But if great injustices are taking place, then the society is not really civil, now is it? You can't act like a ruffian and expect to be treated like a lady.
Civil society doesn't spring form a vacuum. The US Republic built upon the British Parliamentary system, which built upon hereditary monarchy, and so on. The idea that anarchy will somehow make an injustice go away is not credible IMHO. The best way to correct an injustice is to work within the current civil system. If we were in a dictatorship, that might not be the correct path - but our starting condition is a republic.
What if the counterfeiter is actually an agent sent from the North to undermine Southern economy, specifically to weaken it prior to the inevitable war?
I think the answer is pretty straightforward - it depends on your goal. A slave would probably encourage the counterfeiting. But I'm struggling to see the analogy to Wall Street... do you consider them agents of a foreign power?
And even if he isn't, his actions still serve to help undermine the system that's perpetuating said crimes.
He's not only undermining the system - he's also undermining regular people's ability to use money and participate in commerce. Burning down the local cotton gin will certainly hurt the slave owners, but also the non-slave cotton farmers who depended on the gin for their income. It's like burning down your house to solve a mouse infestation.
For example, imagine you're a guard at Auschwitz.
I was going to use a Nazi example, but I didn't want to Godwin this thing:)
Should you do your legally mandated duty and sound the alarm, or should you tie your shoelaces for the next five minutes?
That is far too easy, and the escapee is not guilty of any "crime" other than being the wrong religion or having the wrong gender preference. Allowing the prisoner to escape does not harm anyone except the corrupt regime. Silk Road seems to have involved organized crime activity like extortion and (new information today) contract murder. I'm not going to defend the war on drugs, which I find absurd, but I will defend arrests for fraud, theft, extortion, tax evasion, attempted murder, etc.
In short, yes, of course I would prefer if bad actors could not hide behind the facade of corporate protection and limited liability. To get there, I support reform and not a period of anarchy. It's like the old meme:
X is nice in that it is sort-of network transparent, but now that RDP can do it's magic at the application level, it's probably worth going that route. X can be very, very slow over a typical DSL or cable connection if using anything more complicated than an xterm. RDP can do a whole Windows desktop over the same connection with a lot more responsiveness. Heck, even VNC beats X on lower speed connections, but I've never seen an application-level implementation of that.
Think about it, if you were the slave in your scenario, would you really care that an abolitionist had counterfeited currency?
My example wasn't from the slave's perspective, but then I don't see myself as a slave currently. If you do, then we can go down that path. Are we talking about an emotional response or a rational response? Emotionally, I probably wouldn't give a shit. Rationally, whether or not you care about the counterfeiter would depend heavily on how it would affect your current life. Even slaves had it good or bad relative to one another. For example, a slave that is currently lashed every night and raped by the master might love it if the counterfeiter ruins the master's day a little. A slave that is in a house position or an overseer might want to protect their position and might view the counterfeiter as a threat. The analogy is a bit stretched at this point, but hopefully I can bring it back home.
So back in today's world, you might see yourself as analogous to a slave, but presumably your life could still get worse. Emotionally, you may not give a shit about law and order, but rationally you probably should. I don't know your situation, but I suspect that there are a whole lot of fellow "slaves" in much worse shape than you, who would love a shot at your stuff.
You want them to spend their money fixing a problem in a rich country? A problem well within the financial ability of Japan to pay on its own? Gee, where do I sign up for donations?
Brother, you have not been keeping abreast of our recent good fortune! This new Democratic chancellor has been even more helpful to our cause than we could have dreamed under our former great leader, Comrade Cheney.
Amazing how you missed 1 sentence in a 4 sentence post. It was the last one, where I said obviously not all of that is procurement. This post is getting dangerously long.
You perspective is common, but I think flawed. We need to have law and order in a civil society, even when there are great injustices also taking place. As a thought experiment, imagine that you are living in South prior to the Civil War. Women can't vote and people are actually enslaved right in your very own town. Now you find out that a guy in town is passing off counterfeit money. Do you arrest and prosecute the guy, or do you let him go because what he is doing is a trivial crime because one of the most unspeakably horrible crimes that man has ever perpetuated upon man is occurring at the same time?
It's certainly not news for nerds with any kind of a filter. $5 billion is less than 1% of the military budget. Assuming 260 work days per year and a $665 billion budget, an "average" day would be $2.56 billion. Obviously not all of that is procurement, but still this should elicit a yawn.
In the case of the Sudanese President, it was either deny his visa or endure pressure to execute the international warrant for his arrest. Neither is particularly attractive. In any event, they haven't officially denied his visa, have they?
The last time I checked US embassies principally do not dispense explanations for refusing visa applications denied for political reasons.
Not that I expect journalism at HuffPost, but most news organizations would at least make an attempt to contact the US. That's why every AP story like this includes the words "The _fill_in_the_blank_ could not be reached for comment." All we are getting is one guy's story. He could be correct, or he might not be correct. He may have been denied entry for political speech, or he might have just used the visa waver web site wrong.
Slashdot Mirror
Can you link me to a how-to? I have no luck just using ssh compression, I think you need something like jpeg.
But if great injustices are taking place, then the society is not really civil, now is it? You can't act like a ruffian and expect to be treated like a lady.
Civil society doesn't spring form a vacuum. The US Republic built upon the British Parliamentary system, which built upon hereditary monarchy, and so on. The idea that anarchy will somehow make an injustice go away is not credible IMHO. The best way to correct an injustice is to work within the current civil system. If we were in a dictatorship, that might not be the correct path - but our starting condition is a republic.
What if the counterfeiter is actually an agent sent from the North to undermine Southern economy, specifically to weaken it prior to the inevitable war?
I think the answer is pretty straightforward - it depends on your goal. A slave would probably encourage the counterfeiting. But I'm struggling to see the analogy to Wall Street... do you consider them agents of a foreign power?
And even if he isn't, his actions still serve to help undermine the system that's perpetuating said crimes.
He's not only undermining the system - he's also undermining regular people's ability to use money and participate in commerce. Burning down the local cotton gin will certainly hurt the slave owners, but also the non-slave cotton farmers who depended on the gin for their income. It's like burning down your house to solve a mouse infestation.
For example, imagine you're a guard at Auschwitz.
I was going to use a Nazi example, but I didn't want to Godwin this thing :)
Should you do your legally mandated duty and sound the alarm, or should you tie your shoelaces for the next five minutes?
That is far too easy, and the escapee is not guilty of any "crime" other than being the wrong religion or having the wrong gender preference. Allowing the prisoner to escape does not harm anyone except the corrupt regime. Silk Road seems to have involved organized crime activity like extortion and (new information today) contract murder. I'm not going to defend the war on drugs, which I find absurd, but I will defend arrests for fraud, theft, extortion, tax evasion, attempted murder, etc.
In short, yes, of course I would prefer if bad actors could not hide behind the facade of corporate protection and limited liability. To get there, I support reform and not a period of anarchy. It's like the old meme:
1. Anarchy!
2. ???
3. A truly just society
I don't really care whether they publish or not - if there is one thing the internet does not lack it is content.
Yes, DRM in-browser is laughable. There is no way to protect the keys, unless my admittedly shallow encryption background is flawed somehow.
X is nice in that it is sort-of network transparent, but now that RDP can do it's magic at the application level, it's probably worth going that route. X can be very, very slow over a typical DSL or cable connection if using anything more complicated than an xterm. RDP can do a whole Windows desktop over the same connection with a lot more responsiveness. Heck, even VNC beats X on lower speed connections, but I've never seen an application-level implementation of that.
Are we going to venture into speculation of a humane form of slavery, or shall we stick to reality?
Slavery involves a lot of those. I'd be curious to know what horrors you think weren't a part of slavery.
If it helps the analogy, then go for it.
Yes, well, I'm certainly not going to defend the drug war!
Yes, those who preach law and order tend to be unable to empathize with the oppressed.
I'm not sure why I deserve such a dig, since I clearly made an effort to go with the other side of the analogy.
Law and order is worthless if it allows atrocities to happen.
And yet I provided an example of why it is not, from the perspective of the oppressed. Why is my example invalid?
Think about it, if you were the slave in your scenario, would you really care that an abolitionist had counterfeited currency?
My example wasn't from the slave's perspective, but then I don't see myself as a slave currently. If you do, then we can go down that path. Are we talking about an emotional response or a rational response? Emotionally, I probably wouldn't give a shit. Rationally, whether or not you care about the counterfeiter would depend heavily on how it would affect your current life. Even slaves had it good or bad relative to one another. For example, a slave that is currently lashed every night and raped by the master might love it if the counterfeiter ruins the master's day a little. A slave that is in a house position or an overseer might want to protect their position and might view the counterfeiter as a threat. The analogy is a bit stretched at this point, but hopefully I can bring it back home.
So back in today's world, you might see yourself as analogous to a slave, but presumably your life could still get worse. Emotionally, you may not give a shit about law and order, but rationally you probably should. I don't know your situation, but I suspect that there are a whole lot of fellow "slaves" in much worse shape than you, who would love a shot at your stuff.
You want them to spend their money fixing a problem in a rich country? A problem well within the financial ability of Japan to pay on its own? Gee, where do I sign up for donations?
Really? I'm having trouble swallowing the concept of abandoning law and order in the face of evil. Society becomes impossible, IMHO.
Praise the GOP!
Brother, you have not been keeping abreast of our recent good fortune! This new Democratic chancellor has been even more helpful to our cause than we could have dreamed under our former great leader, Comrade Cheney.
Amazing how you missed 1 sentence in a 4 sentence post. It was the last one, where I said obviously not all of that is procurement. This post is getting dangerously long.
I really hate parallel construction.
You perspective is common, but I think flawed. We need to have law and order in a civil society, even when there are great injustices also taking place. As a thought experiment, imagine that you are living in South prior to the Civil War. Women can't vote and people are actually enslaved right in your very own town. Now you find out that a guy in town is passing off counterfeit money. Do you arrest and prosecute the guy, or do you let him go because what he is doing is a trivial crime because one of the most unspeakably horrible crimes that man has ever perpetuated upon man is occurring at the same time?
Anyway, my 2 cents...
It's certainly not news for nerds with any kind of a filter. $5 billion is less than 1% of the military budget. Assuming 260 work days per year and a $665 billion budget, an "average" day would be $2.56 billion. Obviously not all of that is procurement, but still this should elicit a yawn.
UN Headquarters, if you needed that clarification.
That was my point - we let ANYONE in for the UN, so why would an obscure academic concern us?
In the case of the Sudanese President, it was either deny his visa or endure pressure to execute the international warrant for his arrest. Neither is particularly attractive. In any event, they haven't officially denied his visa, have they?
The last time I checked US embassies principally do not dispense explanations for refusing visa applications denied for political reasons.
Not that I expect journalism at HuffPost, but most news organizations would at least make an attempt to contact the US. That's why every AP story like this includes the words "The _fill_in_the_blank_ could not be reached for comment." All we are getting is one guy's story. He could be correct, or he might not be correct. He may have been denied entry for political speech, or he might have just used the visa waver web site wrong.
Since when
Until this guy was stopped. We are the country that hosts the damn UN. What the heck are we afraid of? This guy is totally non-violent.
No one is claiming he has a "right" to enter the US.
Quite a few of us are wondering what is happening to our land of the free, however. This guy was coming to attend an academic conference.
That said, TFA is not really journalism, and fails to even mention an attempt to contact American authorities for an explanation.
not armchair /.ers....
As a mechanical engineer, I can say that armchair engineering can sometimes be a lot more fun than actual, real life engineering! :)