"...while the US considers anything that might reduce the profit of a paying supporter as an attempt to overthrow the best government money can buy."
Bingo!
"All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field." ~Albert Einstein
"Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where they is no river." ~Nikita Khrushchev
"The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it." ~P.J. O'Rourke
"Wow. You take my breath away. How does one respond to such an incredible warping of the purpose of school? What the hell do TAXPAYERS have to do with it?
I thought school was supposed to be about the education of students, for their benefit, that of their parents, of other citizens, and of society and democracy at large.
Not that I think schools actually do this; I would say on balance they achieve the opposite. But to actually state that the goal of public education is the efficient satisfaction of taxpayers (not citizens, parents, or God-forbid students; learning, citizenship, and the improvement of students are nowhere to be found) is so ass-backwards it's virtually guaranteed to never achieve actual education or fulfill the interests of students.
Of course, to the extent that you're a politico or functionary dependen on an industrial system of public education for your power and income, your characterization of education may be in your personal interest. What you wrote thoroughly confuses the private benefit of public servants with the broader public interest. I sincerely hope this is an accident of your writing and a product of having to cope with an imperfect system, not what you actually believe or practice.
None of which is to argue that schools are better with or without MySpace. Addressing that question requires a much more thorough analysis than the caricature you've presented here: of what we as a society want our schools to achieve, of the degree to which school should be isolated from real life and of the practical questions of how school can teach students to function in their actual lives, of whether it's better to try to change the student than to train the teacher, of the potential and actual nature of social sites (socialization is, after all, one of the main things we want out of schools), and of the practical dimensions of any relevant policy. In other words, I don't have an answer but I don't think you've made an argument."
Parent post is precisely why religion and science don't mix.
By the way, in case you haven't noticed, this is a technology site and not a fundamentalist christian site. You see, there is a difference between the two because one site has a group of well meaning, but hopelessly lost souls headed straight for hell, and the other site has a bunch of nerds.
Exactly. If it was because of bashing the Christian religion (which is fun and cathartic), we would have seen it on Faux News and the Network Morning Shows:
"This morning on the Early Show, are Stargate SG-1 fans disciples of the Antichrist? More after this word from Walmart."
Damn! This is not religion we are talking about. He and you are free to form your own religion and say whatever the hell you want, but that is not science.
You can buy my book, but you damn well better not read it! You can buy my cd, but you damn well better not listen to it! You can buy my movie, but you'd better not watch it!
Exactly. Our law enforcement is quickly becoming little more than hired guns for corporate interests. They have become a twisted fun house mirror view of law and order.
If other countries give into our corporate attack animals then that is their problem and they deserve everything they get. If other countries see their own sovereignty as something to be given away to US industries then they deserve everything they get.
You can assume all you want. You can also be an apologist for industries and corporations that wouldn't lift a finger in your favor if they were paid to (unless of course you are on the payroll as a mouthpiece of one of them I mentioned). It's a free country, and that means people are free to mindlessly let corporate interests have free reign.
I did not passively threaten to destroy you or your family's reputation (which whether you believe so or not you did) just because you have a different point of view. You may wish to dial back your pathetic vitriol, because the next person's family you threaten may not be as understanding of a self-absorbed little prick who throws excrement as his only form of communication with someone of a differing view. And in this hyper-litigious society we are in, I can see someone else with a lot of time on their hands filing a pre-emptive law suit against a little prick who "what ifs" a threat at someone else.............Besides, your comparison is not valid.
US law has given corporations more freedoms and less restrictions than real citizens. US law is set up to protect individuals within a corporation from risk (financial and legal) that real citizens do not have. Only the most egregious violators of corporate law are punished because funding for corporate oversight is kept at such a low level that we can only afford to prosecute the most obvious and egregious of the violators.
I'm not even anti-corporation. I work for one and realize that they have their place. I also realize that US law has been tweaked and massaged into a perversion that allows large corporations access to politicians that not even the super-wealthy have. Corporate law is broken, that does not mean that all corporations are bad, but it does mean that the largest corporations have far too much power right now. The fix is not to get rid of all corporations, nor is it to turn a blind eye.
Well you must be right. Corporations do not spend millions a year on clever accountants who are able to use loopholes and creative accounting to tweak their financial reports depending upon who they are showing the numbers to. The RIAA has never done it, the MPAA has never done it, Haliburton has never done it. Hell Apple has never done it.
I don't have numbers to argue your numbers, but what would make Warner Music any different from any other major corporation? They have one set of numbers for the stockholders, one set for the IRS and another for the public. They can and do make their profit or loss look like whatever they need it to look like at that time.
"A little O.T., but saying "For decades" is stretching it a bit."
You're right, it has only been 12-14 years since Walmart was the all American company and actually had a great reputation. It just seems longer. I stand corrected.
Slashdot Mirror
"...while the US considers anything that might reduce the profit of a paying supporter as an attempt to overthrow the best government money can buy."
Bingo!
"All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field." ~Albert Einstein
"Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where they is no river." ~Nikita Khrushchev
"The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it." ~P.J. O'Rourke
Geof (153857) said:
"Wow. You take my breath away. How does one respond to such an incredible warping of the purpose of school? What the hell do TAXPAYERS have to do with it?
I thought school was supposed to be about the education of students, for their benefit, that of their parents, of other citizens, and of society and democracy at large.
Not that I think schools actually do this; I would say on balance they achieve the opposite. But to actually state that the goal of public education is the efficient satisfaction of taxpayers (not citizens, parents, or God-forbid students; learning, citizenship, and the improvement of students are nowhere to be found) is so ass-backwards it's virtually guaranteed to never achieve actual education or fulfill the interests of students.
Of course, to the extent that you're a politico or functionary dependen on an industrial system of public education for your power and income, your characterization of education may be in your personal interest. What you wrote thoroughly confuses the private benefit of public servants with the broader public interest. I sincerely hope this is an accident of your writing and a product of having to cope with an imperfect system, not what you actually believe or practice.
None of which is to argue that schools are better with or without MySpace. Addressing that question requires a much more thorough analysis than the caricature you've presented here: of what we as a society want our schools to achieve, of the degree to which school should be isolated from real life and of the practical questions of how school can teach students to function in their actual lives, of whether it's better to try to change the student than to train the teacher, of the potential and actual nature of social sites (socialization is, after all, one of the main things we want out of schools), and of the practical dimensions of any relevant policy. In other words, I don't have an answer but I don't think you've made an argument."
Very well said.
Really? And how do you figure?
Well said. Great post. A+
And yes, I also believe this country is too far gone. The vast majority of the population choose not to be informed, because ignorance is easier.
Without turning this into a contest, I live my beliefs and protest with my wallet, which seems to be the only thing anyone listens to anymore.
Smoking pot = downloading music? Tax dollars taken away from education to pay for Corporate indoctrination?
This country is not going to hell. We're there already.
Diebold is now the SCO of e-voting machines? Or are they the RIAA of e-voting machines? Damn, ya need a frakkin' score card anymore.
I am surprised that this discussion has made it this far without a reference to Island of Dr. Moreau.
"these are exactly the types of questions that capitalism can't solve by itself."
User956, you know of course that you are going straight to hell for that kind of thinking. Blasphemer!
Parent post is precisely why religion and science don't mix.
By the way, in case you haven't noticed, this is a technology site and not a fundamentalist christian site. You see, there is a difference between the two because one site has a group of well meaning, but hopelessly lost souls headed straight for hell, and the other site has a bunch of nerds.
Mod parent up, Insightful.
Damn straight. Well said.
Exactly. If it was because of bashing the Christian religion (which is fun and cathartic), we would have seen it on Faux News and the Network Morning Shows:
"This morning on the Early Show, are Stargate SG-1 fans disciples of the Antichrist? More after this word from Walmart."
Damn! This is not religion we are talking about. He and you are free to form your own religion and say whatever the hell you want, but that is not science.
You can buy my book, but you damn well better not read it! You can buy my cd, but you damn well better not listen to it! You can buy my movie, but you'd better not watch it!
Good god did I butcher that! I can do a better Yoda than that.
Ahh, to be a comedian you try. Day job give up do not, hmmm?
Mr. Ballmer is a sane, level-headed man who knows exactly what he is talking about.
And I, of course, am Napoleon!
Exactly. Our law enforcement is quickly becoming little more than hired guns for corporate interests. They have become a twisted fun house mirror view of law and order.
If other countries give into our corporate attack animals then that is their problem and they deserve everything they get. If other countries see their own sovereignty as something to be given away to US industries then they deserve everything they get.
This article seems to be a teaser. No real information available.
You can assume all you want. You can also be an apologist for industries and corporations that wouldn't lift a finger in your favor if they were paid to (unless of course you are on the payroll as a mouthpiece of one of them I mentioned). It's a free country, and that means people are free to mindlessly let corporate interests have free reign.
I did not passively threaten to destroy you or your family's reputation (which whether you believe so or not you did) just because you have a different point of view. You may wish to dial back your pathetic vitriol, because the next person's family you threaten may not be as understanding of a self-absorbed little prick who throws excrement as his only form of communication with someone of a differing view. And in this hyper-litigious society we are in, I can see someone else with a lot of time on their hands filing a pre-emptive law suit against a little prick who "what ifs" a threat at someone else.............Besides, your comparison is not valid.
US law has given corporations more freedoms and less restrictions than real citizens. US law is set up to protect individuals within a corporation from risk (financial and legal) that real citizens do not have. Only the most egregious violators of corporate law are punished because funding for corporate oversight is kept at such a low level that we can only afford to prosecute the most obvious and egregious of the violators.
I'm not even anti-corporation. I work for one and realize that they have their place. I also realize that US law has been tweaked and massaged into a perversion that allows large corporations access to politicians that not even the super-wealthy have. Corporate law is broken, that does not mean that all corporations are bad, but it does mean that the largest corporations have far too much power right now. The fix is not to get rid of all corporations, nor is it to turn a blind eye.
Grow up.
"Nonsense."
Well you must be right. Corporations do not spend millions a year on clever accountants who are able to use loopholes and creative accounting to tweak their financial reports depending upon who they are showing the numbers to. The RIAA has never done it, the MPAA has never done it, Haliburton has never done it. Hell Apple has never done it.
I stand corrected.
I don't have numbers to argue your numbers, but what would make Warner Music any different from any other major corporation? They have one set of numbers for the stockholders, one set for the IRS and another for the public. They can and do make their profit or loss look like whatever they need it to look like at that time.
"A little O.T., but saying "For decades" is stretching it a bit."
You're right, it has only been 12-14 years since Walmart was the all American company and actually had a great reputation. It just seems longer. I stand corrected.