if i told you hitler is better than churchill, because hitler has all the time in the world to gas jews, while churchill has to do good in the war or lose the election, what would you say to me?
what you just said is the same as saying a reptile is as bad as a black widow spider, because a cobra is a type of reptile. therefore, an iguana is as dangerous as a black widow spider, because it is also a reptile
does not compute
what you just said is secularism is as bad as theocracy, because a fascist state is secular. therefore, a democracy is as dangerous as a theocracy, because it is also secular
congratulations on not understanding your terminology
and yet still, the idea of the nuclear bomb in the hands of grumpy old men who have the arrogance to say they rightfully interpret the will of god on this planet scares the hell out of me
as it should any rational human being
and this observation, in my mind, trumps everything else. it trumps all of the mideast politics, it trumps all of the israel/ palestine issue, it trumps all of the american warmongering, it trumps all of the "rah rah the americans are coming" nationalism by otherwise liberal students in iran
all of that pales in my mind to the fearsome thought of religious fundamentalists with their hands on a nuclear weapon
and i don't see how anyone in their right mind could not conceive of that as the most important thing going on here
they closed down the program? good
but any whisper otherwise, and i say the world needs to invade iran. all of the trauma and death from that is nothing compared to what religious fundamentalists with a nuclear bomb are capable of
here on slashdot, we are regularly reminded of the peril of religious fundamentalism: creationism, purposefully dumbing down of society, wrongminded social policies, the death of reason and science. and we are supposed to all of a sudden not worry when these people get nuclear weapons?
right now you are swimming in a truckload of fud and propaganda
omg! huckabee! nukes in wwii! omg!
calm down. you're hyperventilating
let's start with your opinion that the usa is the asshole oft he planet. yeah. ok. whatever. the usa sucks. whatever you like man
guess what: the usa can smell like roses, the usa can be satan himself: as if ANY of that somehow makes it ok for a fucking theocracy to have nukes!
a REAL theocracy. as written in their fucking constitution. not the the fud of couldawoudlashoulda in your head
try to wrap your mind around sobering facts, put off the hysteria, and tell me with a straight face that a REAL theocracy with NUKES doesn't bother you
you may now continue your predetermined game of hate the usa
as if that should have anything to do with your opinion on iran
i made a preemptive strike (pun intended): in my original post, i said a neocon southern baptist in the white house is not the same as an actual, stated, constitutionally defined theocracy
let's put it this way: in 2009, there will be no more gw bush in power. also in 2009, there will still be a fundamentalist theocracy in the middle east mastering nuclear power
if you still want to make jokes, be my guest. seems pretty serious to me
over there, are a bunch of americans pissing in their pants
or
over there are a bunch of americans yawning and who don't care
hmm
either way, i'm still worried about a theocracy with nukes
do you get my point? your ppinion seems predicated as the opposite of what americans think, not really any more sense than that
are the american's ridiculous for getting their panties in a twist because ahmacrazyguy wants nukes?
maybe
but i think its even more ridiculous to say there's no problem in iran simply because the americans say there is something wrong in iran
i'm sure osama bin laden washes his hands after using the toilet. so do i. that's something he and i have in common. so should i stop washing my hands after using the toilet to remove that commonality? hey, i have a crazy idea: why don't i wash my hands after using the toilet, and i can still hate osama bin laden
imagine that
believe it or not, you can still hate the usa, even when you don't automatically state as your opinion the exact opposite of what americans say
in other words, it's actually possible for you to be worried about a nuclear armed tehocracy AND to hate the americans, at the same time. that worrying about a nuclear armed theocracy doesn't automatically make you an amaerican neocolonial imperialist warmongering neocon repulican. really
to you, it should be a more important principle to be worried about religious fundamentalists with nuclear weapons than to kneejerk against whatever americans say
one of a supercomputer's main uses is modelling complex systems. which historically has been such things as hurricanes, climate change, earthquakes, the weather...
and nuclear bombs
you want to point at an iranian supercomputer and say "see? they are not interested in just the bomb!" when acquiring a supercomputer is pretty much part of the bombmaking shopping list
are the iranians hellbent on making the bomb? are they not?
part of their resistance to giving up their nuke program rests squarely on simply being insulted that they should listen to anyone but themselves about what to do
ok, fine, i respect that independence and fierce pride
however, i don't think i could be very proud of myself if my tech consisted of stuff i stole from my archnemesis. national pride i think must rest on something stronger than "ha ha! i stole your stuff!"
ultimate power rests in a bunch of grumpy old men who believe they have a monopoly on determining what god wants
that doesn't bother you?
whether pro-usa, or anti-usa, or pro-israel, or anti-israel, this should bother you, regardless
i'm sorry, but in this world, very little concepts frighten me more than a theocracy with nukes
and i'm not talking about the loose propagandistic label of "theocracy" one might apply to say, the usa, because the current president (who will soon be gone) is a conservative southern baptist. i'm talking about an actual, stated, as clearly implied in the constitution, theocracy. as in, our government serves god and those unelected grumpy old men over there interpret what he wants. the real deal, a real genuine clearly stated theocracy
any rational human being should feel threatened by a theocracy with nukes. regardless of any of your other concerns in the middle east, or any of your other politics in general
The Islamic Republic is a system based on belief in:
1.the One God (as stated in the phrase "There is no god except Allah"), His exclusive sovereignty and the right to legislate, and the necessity of submission to His commands; 2.Divine revelation and its fundamental role in setting forth the laws; 3.the return to God in the Hereafter, and the constructive role of this belief in the course of man's ascent towards God; 4.the justice of God in creation and legislation; 5.continuous leadership (imamah) and perpetual guidance, and its fundamental role in ensuring the uninterrupted process of the revolution of Islam; 6.the exalted dignity and value of man, and his freedom coupled with responsibility before God
crimes motivated by financial gain are not something that has psychological basis. sexual desires are pretty hard wired, and once a pedo, you're pretty much a pedo for life. you can learn to control your impulses, but the impulses are still there. meanwhile, there is no hardwired deep psychological urge to go stand on a street corner and deal drugs
i'm not disagreeing with much else of what you wrote, but you imply the idea of a sex offender and a drug lord are easily interchangeable concepts in terms of criminal bogeyman. no, they simply aren't. there are fundamental motivational differences that makes sexual crimes special, and with a high recidivism rate, unlike the motivations that lead one to commit financial crimes, crimes motivated by money
i see nothing wrong with the sex offender registry. plenty of slashdotters here can articulate and appreciate the sentiment that guns don't kill people, criminals do. well likewise, if an a**hole uses the sex offender registry list as a to-kill list, we should point our outrage at the a**hole, not the list
and don't get me wrong, what this guy did was wrong, was not justice, and he should be severely punished. but it's not the fault of the list, it's the fault of the a**hole. the list should stay
because the good the list does far outweighs negatives like this. it's called megan's law for a reason: a paroled pedo killed and raped a little girl. so they made the registry: now people know if they are living next to a paroled pedo. the rate of recidism in sexual crimes is high
now i ask some of you: weigh the negatives of having this list, against the negatives of not having this list
false dichotomy? straw man? not in the least. it's reality
the real is messy. it's not a thought experiment. yes, you are asked to choose between two ugly scenarios, varying shades of gray. in this world, you are not asked to choose between roses and shit, you are asked to choose between varying piles of shit: a sex offender registry, with the occasional a**hole vigilante, or no sex offender registry, with the occasional dead little girl
now choose, as reality forces you too. not in a vacuum, where you look at the negatives of only one choice, and not the other, as if that means opinion is going to be valid
why does anyone think that would actually carry weight? reference microsoft browsers and previous standards
make ogg official, and business will ignore it, and marginalize the standard. do we really want the standards ignored?
so allow the businesses their moronic formats, and use ogg anyways
it's silly if anyone thinks the war against proprietary formats is going to be won by a standards body. at the very best, business will embrace standards because the standards body play footsie with business desires, which is what happened, which is good!
at worst, the standards body ignores business on some ideological crusade, so businesses just ignore the standards as well, and we have a worse tower of babel on our hands
folks: this is the best possible outcome, where best possible outcome = ugly begrudging accomodation of moronic business desires. you can't do any better than what happened, unfortunate, but true
An analysis of YouTube's rapid dissemination of truth and propaganda and its effects on cultural and political discussions? Or a chance to tase your lab partner for fun? You decide.
in the coming months, they are going to "disappear" some boats in the bermuda triangle and then plant area 51 documents on los alamos national laboratory computers, and then "leak" it
we don't want to regulate videogames, slashdot agrees: this is a nanny state
we don't want to regulate online dating, slashdot agrees: this is a nanny state
likewise: we don't want regulate wikipedia or yahoo answers: THIS IS A NANNY STATE
people ask random friends advise all the time. lots of it is pointless or toxic or ignorant. people need to use their minds to filter the good from the bad. we need to learn to trust people to make decisions themselves
people upload at a friend's place, at a cafe computer, off an unprotected wifi signal... they use proxy servers, there are sources in foreign countries...
my point being, the law seems to be 3 steps behind reality. the old geezers are thinking about the "problem" of media piracy in this sort of dragnet era fashion
it seems like unenforceable posturing
there's a definite learning curve here, and all the old people in the law making apparatus of this country seem seriously ignorant
Slashdot Mirror
if i told you hitler is better than churchill, because hitler has all the time in the world to gas jews, while churchill has to do good in the war or lose the election, what would you say to me?
now you know what i think of your thinking
is not the same thing as despotism
what you just said is the same as saying a reptile is as bad as a black widow spider, because a cobra is a type of reptile. therefore, an iguana is as dangerous as a black widow spider, because it is also a reptile
does not compute
what you just said is secularism is as bad as theocracy, because a fascist state is secular. therefore, a democracy is as dangerous as a theocracy, because it is also secular
congratulations on not understanding your terminology
on changing the subject and constructing your strawman
and yet still, the idea of the nuclear bomb in the hands of grumpy old men who have the arrogance to say they rightfully interpret the will of god on this planet scares the hell out of me
as it should any rational human being
and this observation, in my mind, trumps everything else. it trumps all of the mideast politics, it trumps all of the israel/ palestine issue, it trumps all of the american warmongering, it trumps all of the "rah rah the americans are coming" nationalism by otherwise liberal students in iran
all of that pales in my mind to the fearsome thought of religious fundamentalists with their hands on a nuclear weapon
and i don't see how anyone in their right mind could not conceive of that as the most important thing going on here
they closed down the program? good
but any whisper otherwise, and i say the world needs to invade iran. all of the trauma and death from that is nothing compared to what religious fundamentalists with a nuclear bomb are capable of
here on slashdot, we are regularly reminded of the peril of religious fundamentalism: creationism, purposefully dumbing down of society, wrongminded social policies, the death of reason and science. and we are supposed to all of a sudden not worry when these people get nuclear weapons?
take a deep breath
use these concepts: perspective, scale, context
right now you are swimming in a truckload of fud and propaganda
omg! huckabee! nukes in wwii! omg!
calm down. you're hyperventilating
let's start with your opinion that the usa is the asshole oft he planet. yeah. ok. whatever. the usa sucks. whatever you like man
guess what: the usa can smell like roses, the usa can be satan himself: as if ANY of that somehow makes it ok for a fucking theocracy to have nukes!
a REAL theocracy. as written in their fucking constitution. not the the fud of couldawoudlashoulda in your head
try to wrap your mind around sobering facts, put off the hysteria, and tell me with a straight face that a REAL theocracy with NUKES doesn't bother you
you may now continue your predetermined game of hate the usa
as if that should have anything to do with your opinion on iran
iran has spent the last 28 years chanting death to america and the west in the media and on the streets on a weekly basis
go ahead, be my guest and dislike neocons. fuck neocons
but because you dislike neocons, make sure you don't give a pass to a much, much worse hate group
perspective, scale, context
go ahead and feel threatened by israel all you want, be my guest
but do it for valid reasons, not propaganda
i made a preemptive strike (pun intended): in my original post, i said a neocon southern baptist in the white house is not the same as an actual, stated, constitutionally defined theocracy
let's put it this way: in 2009, there will be no more gw bush in power. also in 2009, there will still be a fundamentalist theocracy in the middle east mastering nuclear power
if you still want to make jokes, be my guest. seems pretty serious to me
think about it
over there, are a bunch of americans pissing in their pants
or
over there are a bunch of americans yawning and who don't care
hmm
either way, i'm still worried about a theocracy with nukes
do you get my point? your ppinion seems predicated as the opposite of what americans think, not really any more sense than that
are the american's ridiculous for getting their panties in a twist because ahmacrazyguy wants nukes?
maybe
but i think its even more ridiculous to say there's no problem in iran simply because the americans say there is something wrong in iran
i'm sure osama bin laden washes his hands after using the toilet. so do i. that's something he and i have in common. so should i stop washing my hands after using the toilet to remove that commonality? hey, i have a crazy idea: why don't i wash my hands after using the toilet, and i can still hate osama bin laden
imagine that
believe it or not, you can still hate the usa, even when you don't automatically state as your opinion the exact opposite of what americans say
in other words, it's actually possible for you to be worried about a nuclear armed tehocracy AND to hate the americans, at the same time. that worrying about a nuclear armed theocracy doesn't automatically make you an amaerican neocolonial imperialist warmongering neocon repulican. really
to you, it should be a more important principle to be worried about religious fundamentalists with nuclear weapons than to kneejerk against whatever americans say
trying to get nukes
those are both 2 obvious facts
forget all of the spin you have heard from every ideology and government entity in the entire world
doesn't just those two facts, all by their very selves, concern you, regardless of what anyone else's thinks for or against iran?
a theocracy
with nukes
what does that mean to you?
one of a supercomputer's main uses is modelling complex systems. which historically has been such things as hurricanes, climate change, earthquakes, the weather...
and nuclear bombs
you want to point at an iranian supercomputer and say "see? they are not interested in just the bomb!" when acquiring a supercomputer is pretty much part of the bombmaking shopping list
are the iranians hellbent on making the bomb? are they not?
not the point
the point is: how can you be so colossally naive?
part of their resistance to giving up their nuke program rests squarely on simply being insulted that they should listen to anyone but themselves about what to do
ok, fine, i respect that independence and fierce pride
however, i don't think i could be very proud of myself if my tech consisted of stuff i stole from my archnemesis. national pride i think must rest on something stronger than "ha ha! i stole your stuff!"
that doesn't bother you?
whether pro-usa, or anti-usa, or pro-israel, or anti-israel, this should bother you, regardless
i'm sorry, but in this world, very little concepts frighten me more than a theocracy with nukes
and i'm not talking about the loose propagandistic label of "theocracy" one might apply to say, the usa, because the current president (who will soon be gone) is a conservative southern baptist. i'm talking about an actual, stated, as clearly implied in the constitution, theocracy. as in, our government serves god and those unelected grumpy old men over there interpret what he wants. the real deal, a real genuine clearly stated theocracy
any rational human being should feel threatened by a theocracy with nukes. regardless of any of your other concerns in the middle east, or any of your other politics in general
http://www.iranonline.com/iran/iran-info/Government/constitution.html
sexual crimes have a high recidivism
crimes motivated by financial gain are not something that has psychological basis. sexual desires are pretty hard wired, and once a pedo, you're pretty much a pedo for life. you can learn to control your impulses, but the impulses are still there. meanwhile, there is no hardwired deep psychological urge to go stand on a street corner and deal drugs
i'm not disagreeing with much else of what you wrote, but you imply the idea of a sex offender and a drug lord are easily interchangeable concepts in terms of criminal bogeyman. no, they simply aren't. there are fundamental motivational differences that makes sexual crimes special, and with a high recidivism rate, unlike the motivations that lead one to commit financial crimes, crimes motivated by money
i see nothing wrong with the sex offender registry. plenty of slashdotters here can articulate and appreciate the sentiment that guns don't kill people, criminals do. well likewise, if an a**hole uses the sex offender registry list as a to-kill list, we should point our outrage at the a**hole, not the list
and don't get me wrong, what this guy did was wrong, was not justice, and he should be severely punished. but it's not the fault of the list, it's the fault of the a**hole. the list should stay
because the good the list does far outweighs negatives like this. it's called megan's law for a reason: a paroled pedo killed and raped a little girl. so they made the registry: now people know if they are living next to a paroled pedo. the rate of recidism in sexual crimes is high
now i ask some of you: weigh the negatives of having this list, against the negatives of not having this list
false dichotomy? straw man? not in the least. it's reality
the real is messy. it's not a thought experiment. yes, you are asked to choose between two ugly scenarios, varying shades of gray. in this world, you are not asked to choose between roses and shit, you are asked to choose between varying piles of shit: a sex offender registry, with the occasional a**hole vigilante, or no sex offender registry, with the occasional dead little girl
now choose, as reality forces you too. not in a vacuum, where you look at the negatives of only one choice, and not the other, as if that means opinion is going to be valid
now mod me into oblivion
why does anyone think that would actually carry weight? reference microsoft browsers and previous standards
make ogg official, and business will ignore it, and marginalize the standard. do we really want the standards ignored?
so allow the businesses their moronic formats, and use ogg anyways
it's silly if anyone thinks the war against proprietary formats is going to be won by a standards body. at the very best, business will embrace standards because the standards body play footsie with business desires, which is what happened, which is good!
at worst, the standards body ignores business on some ideological crusade, so businesses just ignore the standards as well, and we have a worse tower of babel on our hands
folks: this is the best possible outcome, where best possible outcome = ugly begrudging accomodation of moronic business desires. you can't do any better than what happened, unfortunate, but true
first lecture subject: "Don't tase me, bro!"
An analysis of YouTube's rapid dissemination of truth and propaganda and its effects on cultural and political discussions? Or a chance to tase your lab partner for fun? You decide.
hollywood is just generating some advance publicity for their upcoming 2nd x-files movie
in the coming months, they are going to "disappear" some boats in the bermuda triangle and then plant area 51 documents on los alamos national laboratory computers, and then "leak" it
dead on
i guess i don't know!
i guess you do, and you're going to whip me into shape!
you're magical and patronizing
awesome!
now ask a random sampling slashdotters their opinion on that
you will get a bell curve
the middle of that bell curve is the hive mind on that issue
anything other concepts i can help you with today?
it is valid to point out where the hivemind is hypocritical and inconsistent from one opinion to the next
we don't want to regulate videogames, slashdot agrees: this is a nanny state
we don't want to regulate online dating, slashdot agrees: this is a nanny state
likewise:
we don't want regulate wikipedia or yahoo answers: THIS IS A NANNY STATE
people ask random friends advise all the time. lots of it is pointless or toxic or ignorant. people need to use their minds to filter the good from the bad. we need to learn to trust people to make decisions themselves
end of non-story
the vast raw power of irrationally ultranegative trolls
then what?
people upload at a friend's place, at a cafe computer, off an unprotected wifi signal... they use proxy servers, there are sources in foreign countries...
my point being, the law seems to be 3 steps behind reality. the old geezers are thinking about the "problem" of media piracy in this sort of dragnet era fashion
it seems like unenforceable posturing
there's a definite learning curve here, and all the old people in the law making apparatus of this country seem seriously ignorant