First of all, representive democracy is still supposed to follow the will of the people, i.e. the majority. It's simply a more efficient way of doing it. The whole debate around whether or not elected officials should vote according to the consciensce or constituency has been argued to death. I believe they should vote according to their constituency, hence democratically.
Secondly, since you did bring up Nazis and how they supposedly came to power democratically (let's assume they did), I reply by saying what they promised to do for Germany was right in the eyes of her people. Before you become too disgusted by that statement, let me add that they never promised to commit the Holocaust and Germany's people never asked them to. The Nazi's did rebuild Germany though, which is why they enjoyed such widespread support by her people. If the voting public of Germany knew about the Holocaust and still had a political say, they very well may have taken the Nazi's out of power on their own.
Third, your use of the Nuremburg Trials is absurd as they were merely a poorly contrued way of letting the world feel that there is some greater justice. The arbitrary punishment of a country's citizens by foreign powers for crimes commited against that citizen's fellow citizen is reprehensible in my eyes. It is similar to France passing justice on Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma city bombing as opposed to the American people.
"Thousands of people doing the same wrong thing doesn't make it necessarily right."
Gee...and I thought we were living in a democracy (well, at least in the U.S.) when the actions of the majority (which is up for argument) do in fact make said "wrong thing" right.
I can see it now:
Revolutionary: Paying taxes to the King who has arbitrary say over what to do with them is wrong and I won't stand for it!
Tory: How can you think like that? Not paying taxes is wrong.
Revolutionary: Well you can go on paying your taxes. Look around you. Everyone is joining in on our boycott.
Tory: Thousands of people doing the same wrong thing doesn't make it necessarily right.
Revolutionary: Say, that gives me an idea...
and I was wondering when all those thousands of back-end servers running various incarnations of UNIX were to be done away with and replaced by NT boxes.
Oh wait, you mean to tell me the vast majority of the tech community loathes NT? Well, I suppose we can always go back to OS/2 when Unix finally does die. What was the point of this article again?
Perhaps that will be the RIAA's next "copyright protection software."
"By including a buffer-overflow string at the end of the audio data that sends your current home address to our central servers when copied, we can now deal directly with software and music pirates with our brand new, combat-ready Customer Service Representives."
Does that mean he'll add a five minute spot to the film where Jar-Jar gets brutally murdered?
Re:Science fiction/Fantasy is not interesting anym
on
Hugo Award Voting Open
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Of course, when one considers the time the great sci-fi novels of the past were written, there wasn't much in terms of plot then either. I'm currently reading Heinlein's _Stranger In a Strange Land_ and, aside from the mission to Mars, the majority of the book has to do with human social interaction. The greatest works of sci-fi have little to do with science and more to do with the human condition. The novels that concentrate on science and technology don't win awards.
Re:Well, so much for freedom.
on
DMCA 2, Freedom 0
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
That, my friend, is a sad thing to say. Patriotism is not about agreeing with your elected officials. Patriotism is not about rolling over while the freedom you know and love is kicked out the window. When freedom is on the line, acting patriotic should be a priority.
I challenge you to be a real patriot. Get out from behind the monitor and write your congressman. No, don't e-mail him/her, they won't read it. Write out long hand your grievances and slap an American flag stamp on the corner. Tell him/her you vote. Tell him/her you know a whole community of people who vote and have similar interests. If you really want to be patriotic, go to D.C. and demand to see your representive/congressman. Raise Hell and be a patriot.
Slashdot Mirror
Can I invoke Godwin's Law here? Anywho...
First of all, representive democracy is still supposed to follow the will of the people, i.e. the majority. It's simply a more efficient way of doing it. The whole debate around whether or not elected officials should vote according to the consciensce or constituency has been argued to death. I believe they should vote according to their constituency, hence democratically.
Secondly, since you did bring up Nazis and how they supposedly came to power democratically (let's assume they did), I reply by saying what they promised to do for Germany was right in the eyes of her people. Before you become too disgusted by that statement, let me add that they never promised to commit the Holocaust and Germany's people never asked them to. The Nazi's did rebuild Germany though, which is why they enjoyed such widespread support by her people. If the voting public of Germany knew about the Holocaust and still had a political say, they very well may have taken the Nazi's out of power on their own.
Third, your use of the Nuremburg Trials is absurd as they were merely a poorly contrued way of letting the world feel that there is some greater justice. The arbitrary punishment of a country's citizens by foreign powers for crimes commited against that citizen's fellow citizen is reprehensible in my eyes. It is similar to France passing justice on Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma city bombing as opposed to the American people.
"Thousands of people doing the same wrong thing doesn't make it necessarily right."
Gee...and I thought we were living in a democracy (well, at least in the U.S.) when the actions of the majority (which is up for argument) do in fact make said "wrong thing" right.
I can see it now:
Revolutionary: Paying taxes to the King who has arbitrary say over what to do with them is wrong and I won't stand for it!
Tory: How can you think like that? Not paying taxes is wrong.
Revolutionary: Well you can go on paying your taxes. Look around you. Everyone is joining in on our boycott.
Tory: Thousands of people doing the same wrong thing doesn't make it necessarily right.
Revolutionary: Say, that gives me an idea...
and I was wondering when all those thousands of back-end servers running various incarnations of UNIX were to be done away with and replaced by NT boxes.
Oh wait, you mean to tell me the vast majority of the tech community loathes NT? Well, I suppose we can always go back to OS/2 when Unix finally does die. What was the point of this article again?
Perhaps that will be the RIAA's next "copyright protection software."
"By including a buffer-overflow string at the end of the audio data that sends your current home address to our central servers when copied, we can now deal directly with software and music pirates with our brand new, combat-ready Customer Service Representives."
Yes, yes you were.
so when the "less fortunate" sell theirs on eBay, I can get some good hardware.
Does that mean he'll add a five minute spot to the film where Jar-Jar gets brutally murdered?
Of course, when one considers the time the great sci-fi novels of the past were written, there wasn't much in terms of plot then either. I'm currently reading Heinlein's _Stranger In a Strange Land_ and, aside from the mission to Mars, the majority of the book has to do with human social interaction. The greatest works of sci-fi have little to do with science and more to do with the human condition. The novels that concentrate on science and technology don't win awards.
That, my friend, is a sad thing to say. Patriotism is not about agreeing with your elected officials. Patriotism is not about rolling over while the freedom you know and love is kicked out the window. When freedom is on the line, acting patriotic should be a priority.
I challenge you to be a real patriot. Get out from behind the monitor and write your congressman. No, don't e-mail him/her, they won't read it. Write out long hand your grievances and slap an American flag stamp on the corner. Tell him/her you vote. Tell him/her you know a whole community of people who vote and have similar interests. If you really want to be patriotic, go to D.C. and demand to see your representive/congressman. Raise Hell and be a patriot.