Well, to begin, I'm just your average guy. But unlike your average guy, I once had everything anyone could ever want: a gorgeous wife, a beautiful two-story house, an adorable seven year old daughter, a stable job, and a nice salary. Basically, I was living the American dream. None of my needs or wants were left unfulfilled. The family always got along, and everything was perfect.
Until one day, that is. Following one of my routine doctor appointments, my doctor informed me that I had lung cancer and that I only had a few years to live at most. As you can imagine, I was shocked. Not just shocked; I could see all of my hopes and dreams being shattered right before my very eyes. Still, my doctor gave me hope by telling me that there was a chance, however slim, that Chemotherapy and various other things could help me. After speaking with my wife, I decided to receive the treatments.
All was not lost. I still had a perfect family that I could rely on and get emotional support from. I still had hope for the future. I'm a firm believer that you should make the best of things rather than wallow in depression. I had to press on: not just for my sake, but for the sake of my loved ones. But my strong resolve was soon shattered.
The family I thought I could count on betrayed me. My wife, whom I loved deeply, filed for a divorce. She said that she could not handle the emotional trauma of being with someone who had cancer. She apologized profusely, but no matter what I said, I could not change her mind. I screamed, I cried, and I begged her to rethink her decision, but it was all to no avail.
In my madness, I made all kinds of accusations. I said that she was cheating on me, that she never loved me, that she just married me for my money, and various other things. I soon learned, however, that a few of those were more than just baseless accusations. I began stalking her, going through all of her personal possessions, and trying uncover any secrets she may have been keeping. What I discovered horrified me: she had been cheating on me with another man for the past year. She must have been waiting for an opportune time to abandon me for this other man.
When confronted about her betrayal, she screamed at me, told me it was none of my business, told me that I was always a worthless husband, and told me that I was an abusive man. I soon discovered that there was absolutely nothing that I could do. My marriage was in shambles, and by this point, I was on the brink of suicide. The only thing keeping me going was my devotion to my precious daughter.
It wasn't long before I received news from my insurance company that they were getting rid of my coverage. They gave me multitudes of vague and bogus reasons, but anyone could figure out their true reason: they did not want to waste money on a dying man. Naturally, I planned to fight this with every fiber of my being, but I knew it would be a long, drawn out process.
In the span of a year, I went from a very happy man who had everything he wanted to a miserable shell of what I once was. I couldn't take it anymore. Despite the fact that I wanted to remain in this world for the sake of my daughter, I tried committing suicide four times. All four attempts failed. I needed something to take my misery, regret, and anger out on. First I began verbally abusing my daughter. It wasn't long before I began physically abusing her. Sometimes I did it with my bare hands, and other times I used various objects. Beating my daughter soon became my only pleasure. My life had spiraled out of control into a den of anguish, uncertainty, and madness.
That's when it happened: I found MyCleanPC. I downloaded it, scanned my computer, and had it fix all of my problems. MyCleanPC is outstanding! My computer is running faster than ever!
My wife's response? "MyCleanPC came through with flying colours where no one else could!"
The Supreme Court is usually made up of hardcore authoritarians that modify the constitution with invisible ink in order to give the government more power. Citing their invalid opinions and appealing to authority will not change reality.
Are you even capable of comprehending the difference between someone saying that things should be a certain way and things are a certain way?
Because responding to someone doing the former by doing the latter is simply offtopic. It's like saying to people who criticize the NSA's mass surveillance, "The NSA is conducting mass surveillance and violating the constitution." Yeah, thanks, except we already knew that, and that's why they're being criticized. You really don't need to tell us the current horrible state of affairs, because we're all aware.
Freedom of Speech doesn't mean freedom from the consequences of your speech.
Under that logic, North Korea has just as much free speech as the US, because you might get murdered or imprisoned for your speech, but you can still say things! You're just not free from the *consequences* of your speech (which is, actually, nothing).
Care to point out where the first amendment says that? Oh, wait; no one, including judges, cares about what the constitution says. That's the land of the free and the home of the brave for you.
Most normal people don't know how to properly secure their networks. Any law that doesn't account for that simple fact is just insane. Good luck with that.
Apparently it doesn't work the other way around, though. There seems to be a double standard where people are expected to make all sorts of completely unnecessary sacrifices to appease some control freak partner, but the partner doesn't take into account the other person's feelings, as if their own are any more important.
I wasn't aware that only women play these nonsensical games.
Rather than that, how about people learn how to speak their actual thoughts without playing stupid games where they have the other person try to guess what they're thinking? So many misunderstandings could be cleared up this way.
And digging giant holes in the ground with spoons builds character, among other completely subjective and conveniently difficult to scientifically measure benefits. I might even have a few soft science studies to back me up. Truly, the benefits are phenomenal and cannot be overlooked.
You know what would actually likely increase spatial awareness and abstract thinking skills, among other things? A decent education in mathematics, or a decent education in general.
But we do use those cognitive faculties we developed when doing this "stupid" exercise.
Perhaps we should focus on teaching people logic and understanding, rather than just rote memorization.
Hmm, you have replyed to my posts before, and as usual, you don't seem to understand the concept of engaging in a discussion - and you are probably going to counter this statement with a flat out denial (as always) and claim that this is 'ad hominem' etc. Sigh.
Predicting that I'm going to disagree with you isn't too difficult, especially when you say things that are factually incorrect.
a pedophile, however, does not control his impulses
Bullshit right off the bat. A pedophile is simply someone with a sexual attraction to prepubescent children. The clinical definition does *not* say they are rapists, and it does *not* say they lack the ability to control their impulses. You made that up based on what you've been indoctrinated to believe, by people who are either just as ignorant as you, or wish to take advantage of people's fear. Being sexually attracted to someone will not turn you into a rapist if you can't have consensual sex with them for whatever reason; that's like saying we're all potential rapists.
You seem to have a problem with the actual definition of the word "pedophile." Why don't you take that up with the actual soft scientists and present to them your overwhelming scientific evidence about how sexual attraction leads to rape?
Pedophiles are criminals
No, they're not. I dare you to find me a law that criminalizes merely being sexually attracted to prepubescent children.
I wonder what it is you are trying to tell us, between the lines?
That you're completely ignorant.
I didn't say it would be easy to decide what to do. But if you have an epidemic of a disease that kills something like 60 - 70 % of those infected, and it is threatening to spread into the population that you are supposed to protect, what options do you have?
The infection and death rates are pretty much only so high in Africa, where they have all sorts of cultural traditions that make it more simple for the disease to spread, don't have access to higher quality medical care, and often don't know enough to take basic precautions.
You have already indicated what you would choose.
Even now, we're not forcibly injecting everyone we can in Africa. It's not just me that chose not to do that.
And yeah, I'd choose not to invade another country so that we could sterilize people by force. But I wouldn't shut down the border, either. Aid must be done on a voluntary basis.
What you've done is present a false dilemma, which is a logical fallacy. That's not surprising coming from you.
So to me it makes reasonable sense for a firm to help end Child abuse but not give the same help for fighting 'Terrorism'.
No, it doesn't. Neither makes sense. The "Save the children!" panic is just another way to manipulate gullible fools into giving up everyone's freedom and privacy.
More importantly, don't let them take away your rights for safety they _can't_ offer you.
I'm not sure I'd say that's more important. People need to realize that, even if the safety they offer is real, fundamental liberties are more important.
There are many, serious issues the threaten us today - terrorism and organised pedofiles are just two of them; other, current issues are things like people traficking
Haha, are you serious? Statistically, that is simply false. Completely false. You should be more afraid of getting in a car.
Also, what are "organized pedophiles"? Don't tell me you're confusing pedophiles with child molesters. A pedophile is simply someone with a sexual attraction to prepubescent children; they are not necessarily rapists, and don't necessarily even look at child porn.
Not addressing them because of 'freedom...' or 'privacy' is just another slippery slope
No, it's called having basic principles. The principle that our fundamental liberties are more important than security. Life has risks. I would rather continue taking risks and have these freedoms than be 'safe.' Cameron is a worthless authoritarian scumbag that really should voluntarily move to a place more to his liking, like North Korea.
what would you suggest?
I would suggest *not* sacrificing our fundamental liberties to stop these things, for one. In fact, you mentioned "police corruption," but it's not just the police that are corrupt; many in the government are corrupt. So that's another reason to not sacrifice our freedoms; because those powers will certainly be abused, and there's no way around it. That's just a simple historical fact.
Should we force them or should we respect their freedom
I'd rather not invade Africa to forcibly vaccinate people. What the hell are you going to do, send a bunch of thugs to hold people down?
Slashdot Mirror
-----------
Well, to begin, I'm just your average guy. But unlike your average guy, I once had everything anyone could ever want: a gorgeous wife, a beautiful two-story house, an adorable seven year old daughter, a stable job, and a nice salary. Basically, I was living the American dream. None of my needs or wants were left unfulfilled. The family always got along, and everything was perfect.
Until one day, that is. Following one of my routine doctor appointments, my doctor informed me that I had lung cancer and that I only had a few years to live at most. As you can imagine, I was shocked. Not just shocked; I could see all of my hopes and dreams being shattered right before my very eyes. Still, my doctor gave me hope by telling me that there was a chance, however slim, that Chemotherapy and various other things could help me. After speaking with my wife, I decided to receive the treatments.
All was not lost. I still had a perfect family that I could rely on and get emotional support from. I still had hope for the future. I'm a firm believer that you should make the best of things rather than wallow in depression. I had to press on: not just for my sake, but for the sake of my loved ones. But my strong resolve was soon shattered.
The family I thought I could count on betrayed me. My wife, whom I loved deeply, filed for a divorce. She said that she could not handle the emotional trauma of being with someone who had cancer. She apologized profusely, but no matter what I said, I could not change her mind. I screamed, I cried, and I begged her to rethink her decision, but it was all to no avail.
In my madness, I made all kinds of accusations. I said that she was cheating on me, that she never loved me, that she just married me for my money, and various other things. I soon learned, however, that a few of those were more than just baseless accusations. I began stalking her, going through all of her personal possessions, and trying uncover any secrets she may have been keeping. What I discovered horrified me: she had been cheating on me with another man for the past year. She must have been waiting for an opportune time to abandon me for this other man.
When confronted about her betrayal, she screamed at me, told me it was none of my business, told me that I was always a worthless husband, and told me that I was an abusive man. I soon discovered that there was absolutely nothing that I could do. My marriage was in shambles, and by this point, I was on the brink of suicide. The only thing keeping me going was my devotion to my precious daughter.
It wasn't long before I received news from my insurance company that they were getting rid of my coverage. They gave me multitudes of vague and bogus reasons, but anyone could figure out their true reason: they did not want to waste money on a dying man. Naturally, I planned to fight this with every fiber of my being, but I knew it would be a long, drawn out process.
In the span of a year, I went from a very happy man who had everything he wanted to a miserable shell of what I once was. I couldn't take it anymore. Despite the fact that I wanted to remain in this world for the sake of my daughter, I tried committing suicide four times. All four attempts failed. I needed something to take my misery, regret, and anger out on. First I began verbally abusing my daughter. It wasn't long before I began physically abusing her. Sometimes I did it with my bare hands, and other times I used various objects. Beating my daughter soon became my only pleasure. My life had spiraled out of control into a den of anguish, uncertainty, and madness.
That's when it happened: I found MyCleanPC. I downloaded it, scanned my computer, and had it fix all of my problems. MyCleanPC is outstanding! My computer is running faster than ever!
My wife's response? "MyCleanPC came through with flying colours where no one else could!"
My daughter was
The Supreme Court is usually made up of hardcore authoritarians that modify the constitution with invisible ink in order to give the government more power. Citing their invalid opinions and appealing to authority will not change reality.
Yes.
None of our rights are absolute.
Are you even capable of comprehending the difference between someone saying that things should be a certain way and things are a certain way?
Because responding to someone doing the former by doing the latter is simply offtopic. It's like saying to people who criticize the NSA's mass surveillance, "The NSA is conducting mass surveillance and violating the constitution." Yeah, thanks, except we already knew that, and that's why they're being criticized. You really don't need to tell us the current horrible state of affairs, because we're all aware.
Freedom of Speech doesn't mean freedom from the consequences of your speech.
Under that logic, North Korea has just as much free speech as the US, because you might get murdered or imprisoned for your speech, but you can still say things! You're just not free from the *consequences* of your speech (which is, actually, nothing).
Where does the first amendment list "rudeness" or "obnoxious behavior" as exceptions to freedom of speech?
The only time when the idea of free speech should be trumped, is when there is intent to cause harm, like yelling bomb or fire in a crowded area
The first amendment lists no such exceptions. If people panic and harm others, that is on them and no one else.
or shining a laser pointer at an air plane or person.
How does that even qualify as speech?
Care to point out where the first amendment says that? Oh, wait; no one, including judges, cares about what the constitution says. That's the land of the free and the home of the brave for you.
Except that, once again, I'm not responding to the summary, but to people's posts.
Please try to keep up with the conversation and read the posts being responded to.
Most normal people don't know how to properly secure their networks. Any law that doesn't account for that simple fact is just insane. Good luck with that.
Not everyone plays roundabout games all the time rather than just telling people what they think.
The post I replied to: "New phase of your life. Time to put the games aside."
So many posts here say you should just give up your hobbies, as if her feelings about the matter inherently matter more than your own.
Alternatively, pick an intelligent partner that understands that other people have feelings too.
Apparently it doesn't work the other way around, though. There seems to be a double standard where people are expected to make all sorts of completely unnecessary sacrifices to appease some control freak partner, but the partner doesn't take into account the other person's feelings, as if their own are any more important.
You have a wife learn to read the signals
I wasn't aware that only women play these nonsensical games.
Rather than that, how about people learn how to speak their actual thoughts without playing stupid games where they have the other person try to guess what they're thinking? So many misunderstandings could be cleared up this way.
How about you actually grow the hell up and realize that something being fun to you is what matters, and not your age?
New phase of your life. Time to put the games aside.
New phase of your life. Time to put the things you like doing aside.
New phase of your life. Time to realize that it's possible to do more than one thing.
And digging giant holes in the ground with spoons builds character, among other completely subjective and conveniently difficult to scientifically measure benefits. I might even have a few soft science studies to back me up. Truly, the benefits are phenomenal and cannot be overlooked.
You know what would actually likely increase spatial awareness and abstract thinking skills, among other things? A decent education in mathematics, or a decent education in general.
But we do use those cognitive faculties we developed when doing this "stupid" exercise.
Perhaps we should focus on teaching people logic and understanding, rather than just rote memorization.
In any case, the girls did better in this case
In what sense? Whether X is better than Y is subjective. Complexity is subjective. Those requirements are arbitrary.
How can people take such subjective studies seriously (at least assuming it's anything like the Slashdot title and summary say).
I think you're underestimating 12-13 year olds' drive to learn by a long shot.
Or maybe you're the exception to the rule. Most people are just incompetent or mediocre.
Hmm, you have replyed to my posts before, and as usual, you don't seem to understand the concept of engaging in a discussion - and you are probably going to counter this statement with a flat out denial (as always) and claim that this is 'ad hominem' etc. Sigh.
Predicting that I'm going to disagree with you isn't too difficult, especially when you say things that are factually incorrect.
a pedophile, however, does not control his impulses
Bullshit right off the bat. A pedophile is simply someone with a sexual attraction to prepubescent children. The clinical definition does *not* say they are rapists, and it does *not* say they lack the ability to control their impulses. You made that up based on what you've been indoctrinated to believe, by people who are either just as ignorant as you, or wish to take advantage of people's fear. Being sexually attracted to someone will not turn you into a rapist if you can't have consensual sex with them for whatever reason; that's like saying we're all potential rapists.
You seem to have a problem with the actual definition of the word "pedophile." Why don't you take that up with the actual soft scientists and present to them your overwhelming scientific evidence about how sexual attraction leads to rape?
Pedophiles are criminals
No, they're not. I dare you to find me a law that criminalizes merely being sexually attracted to prepubescent children.
I wonder what it is you are trying to tell us, between the lines?
That you're completely ignorant.
I didn't say it would be easy to decide what to do. But if you have an epidemic of a disease that kills something like 60 - 70 % of those infected, and it is threatening to spread into the population that you are supposed to protect, what options do you have?
The infection and death rates are pretty much only so high in Africa, where they have all sorts of cultural traditions that make it more simple for the disease to spread, don't have access to higher quality medical care, and often don't know enough to take basic precautions.
You have already indicated what you would choose.
Even now, we're not forcibly injecting everyone we can in Africa. It's not just me that chose not to do that.
And yeah, I'd choose not to invade another country so that we could sterilize people by force. But I wouldn't shut down the border, either. Aid must be done on a voluntary basis.
What you've done is present a false dilemma, which is a logical fallacy. That's not surprising coming from you.
You said a life without freedom is not worth living.
Correct. A life devoid of freedom simply isn't worth living; that would be a police state. Everyone has a responsibility to fight back against that.
I suggest that if you actually had to make that choice, you might not be as tough as you try to sound.
I refer you back to my reply, as it's still a silly response to what I said. It doesn't debunk anything, and you're not psychic.
On balance of probability it's likely, or there'd be a lot fewer oppressed people and a lot more dead ones.
You speak to an individual, not a collective.
Now go out and play on your bike, keyboard ninja.
Go argue with cold fjord instead of people who actually care about freedom, keyboard ninja.
So to me it makes reasonable sense for a firm to help end Child abuse but not give the same help for fighting 'Terrorism'.
No, it doesn't. Neither makes sense. The "Save the children!" panic is just another way to manipulate gullible fools into giving up everyone's freedom and privacy.
More importantly, don't let them take away your rights for safety they _can't_ offer you.
I'm not sure I'd say that's more important. People need to realize that, even if the safety they offer is real, fundamental liberties are more important.
There are many, serious issues the threaten us today - terrorism and organised pedofiles are just two of them; other, current issues are things like people traficking
Haha, are you serious? Statistically, that is simply false. Completely false. You should be more afraid of getting in a car.
Also, what are "organized pedophiles"? Don't tell me you're confusing pedophiles with child molesters. A pedophile is simply someone with a sexual attraction to prepubescent children; they are not necessarily rapists, and don't necessarily even look at child porn.
Not addressing them because of 'freedom ...' or 'privacy' is just another slippery slope
No, it's called having basic principles. The principle that our fundamental liberties are more important than security. Life has risks. I would rather continue taking risks and have these freedoms than be 'safe.' Cameron is a worthless authoritarian scumbag that really should voluntarily move to a place more to his liking, like North Korea.
what would you suggest?
I would suggest *not* sacrificing our fundamental liberties to stop these things, for one. In fact, you mentioned "police corruption," but it's not just the police that are corrupt; many in the government are corrupt. So that's another reason to not sacrifice our freedoms; because those powers will certainly be abused, and there's no way around it. That's just a simple historical fact.
Should we force them or should we respect their freedom
I'd rather not invade Africa to forcibly vaccinate people. What the hell are you going to do, send a bunch of thugs to hold people down?