Ultimately it seems like you will never agree with any tactic or idea the Left has, unless it moves to the Right. So it's just circular nonsense.

I'm also on my phone, so it was simply an autocorrect mistake, but whatever helps you feel better about yourself

what are you talking about? You said the Left lacks critical self-defense, despite the introspection and self-critique the Left went through after Trump' s election

The Right elected Donald-fucking-Trump, the physical embodiment of the white, male Id, and yet some how it's the Left that are an "intellectual laughingstock". :ok:

the fundamental problem with the Left at the moment is that having had cultural hegemony for so long, they've forgotten the basic principle of civil discourse: the capacity for self-reflection and self-criticism, the capacity to reflect on the possibility that for all one's certainty and moral conviction about one's analysis of the situation, one may yet be wrong, and the other fellow right.

When one forgets that, one starts to pre-judge everything that comes out of one's interlocutor's mouth, one ceases to listen, one ceases to learn. The Right has certainly been guilty of that in that past, in times when it was ascendant; now it's very much the Left's turn at making this fundamental error. — gurugeorge

It's extremely curious to me that you think lack of self-reflection and self-criticism is, currently, an exclusive issue for the Left, particularly after the self-flagellation that occurred immediately after Trump's election, and the outright moral hypocrisy stemming from the Right.

It's extremely curious that you consider the Left a "laughing stock" and "intellectual slapstick" when prominent so-called "intellectuals" on the Right are mere grifters, such as Ben Shapiro who sells gold and brain pills. If academia is primarily left-wing, it's because the ideas of the right have become untenable garbage, which can only exist on Youtube and self-serving podcasts.

Mostly dislike Country, but I do love John Prine. I think @ArguingWAristotleTiff would like it

Maw, you can work the numbers all you want but your "statistics" do not include nor will it ever include the true number of illegal immigrants because they do NOT report. Why is that such a hard concept to understand? — ArguingWAristotleTiff

We are talking about homicides committed by convicted undocumented immigrants divided by total undocumented immigrants who have been charged with a crime. If we replace the number of undocumented immigrants who have been charged with criminal activity with the "true" yet unreported number of undocumented immigrants, then the percentage of undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of homicide becomes even more minuscule, thus further demonstrating how statistically improbable it is for someone to be killed by an undocumented immigrant. Congrats, you've proven my point.

And conversely there are pundits out there spouting ending ICE and having a nation without borders but I am not suggesting that is what your ultimate solution is for bettering our immigration laws. — ArguingWAristotleTiff

ICE was formed in 2003, and we didn't have open or chaotic borders prior to that. ICE ought to be ended; it has become an arm of a white nationalist administration.

I think that it is a HUGE, unfair leap, to suggest that by having better control over our nations borders implies that illegal immigrants "are here to merely steal from us". — ArguingWAristotleTiff

I was referring exclusively to undocumented immigrants. And it was YOU, Tiff, that brought up locking doors at night as a defensive analogy for the border wall. What was the analogy supposed to refer to, then, if not stealing or murdering? Why else would someone lock their door? Do they expect a criminal to walk in, sit on their couch and watch TV, maybe cook up some pasta and use their fine silverware?

If it is far less statistically likely for an undocumented immigrant to commit homicide, relative to an American citizen, then it follows that the paroxysm over immigration including profiling, deportation, and building a dumbass border wall is, undeniably, a racist response. And yes, one can easily find responses more radical than merely "bettering current immigration laws" on white nationalist media such as Fox News, Breitbart, and other vapid Right-Wing publications.

By the way, Tiff, the locking doors analogy implies that immigrants (from South America in particular) are merely here to "steal" from us, which is racist.

A woman is far more likely to be murdered by a citizen, in particular a SO, rather than an undocumented immigrant. Obviously, it isn't possible to determine the number of undocumented immigrants living in the USA, but Texas does have a strong data set of criminal activities committed by undocumented immigrants. In seven years (2011-2018) of "175,000 illegal aliens" there were "225 homicide convictions".

The focus on the fact that Mollie Tibbets was killed by an undocumented immigrant, and the calls for expanded deportation, profiling, etc. is unabashed racism, pure and simple.

wow what a good day

I used to, as a simple comment search will show, but since you mainly post unphilosophical bullshit, then yeah, I'll treat you like a bull.

The thing is, mocking those who have been historically mocked, discriminated against, exploited etc. just isn't that funny. And I don't see much evidence that younger generations are more conservative, outside a vocal minority of young alt-right groups who distribute ideas via memes.

Check out Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum's work on the Capability Approach. Specifically, Sen's Development as Freedom and The Idea of Justice, and Nussbaum's Creating Capabilities.

Yeah like those damned totalitarian Norwegian states.

They just chug along, not having to deal with the competing sides — yatagarasu

You know what the CPC does with "competing sides", right?

Yeah that would make it easier

Oh I see now

is that a site feature here?

That's an understandable point, but finding say, the shout box or the Donald Trump thread, etc. via mobile is fairly torturous

She is very proactive with the media - who didn't pay much attention to her before she won a primary two months ago and are now demanding they attend every single event she is part of. She did have some unfortunate gaffs, and she needs to burnish some talking points, but Gary Johnson was running for President - somewhat of a different realm. Either way, politicians make gaffs all the time. After all, you voted for the greatest gaff-maker in modern Presidential history!

Death penalty is idiotic.

I'm not sure I follow the reasoning behind "hiding" certain threads from the main page of the site.

The media is criticizing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for excluding them from two otherwise public town-hall meetings during which immigrants, victims of domestic abuse, and people with medical concerns will speak about their perspectives and concerns. I wonder how often they criticize politicians who hold private, media-excluded events with big donors? Jesus Christ, the inane vitriol against her is absurd.

Of course. But that doesn't mean that everything children say about how they feel amounts to good diagnosis. — Bitter Crank

Sure. But it's a better starting point than assuming the claim is made under parental influence.

I find it quite unsatisfactory when young people, children in elementary school, early adolescents just starting puberty, 18 year olds... make the same announcement. This strikes me, frankly, as a social infection.

I suspect that these claims are made under parental influence (in the case of very young children) or because it seems like a solution to "the difficult matter of one's persona -- who the hell am I?" — Bitter Crank

Adults should listen to the concerns children have about themselves, including depression, gender identity, etc.

Where did the Donald Trump thread go?

The crisis was a result of derivatives. No American president had anything to do with that. — frank

Derivatives amplified the effects, but they certainly were not the sole cause of the financial crisis.

Clinton handed GW a booming economy and a budget surplus* and in eight years he turned it into a huge financial crisis — Baden

To be fair, Clinton did sign the repeal of Glass-Steagall, declaring it "no longer appropriate".

Voter restrictions are also anti-black, insofar as they predominantly affect black communities

David Duke, for example, was an actual white supremacist who, as I understand it, wanted to implement racist laws. I obviously wouldn't vote for him. I don't know of any anti-black policy Trump's supported though. — Hanover

You know what he's doing to non-white immigrants, right?

I saw a recent poll showing that 1/5 of Trump supporters dislike him personally, but still view his policies positively. I have fairly little doubt that 20% of supporters (and more) would accept that he is a racist (or continue to acknowledge it) if the N-word tape were proven true, while nevertheless continue to hand-wave his personal vices.

:cool:

@StreetlightX any books about Time that you would recommend? Anything general would be great, but also specific to a Marxist interpretation would be of interest as well. I'm reading E.P. Thompson's paper on Time, Work-Discipline and Industrial Capitalism, and it's fascinating.

Oh, I thought you literally meant that Trump said the N-word during the election.

On the contrary, for a disturbing amount of Americans, there is a conceptual difference between saying the N-word out-loud, and saying that Mexicans are rapists, the Birther movement, The Central Park 5, etc.. Many Americans have an extremely narrow view on racism, how it functions and can be expressed in myriad casual and subtle forms, i.e. if it doesn't beat you over the head, it's not racism.

Actually, I believe it was Nate Silver that said that if the pussy-grabbing revelation was switched with Comey's Clinton email probe announcement, a Clinton presidency would have been likely.

Was it? I don't recall that. At least nothing recorded, yeah? The pussy-grabbing comment did shift perception, somewhat.

If revealed as true, I wonder how many Trump supporters will finally realize he is a racist, vs. say that if black people can say it why can't whites

I remember being on vacation on a beach in California with family when this happened.

So who do you think is right?

Should people be allowed to laugh at religion? — Sir2u

Lol what year is it?

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

whoa Trump is a racist? big if true