Comments

  • Coronavirus
    Successfully brainwashed minions:

  • Risk Assessment: The Ladder is too High
    My boss is secretly trying to kill me. — Nils Loc

    Two can play that game. :naughty:
  • Does systemic racism exist in the US?
    Racism Ignorance is in such short abundent supply these days that those who profit off its existence have relegated it to the invisible and practically everynowhere, or in fact have become are racists themselves. It’s like St. George forgetting to retire after slaying fucking all the dragons. Pretty soon he’s just there, all alone, swinging his lance dick in the wind. — NOS4A2
  • Risk Assessment: The Ladder is too High
    ↪Nils Loc


    So, did you Macgyver it, subcontract, or whip up some other means of solution to the dilemma?
  • Changing colors
    ↪ssu


    Ah, but the veil is white, and judging by the expression on her face is like a flag signaling surrender.
  • Fear of living and not living at all. . .
    The eternal observer.

    As I see it, two things would matter: what we were able to observe and if what we observed could change us. It would be hell if what we could observe was too limited. It would be non-existence if what we observed couldn't change us.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    ↪NOS4A2


    Anti-trump texts are illegal? If so, I’m in big trouble. :grimace:
  • Changing colors
    ↪creativesoul


    No? Okay, how about a wedding dress. A black dress would make a statement, of some sort.

    According to vowsbridal.com, a black dress represents power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, wealth, mystery, depth, and best of all, sheer style.
  • Selfish or Selfless?
    I think the more one analyzes what it means for them to be truly happy, the more one will realize that what is truly good for oneself is also good for another. — Tzeentch

    Well said. :clap:
  • Changing colors
    What could be something, can be anything, that if you change its color to white it will get a whole different meaning ? — tommen

    A person.
  • Mentions over comments
    I have a lot of haters. — NOS4A2

    Any lovers?
  • Mentions over comments
    A ratio over one to one probably indicates trolling behavior, such as is evident with NOS.
  • Oil
    I still will guess the economy will come back sometime in the future. — ssu

    And because the price of oil is currently too low, when the economy recovers supply won't be able to meet demand and the price will slingshot high.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    You're kind of arguing more in line with a perspective associated with the right/libertarian side of the coin here when you describe events more as individuals acting as opposed to groups/organizations. I'm not saying that you're wrong; anyone can describe events in various different ways. — BitconnectCarlos

    I don't see how. My understanding is that those on the right generally believe that government is prone to corruption and not good at managing the economy, so it should be kept as small as possible. The problem with this is that individuals not in government, who have economic power, take advantage of their power at the expense of those without power. They monopolize, pollute, don't practice fair labor standards, etc, etc.

    Labor only has collective power and ideally, the government facilitates their collective power. If the government favors capital, as it does now in the States, labor loses power and the rich get richer, the rate of environmental degradation increases, and the economy becomes less stable.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    Does this example help you understand?
    — praxis

    Understand what?     — god must be atheist

    The example that illustrates the relationship between freedom and responsibility.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    ... the state - with its centralization of power - is a major, major vulnerability if it falls into the wrong hands. — BitconnectCarlos

    If it falls into the hands of the wrong individuals. This is why democracy is the best form of government for the people because it tends to be resistant to the concentration of power.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    Could you elaborate? — BitconnectCarlos

    Many nations are unlike the regimes that you mention, therefore it can't be said that the evils committed by individuals are utterly dwarfed by the evils committed by governments.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    We're lucky to be living in the US, at least compared to other nations. Other states are not so kind. — BitconnectCarlos

    So the evils committed by individuals are not utterly dwarfed by the evils committed by governments.
  • Risk Assessment: The Ladder is too High
    Genius Asian to the rescue.

  • Get Creative!
    ↪Nils Loc


    People don't usually bother you unless you're right on a trial or place with foot traffic. There was a fair amount of people on the beach that day, for instance, but no looky-loos because I chose a spot about 25 yards or so away from the beach hordes.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    I'm just talking about states here. I'm not including drug cartels, organized crime, or corporations in this count. — BitconnectCarlos

    Okay, just the sates and just American deaths by war vs individuals in the 20th century.

    Roughly half a million Americans were killed in war during the 20th century.

    Say there are only 10k murders per year in the states during the 20th century, that comes to one million and twice the number of those killed in war.

    What am I missing?
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    ↪BitconnectCarlos


    So apparently we are talking about all governments everywhere. So what qualifies as a government? Is a corporation a kind of government? A drug cartel? Organized crime? Any organization with a governing body?
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    ↪god must be atheist


    Good point, if the mods screened all my posts for logical fallacies and deleted any they found then I wouldn’t have the choice of be being irresponsible in that way. However, they do allow a margin of freedom, in fact, so it is up to us to be responsible.

    Does this example help you understand?
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    If you look at the 20th century the numbers killed by government are beyond enormous - more than even the worst murderers could dream of. — BitconnectCarlos

    So is there any actual data to back up this claim? And are we talking about all governments everywhere? If so, what exactly constitutes a government?
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    ↪Tzeentch


    Okay war, I just looked up some quick estimates and it looks like there were over 16k reported murder and non-negligent manslaughter cases in the U.S. in 2018. 15 Americans were killed in the Afgan war in 2018. What am I missing?
  • Get Creative!
    5" x 7" plein-air at Pismo beach.

    pismo.jpg
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    The choice between coercion by the individual and coercion by government is an interesting one, but there's not a doubt in my mind that the evils committed by individuals are utterly dwarfed by the evils committed by governments. — Tzeentch

    This is interesting but unclear what exactly what you mean. Could you elaborate?
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    ↪god must be atheist


    If you’re struggling to say that there are degrees of freedom I doubt anyone will dispute this profound insight. There are people more free than me, for instance, and I can only hope that they’re more responsible than I am.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    Jennifer Griffin is a Fox News correspondent.

  • Buddhism vs Cynicism vs nihilism
    Emptiness is meaningful for Buddhists.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    Boy, was I ever stupid. — god must be atheist

    Don't be too hard on yourself, trolling isn't as easy as most seem to think. I have faith in you though, so dust yourself off, stand up straight, and go get 'em, tiger!

    Slaves have responsibilities. ... They need to do what they are told. — god must be atheist

    Are they free to not do what they're told?
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    ↪Tzeentch


    It’s a handy example and I think neatly illustrates the differences in our views or moral frameworks. I wouldn’t say that one is better than the other, to be clear.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    Moral obligations to do what? To care for one's fellow man? On a personal level I can get behind that. But I don't need to be coerced into doing that. — Tzeentch

    Apparently you do, at least in the case of practicing good driving habits.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    Considering the fact that we do not choose the society we live in, what moral obligations responsibilities towards it can we truly be said to have, other than the ones we take up voluntarily? — Tzeentch

    I've taken the liberty to modify your question a bit. Hope you don't mind.

    We could liken the individual faces in Banno's face/tree to moral intuitions. Some may stand out, like liberty/oppression, and others like care/harm, fairness/cheating or loyalty/betrayal may fade into the background, and I suppose that we can't take responsibility for what we deny.
  • Donald Trump (All General Trump Conversations Here)
    It’s hilarious too because they are now admitting the potential for fraud after months of claiming there was none. — NOS4A2

    How could anyone claim that there's no potential for it?

    Trump goaded them into adopting a desperate dumpster fire of a narrative.

    Rather, once again he's proved that he's the "Law & Order" president who's above the law and order.
  • Knowledge is a Privileged Enterprise
    ↪JerseyFlight


    If I'm following correctly you're saying that we can't blame people for not being intelligent because intelligence is a privilege. I get that but I don't get how this realization empowers the promotion of not making it a privilege. Call me a cynic but typically when people realize that they have an advantage or privilege, they fight tooth and nail to keep it.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    You were talking about a dangerous (to yourself and others) habit
    — praxis

    I fail to understand how using one's own eyes to see is a dangerous habit. I wish more people would engage in it.     — Tzeentch

    I won't argue the point other than to show the results of a two-minute search. Study shows more than two people are killed every day by red light running.

    I apologize for my earlier tactlessness, by the way.

    Okay, I am mostly on board with this. Freedom requires individuals to take personal responsibility, sure. In view of this, how do you look at the fact that individuals do not choose the society they are born in, nor do they choose to be born in the first place? — Tzeentch

    I can't tell what the point of the question is. I'll say that we're a social species and as such are born with moral intuitions. We're also largely shaped by whatever society we happen to be raised in and part of that shaping is developing a moral framework, which is based on our moral intuitions. There are moral frameworks, for example, that prioritize the moral intuition of liberty vs oppression, such as Libertarianism. Other frameworks favor other moral intuitions.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    Calling me unworthy of freedom based on the minimal interaction we've had seems rather silly, and it's hardly a decent way to start a conversation. Your earlier comment seemed reasonable enough, so why not continue in that way? — Tzeentch

    You were talking about a dangerous (to yourself and others) habit and for the meager benefit of arriving at your destination a few seconds or minutes early. There's nothing silly about that.

    Living in society requires cooperation. Ideally, the cooperation is mutually beneficial. In order for the cooperation to be mutually beneficial, the more autonomous a citizen is the more responsible they would have to be. If a citizen just wants to freeload and take advantage of the cooperative nature of a society they can be as irresponsible as they like, at least until their freedom is curtailed.
  • The way to socialist preference born in academical home(summary in first post)
    ... That's a sign that there are major systemic problems, not just a bunch of personal failures. — Pfhorrest

    Good point.

    I don't stop at a red light when there's no traffic to be seen, and I have no issue with people using their own judgement to do the same. — Tzeentch

    That’s irresponsible because, if you look at driving like a skill, it forms a bad habit that puts yourself and other motorists at risk. Much of the mundane tasks in our lives are done on autopilot, so you’re basically training yourself (and your ‘autopilot’) badly. Again that’s irresponsible, which indicates an abuse of your freedom, and suggests that you’re not worthy of it.

    Also, as I initially touched on, there’s the issue of who pays for the traffic lights, roadways, the land they occupy, etc. If they’re not paid for with taxation then you would have to pay a private party or parties in order to travel. Either way you have to pay.
  • Knowledge is a Privileged Enterprise
    Religion has been on earth for thousands and thousands of years and it never figured out, and does not know how to produce healthy humans. — JerseyFlight

    Its purpose is to bind groups with common values/purpose in a system of meaning, not to produce healthy humans, and certainly not to promote “the developmental quality of individuals”, because that would lead to independence, which is in opposition to the point of religion.

    Knowing that knowledge is a privileged enterprise empowers us to create a more intelligent species.

    I don’t follow this reasoning and skimming through the responses to date doesn’t help. Also, it’s unclear if the point is to create a more intelligent species or a healthier one.
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