, bland existence that's only ameliorated through adopting causes and crusades that directly attack it?
I personally have a hard time imagining it, because I enjoy our society. I like feeling like a wandering soul looking at all the spectacle and taking in all the sights of what we can do--good and bad. But after reading TFA, I think I'm getting a glimmer of what people do when they cannot connect, and the lengths to which they'll go to do it.
It's part of the uniform, especially for uptight Seattleites. I refuse to go that route though... I want my Jesus-mane, or nothing at all.
I want a head with hair so badass that I could get away with saying "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful".
And looks damn good with a bald head, I say: bring it on! The only way I will ever have hair again... is if I can have a JESUS-MANE of hair! Damn straight! I'll grow that out down to my shoulders! Hell yeah!!! Go long, or go bald--No in-betweens!!!!
If I understand your argument, you're speculating that the universe is a pantheistic, evolving computation seeking entropy?
The fear of terrorists comes because the average American is white (though this is on the verge of changing) has a functioning 10th grade education, has never gone overseas (or if they have, it's on a quick two week vacation to England, France, Italy, or Germany), is more racist/supremacist than they care to think about, and watched planes fly into towers 12 years ago. They think anyone with brown or black skin is scary, especially those from other countries (plus they smell funny). They watch the evening news, identify more with celebrity & sports culture than politics (because that's normal--politics and religion never get discussed in "polite" company unless it's by "smart" people). They're more conservative than they care to think they are, and the trauma of 9/11 left a lingering suspicion of the foreign and the "other" that will never quite fade. If you want a comparable analog, look at the WWII vets who fought in the Pacific Theater. To this date, the lingering hatred of the Japanese amongst them is still amazing. They've never given that up completely. When you consider in a nation of 300 Million, that the majority of our population are what I've described, then you'll understand why the government acts the way it does. Our government is a reflection of ourselves--not the other way around.
My Gawd! We've got to outlaw oatmeal AND respiration immediately! Think of the Children!
This article is pointless--the Federal fiscal year ended on September 30th. Of COURSE the Pentagon's going to spend money like crazy--just about every purchasing department in the Federal Government waits until the very last day to fill out their orders. Doing so allows them to negotiate for better deals to benefit us taxpayers, or allows them to be told how much they've got to spend. This is not a surprise, folks. It's just timing, that's all.
Thus creating more anarchy and inadvertently populating our government with inexperienced morons, which will lead further to society's degradation. No thanks. I'll stay with the current system. It may be corrupt, but at least it's competent.
It does indeed matter, because the existence of ghost writers using the psuedonyms of the Apostles directly contradicts the biblical inerrancy theory. And if you want to derail fundamentalist Christianity, then bringing up the ghost writers is crucial. At that point, the cognitive dissonance becomes so great that either the fundamentalist loses faith, or has to leap to ever-more-convoluted defenses that will ultimately undo his/her faith anyway.