Actually, people who are into DBSM scenes, not just watching the stuff, tend to be less aggressive in real life. Real BDSM involves a lot of negotiation and sensitivity, because it's only fun until you cross a line that the other person doesn't want crossed. It's also a safe outlet for feelings of aggression. As a top, if I thought what I was doing to a bottom was turning them off, really hurting them, or scaring them in a way they don't like, that would be an instant turn off for me. It's only fun as long as they actually want you to pull their hair, slap them or call them a slutty little whore.
I'm just waiting for the study that shows that exposure to porn makes people less violent. Can you imagine the response here in America if THAT were found to be true?
Wait, what? You are actually arguing that our idea of a republic is in no way based on the Iroquois Confederacy? That's not open for debate, it's a known and documented historical fact. I'm sorry, I was confused. I thought everyone was taught that in grade school. You must have been born before 1970 or so:-) So rather than point to the literally tens of thousands of scholarly papers on the subject, I'll give you a nice google search and you can pick and choose. Really, I'm not just making this up: the Haudenosaunee have at least as much to do with the founding of our republic than ancient Greece or Rome do. Have fun, it's an interesting part of American history.
In what way was the historical political entity know as the Roman Republic like the Iroquois, or like our Republic? Was it some sort of confederation of states? Any state can call itself anything it likes. North Korea and China are both on that list you linked to, did you know that? Are they Republics like ours? What I tried to do was show that our Republic was like the Iroquois, and unlike the Roman or Greek idea. I don't think you've shown anything to refute that hypothesis. If anything, including a list of Republics that includes China and North Korea only makes my point stronger.
The only ironic thing about that song is that the author has misunderstood what irony is. Really? Are you sure she wasn't being... ironic? I mean, what could be more ironic than a song about irony that contains no irony? Wait, that means it does contain irony, so it isn't ironic, but that means... ah, my head!
No, but your culture is the dominant culture, you are male, and white, and those things make a difference. We could debate how much of a difference, and certainly no one is saying that you didn't also have disadvantages of your own, especially in comparison with, say, a Rockefeller. You didn't grow up in a family with many material possessions or well placed social connections, so in some ways you have far more in common with many minorities than with the fat cats of the world.
But, hmm, as a for instance, has anyone ever crossed to the other side of the street because they were afraid to walk near you based on your race? Have you frequently been tailed by security guards in retail establishments? Did you grow up seeing most people who looked like you or came from where you come from getting into gangs, doing drugs and killing each other?
If you did, and made something more of yourself than your society actually expected of you, congratulations. You are a rare and valuable member of our species. But I sense some contempt in you, for the people who do not have what it takes to rise above what their society shows them, in graphic and immediate terms, their lot in life is expected to be. And I don't think that's an honorable stance to take. Just my opinion, and if I'm wrong about you, then I apologize for being somewhat harsh with you.
Uhm, is the fact that the Iroquois were a confederation of semi-independant states, and those others you mentioned were not, good enough for you? Then here's the wiki page. You may also want to look at the pages for "Democracy" and "Republic" to refresh in your mind what the differences are, if you're unclear on that.
The injustice continues here. Others have not had the advantages you have. No man is an island, and we all take at least some of our concept of who we are, some of our idea of what is possible or expected from us from others. Which means, we have a responsibility not to see others as less than they are, lest the collective weight of our and others beliefs pushes them to be somethign they are not.
As for your last question: if you buy a stolen bicycle, and the original owner sees you and can prove the bike was his, who gets the bike? What is the most fair solution? Obviously, you did not know the bike was stolen, you bought it in good faith, and you used money fairly earned. But the other guy did nothing wrong, either.
Now consider, the original owner of the bike was killed. His son sees you, and can prove the bike was his dad's. Now who gets the bike? Why?
If there were easy or obvious answers to these questions, I don't think we'd be in the mess we are right now.
It is hard to have this kind of discussion, because of the moral judgement involved. No one likes to think they've gotten where they are because of unfair advantage. Everyone likes to believe their the underdog. Everyone secretly believes that everyone else has had fundamentally the same set of choices and experiences that they have had. None of that is true.
No one is asking you to feel guilty over the opportunites and experiences that others have had. We are just asking you to recognize that other people have lived lives uniquely different from yours, full of different challenges, experience, pains and joys. We are asking you to understand that your assumptions and cherished beliefs are just that: yours. And that perhaps, unbeknownst to you, you have had certain advantages that others might not have had.
That doesn't mean you should feel responsible for their plight. Just that you should try to understand the differences.
Hey, don't blame me! I never get mod points anymore. I thought it was stupid to mod you troll, too. And people don't even know Godwin's law, all it says is that given enough time, all threads will reference Hitler. That's it. You don't 'lose' the argument by mentioning Hitler.
I'm an American geek who happens to like Monty Python. Weird, I know. You parsed that "ancestors" bit incorrectly, by the way. I'm speculating about what hypothetical non-white people would say to sumdumass regarding his ancestors. So, "our ancestors" in that context would be refering to the ancestors common to both the hypothetical non-white person and sumdumass, not the ancestors common to sumdumass and I. Get it?
While we know that rolling stones gather no moss, more research is needed to determine whether sliding stones do. My hypothesis is that they would in fact gather moss, as the same side is always pointing up. Now I'll just need a $500,000 grant to find out for sure.
No one of any moral sense would try to make you feel personally responsible for the actions of even your direct ancestors. What I try to point out, and what I feel most of the non-brain-dead 'racially sensative' types are trying to point out, is that the playing field is very far from level due to the actions of our ancestors, and while we are not personally responsible, if we value the idea of living in a fair and equitable world, we will try to do something to make the injustice right, no matter that we aren't personally responsible. We aren't personally responsible for Saddam's treatment of his constituents, yet many in America feel like it is our job to make it right. Suggest to those same people that perhaps it is even more our job to right the injustices on our home soil, and they will usually balk. Not that the kind of racism and injustice we have here is anything like what Saddam did to his people, but the point is still valid.
You speak of Native Americans as if they were all the same culture. Some tribes did live in peace and harmony with each other. Others were warlike. You do know that we got our idea of a Republic from the Iriquois Confederacy, right? Obviously, you didn't get very accurate or in depth "native American heritage".
Native: been here a long time. More native: Been here a longer time than you.
Do you feel threatened when people point out that their ancestors have been here longer than yours, and that your ancestors killed them and stole their land?
Huh? aircraft factory workers are not engaged in creating artistic works, they are engaged in creating physical objects. You don't think the artists should get the money, you think the fatcat business owners should? Why?
Now, as far as original writing, off the top of my head, on public channels we've got Ugly Betty, which may be a copy of a Latin soap opera, but is nonetheless original and creative writing. We've got The Reaper, which is some of the most hilarious writing since Buffy. There's The Big Bang theory, which has some of the best, most honest examples of real geeks I've seen since Freaks and Geeks. And Heroes, which should need no explanation as to why it is good. On pay channels we've got Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is what Seinfeld should have been, and Dexter, which makes serial killers sympathetic, which is no mean feat.
Anyway, arguing over this is pointless, as it's a matter of personal taste. I've said why I think current television writing is good, and given examples. That's all I can do.
In a knock down drag out no holds barred fight to the finish. Did we mention that the land shark has a fricken laser? We'll sell you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge, edge edge!
Sorry, I've been stuck in the server room for two hours watching the HVAC guys and the fan noise has obviously driven me insane.
These same jaded dorkberts prbably secretly watch American Idol and actually vote. Yeah, ooh, like, I'm all intellectual and crap, I never watch TV. Yeah right. There is actually some damn good writing going on on television, better than we've seen in years. But you're obviously too busy stimulating your brain with Halo 3 and fricken' Slashdot discussions. Boy howdy, you sure are a real intelektshul.
Christ on a crutch, man, what kind of backwards logic IS this? Is this what a belief in free market capitalism leads to, or are you, personally just daft? Because what I hear you saying is that doing more with less would be bad. That having less work to do would lower the quality of life. Is that what your saying? Because, you know, I thought that if we automated everything, or were way more efficient, we'd have more time to, you know, produce great art and philosophy, and maybe, you know, have more time for fun things like talking with friends.
To have a tentacle or two, particularly forward facing and prehensile would be an excellent optional add on to the current human model.
The ladies do compliment me on my forward facing tentacle:-) Is it prehensile? That would explain the compliments.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, people who are into DBSM scenes, not just watching the stuff, tend to be less aggressive in real life. Real BDSM involves a lot of negotiation and sensitivity, because it's only fun until you cross a line that the other person doesn't want crossed. It's also a safe outlet for feelings of aggression. As a top, if I thought what I was doing to a bottom was turning them off, really hurting them, or scaring them in a way they don't like, that would be an instant turn off for me. It's only fun as long as they actually want you to pull their hair, slap them or call them a slutty little whore.
I'm just waiting for the study that shows that exposure to porn makes people less violent. Can you imagine the response here in America if THAT were found to be true?
Can't tell if you are trolling, making a joke, or serious-but-deluded. Kennewick Man wasn't white. He was most similar to the Ainu.
Wait, what? You are actually arguing that our idea of a republic is in no way based on the Iroquois Confederacy? That's not open for debate, it's a known and documented historical fact. I'm sorry, I was confused. I thought everyone was taught that in grade school. You must have been born before 1970 or so :-) So rather than point to the literally tens of thousands of scholarly papers on the subject, I'll give you a nice google search and you can pick and choose. Really, I'm not just making this up: the Haudenosaunee have at least as much to do with the founding of our republic than ancient Greece or Rome do. Have fun, it's an interesting part of American history.
Now we finally know what was causing the pain in all the diodes down his left side.
I agree, PHP just isn't the language for that type of application.
In what way was the historical political entity know as the Roman Republic like the Iroquois, or like our Republic? Was it some sort of confederation of states? Any state can call itself anything it likes. North Korea and China are both on that list you linked to, did you know that? Are they Republics like ours? What I tried to do was show that our Republic was like the Iroquois, and unlike the Roman or Greek idea. I don't think you've shown anything to refute that hypothesis. If anything, including a list of Republics that includes China and North Korea only makes my point stronger.
No, but your culture is the dominant culture, you are male, and white, and those things make a difference. We could debate how much of a difference, and certainly no one is saying that you didn't also have disadvantages of your own, especially in comparison with, say, a Rockefeller. You didn't grow up in a family with many material possessions or well placed social connections, so in some ways you have far more in common with many minorities than with the fat cats of the world.
But, hmm, as a for instance, has anyone ever crossed to the other side of the street because they were afraid to walk near you based on your race? Have you frequently been tailed by security guards in retail establishments? Did you grow up seeing most people who looked like you or came from where you come from getting into gangs, doing drugs and killing each other?
If you did, and made something more of yourself than your society actually expected of you, congratulations. You are a rare and valuable member of our species. But I sense some contempt in you, for the people who do not have what it takes to rise above what their society shows them, in graphic and immediate terms, their lot in life is expected to be. And I don't think that's an honorable stance to take. Just my opinion, and if I'm wrong about you, then I apologize for being somewhat harsh with you.
Uhm, is the fact that the Iroquois were a confederation of semi-independant states, and those others you mentioned were not, good enough for you? Then here's the wiki page. You may also want to look at the pages for "Democracy" and "Republic" to refresh in your mind what the differences are, if you're unclear on that.
The injustice continues here. Others have not had the advantages you have. No man is an island, and we all take at least some of our concept of who we are, some of our idea of what is possible or expected from us from others. Which means, we have a responsibility not to see others as less than they are, lest the collective weight of our and others beliefs pushes them to be somethign they are not.
As for your last question: if you buy a stolen bicycle, and the original owner sees you and can prove the bike was his, who gets the bike? What is the most fair solution? Obviously, you did not know the bike was stolen, you bought it in good faith, and you used money fairly earned. But the other guy did nothing wrong, either.
Now consider, the original owner of the bike was killed. His son sees you, and can prove the bike was his dad's. Now who gets the bike? Why?
If there were easy or obvious answers to these questions, I don't think we'd be in the mess we are right now.
It is hard to have this kind of discussion, because of the moral judgement involved. No one likes to think they've gotten where they are because of unfair advantage. Everyone likes to believe their the underdog. Everyone secretly believes that everyone else has had fundamentally the same set of choices and experiences that they have had. None of that is true.
No one is asking you to feel guilty over the opportunites and experiences that others have had. We are just asking you to recognize that other people have lived lives uniquely different from yours, full of different challenges, experience, pains and joys. We are asking you to understand that your assumptions and cherished beliefs are just that: yours. And that perhaps, unbeknownst to you, you have had certain advantages that others might not have had.
That doesn't mean you should feel responsible for their plight. Just that you should try to understand the differences.
Hey, don't blame me! I never get mod points anymore. I thought it was stupid to mod you troll, too. And people don't even know Godwin's law, all it says is that given enough time, all threads will reference Hitler. That's it. You don't 'lose' the argument by mentioning Hitler.
I'm an American geek who happens to like Monty Python. Weird, I know. You parsed that "ancestors" bit incorrectly, by the way. I'm speculating about what hypothetical non-white people would say to sumdumass regarding his ancestors. So, "our ancestors" in that context would be refering to the ancestors common to both the hypothetical non-white person and sumdumass, not the ancestors common to sumdumass and I. Get it?
Ironic rock is worse than rai-e-ain on your wedding day, or a free-ee ride, when you already paid.
While we know that rolling stones gather no moss, more research is needed to determine whether sliding stones do. My hypothesis is that they would in fact gather moss, as the same side is always pointing up. Now I'll just need a $500,000 grant to find out for sure.
No one of any moral sense would try to make you feel personally responsible for the actions of even your direct ancestors. What I try to point out, and what I feel most of the non-brain-dead 'racially sensative' types are trying to point out, is that the playing field is very far from level due to the actions of our ancestors, and while we are not personally responsible, if we value the idea of living in a fair and equitable world, we will try to do something to make the injustice right, no matter that we aren't personally responsible. We aren't personally responsible for Saddam's treatment of his constituents, yet many in America feel like it is our job to make it right. Suggest to those same people that perhaps it is even more our job to right the injustices on our home soil, and they will usually balk. Not that the kind of racism and injustice we have here is anything like what Saddam did to his people, but the point is still valid.
You speak of Native Americans as if they were all the same culture. Some tribes did live in peace and harmony with each other. Others were warlike. You do know that we got our idea of a Republic from the Iriquois Confederacy, right? Obviously, you didn't get very accurate or in depth "native American heritage".
Native: been here a long time.
More native: Been here a longer time than you.
Do you feel threatened when people point out that their ancestors have been here longer than yours, and that your ancestors killed them and stole their land?
Huh? aircraft factory workers are not engaged in creating artistic works, they are engaged in creating physical objects. You don't think the artists should get the money, you think the fatcat business owners should? Why?
Now, as far as original writing, off the top of my head, on public channels we've got Ugly Betty, which may be a copy of a Latin soap opera, but is nonetheless original and creative writing. We've got The Reaper, which is some of the most hilarious writing since Buffy. There's The Big Bang theory, which has some of the best, most honest examples of real geeks I've seen since Freaks and Geeks. And Heroes, which should need no explanation as to why it is good. On pay channels we've got Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is what Seinfeld should have been, and Dexter, which makes serial killers sympathetic, which is no mean feat.
Anyway, arguing over this is pointless, as it's a matter of personal taste. I've said why I think current television writing is good, and given examples. That's all I can do.
In a knock down drag out no holds barred fight to the finish. Did we mention that the land shark has a fricken laser? We'll sell you the whole seat, but you'll only need the edge, edge edge!
Sorry, I've been stuck in the server room for two hours watching the HVAC guys and the fan noise has obviously driven me insane.
These same jaded dorkberts prbably secretly watch American Idol and actually vote. Yeah, ooh, like, I'm all intellectual and crap, I never watch TV. Yeah right. There is actually some damn good writing going on on television, better than we've seen in years. But you're obviously too busy stimulating your brain with Halo 3 and fricken' Slashdot discussions. Boy howdy, you sure are a real intelektshul.
Christ on a crutch, man, what kind of backwards logic IS this? Is this what a belief in free market capitalism leads to, or are you, personally just daft? Because what I hear you saying is that doing more with less would be bad. That having less work to do would lower the quality of life. Is that what your saying? Because, you know, I thought that if we automated everything, or were way more efficient, we'd have more time to, you know, produce great art and philosophy, and maybe, you know, have more time for fun things like talking with friends.
Even Mike Godwin thought he was doing the right thing, but his so-called 'Law' is obvously just the sort of fascist crap Hitler would come up with.