In a democracy[1] if you are eligible to vote, whether you vote or not you still share the responsibility.
Putting aside argument over the definition of democracy, I reject this premise. As far as I'm concerned, an individual is only responsible for his own actions.
If I draw a gun and kill somebody, I am responsible for that person's murder because I chose to act in a manner that resulted in that person's death.
If I order a person under my authority to kill, then I share responsibility for the murder. Even though somebody else pulled the trigger, I gave the order.
However, if I elect a politician to perform certain functions on my behalf, and that politician decides to ignore the example of history and start a land war in Asia, I have every right to reject responsibility for that politician's actions. I didn't tell him to start a war, he did that on his own, and if he asked me first I would have bitch-slapped him for having the temerity to even think that I would want him to start a war.
It's absolutely not billable, so many docs don't do it
I'm not a doctor (I just play one on my Wii), but how can this not be billable. Isn't it at least half of what a psychologist doing therapy provides for his/her patients?
The article suggests at the end that patients who responded to the placebos despite knowing that they were taking placebos might be benefiting from a "medical ritual", but I suspect it simpler than that. I suspect that the patients were just receiving some sort of psychosomatic benefit from having an actual human being pay attention to them for a little while. I can't prove it, but I suspect that a lot of modern chronic illnesses are psychosomatic and are a consequence of loneliness.
If you use the same currency (and other stuff) the Government establishes, why the big objection to having to paying the tax? [1]
I have objections to the manner in which the government spends tax monies. To start with, there's all the corporate welfare Uncle Sam gives the military-industrial complex.
Dude, did you just quote the fucking Bible on Slashdot? My only response to that is that unlike Augustus, Gaius Julius Caesar got his rightful due: a knife in the back.
Similarly, if you're within stabbing range it's too late to "get out my gun." If you already have a gun pointed at you, it's also well into too late.
Assuming some thief is scanning the bills in my wallet, why shouldn't I draw and put a bullet through his head while he's fucking around with my wallet and his scanner? His hands are full.
I don't think so, but I'm one of those crazy people who thinks that taxation is extortion and that a government is a protection racket whose button men wear camouflage.
How many more abuses of this nature will it take before people realize that the government isn't by and for the people any longer, but by and for corporations? Individuals aren't represented in Congress any longer; corporations are. However, individuals are still obligated to pay taxes. How long will it be before the average person again rallies around "No taxation without representation"?
I'm starting a collection to retrofit a tank to serve as a motorized wheelchair for Stephen Hawking. Care to donate?
infants
Why should I protect somebody else's kids? I'm a long-haired male geek. Most mothers, if they see me help their kids, will call me a pedophile before they think to thank me. I have no reason to help.
and those with degenerative physical [defects]
Save the guilt trip for somebody who cares.
or mental defects.
Trust me: the world's politicians and clergy don't need or deserve your protection or mine.
Those of us with a scrap of empathy or self-preservation instinct would simply enact universal treaties or international laws which would quickly converge to something very similar to the laws we have now.
The difference will be that those of us who lack faith in your treaties and your laws will have the means to opt out. Since our existing societies are not based on voluntary consent, they are worthless and deserve their inevitable destruction.
Somehow the word "community" has become synonymous with "business". Communities should not be based on business, but on a goal to achieve a common good.
I agree, but before community can truly be based on common cause, people must be liberated from the tyranny of geography. If the only thing a group of people have in common is that they live close to one another, can they really be called a community?
I doubt anybody remembers Silicon Knights' Xbox 360 title Too Human, but I played the crap out of that game. It was a sweet hack 'n slash action-RPG with lots of loot to collect, and it really would have benefited from local 2-4 player coop and a longer campaign. What did we get instead? 2 player coop via Xbox Live.
Slashdot Mirror
If nobody voted, then the government would have no claim to legitimacy.
In a democracy[1] if you are eligible to vote, whether you vote or not you still share the responsibility.
Putting aside argument over the definition of democracy, I reject this premise. As far as I'm concerned, an individual is only responsible for his own actions.
If I draw a gun and kill somebody, I am responsible for that person's murder because I chose to act in a manner that resulted in that person's death.
If I order a person under my authority to kill, then I share responsibility for the murder. Even though somebody else pulled the trigger, I gave the order.
However, if I elect a politician to perform certain functions on my behalf, and that politician decides to ignore the example of history and start a land war in Asia, I have every right to reject responsibility for that politician's actions. I didn't tell him to start a war, he did that on his own, and if he asked me first I would have bitch-slapped him for having the temerity to even think that I would want him to start a war.
It's absolutely not billable, so many docs don't do it
I'm not a doctor (I just play one on my Wii), but how can this not be billable. Isn't it at least half of what a psychologist doing therapy provides for his/her patients?
The article suggests at the end that patients who responded to the placebos despite knowing that they were taking placebos might be benefiting from a "medical ritual", but I suspect it simpler than that. I suspect that the patients were just receiving some sort of psychosomatic benefit from having an actual human being pay attention to them for a little while. I can't prove it, but I suspect that a lot of modern chronic illnesses are psychosomatic and are a consequence of loneliness.
Then it's a good thing I refuse to vote.
If you use the same currency (and other stuff) the Government establishes, why the big objection to having to paying the tax? [1]
I have objections to the manner in which the government spends tax monies. To start with, there's all the corporate welfare Uncle Sam gives the military-industrial complex.
[1] Reference: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:17-21&version=NIV [biblegateway.com]
Dude, did you just quote the fucking Bible on Slashdot? My only response to that is that unlike Augustus, Gaius Julius Caesar got his rightful due: a knife in the back.
Similarly, if you're within stabbing range it's too late to "get out my gun." If you already have a gun pointed at you, it's also well into too late.
Assuming some thief is scanning the bills in my wallet, why shouldn't I draw and put a bullet through his head while he's fucking around with my wallet and his scanner? His hands are full.
My family knows to keep their distance, and I keep my weapon unloaded and locked away at home. Not every gun owner is an ignorant, paranoid redneck.
I don't think so, but I'm one of those crazy people who thinks that taxation is extortion and that a government is a protection racket whose button men wear camouflage.
Dunno. I'm not going back to that bar.
You sure they're Feds and not Mafia?
Good. That gives me time to get out my pistol and kill the thieves. Then I'll take their wallets, turnabout being fair play.
I don't report cash income to the IRS. :)
I got my ass kicked by the bouncer the last time I tried to swipe my card between the stripper's buttocks in order to tip her.
Screw you American public!
I wouldn't fuck the American public with your dick. They're fat and they just lay there.
Of course, comparing Rupert Murdoch to Gail Wynand is a more generous comparison than Murdoch deserves.
there are too many people
Under the right conditions, this problem will solve itself.
I don't have to. You made the claim concerning the social obligations of American corporations; the burden of proof is on your shoulders.
How many more abuses of this nature will it take before people realize that the government isn't by and for the people any longer, but by and for corporations? Individuals aren't represented in Congress any longer; corporations are. However, individuals are still obligated to pay taxes. How long will it be before the average person again rallies around "No taxation without representation"?
Yeah who cares about quadriplegics
I'm starting a collection to retrofit a tank to serve as a motorized wheelchair for Stephen Hawking. Care to donate?
infants
Why should I protect somebody else's kids? I'm a long-haired male geek. Most mothers, if they see me help their kids, will call me a pedophile before they think to thank me. I have no reason to help.
and those with degenerative physical [defects]
Save the guilt trip for somebody who cares.
or mental defects.
Trust me: the world's politicians and clergy don't need or deserve your protection or mine.
Those of us with a scrap of empathy or self-preservation instinct would simply enact universal treaties or international laws which would quickly converge to something very similar to the laws we have now.
The difference will be that those of us who lack faith in your treaties and your laws will have the means to opt out. Since our existing societies are not based on voluntary consent, they are worthless and deserve their inevitable destruction.
Somehow the word "community" has become synonymous with "business". Communities should not be based on business, but on a goal to achieve a common good.
I agree, but before community can truly be based on common cause, people must be liberated from the tyranny of geography. If the only thing a group of people have in common is that they live close to one another, can they really be called a community?
Luckily everyone in the world is born with the physical and mental capacity to defend themselves...
God may have created man, but Sam Colt made men equal.
Defend yourself. If you can't or won't fight for yourself, then I see no reason to fight for you.
I doubt anybody remembers Silicon Knights' Xbox 360 title Too Human, but I played the crap out of that game. It was a sweet hack 'n slash action-RPG with lots of loot to collect, and it really would have benefited from local 2-4 player coop and a longer campaign. What did we get instead? 2 player coop via Xbox Live.