61–70 of 101 posts
Imagine if international disputes were settled by one-on-one combat between world leaders. Our ruling class of flabby fiftysomething bureaucrats would disappear fast
Earlier quoted context omitted.
skin in the game. there is something incredibly honorable about it. Can anyone picture BoJo, Trump or Biden jumping off a chopper in Overtheristan killing locals? In the West we use the term "who live by the sword shall die by the sword" (Matthew) but only as a warning. I think it illustrates the disconnect between these worlds. What is warning in one place/religion is a _promise_ in the other. My wife (Japanese) wou…
I think the doctrine of an eye for an eye is alive and well in the West. It seems to be a part of the human condition. However, rejecting it isn't cowardice. It's spiritual growth.
sure is. it's also what gives us the feeling we have a right (if not duty if you add religion or moral arguments) to forcefully integrate these societies (for the purpose of taxation / corvée / slavery) the way we have done it since thousands of years. Oldest example perhaps China's expanding kingdoms creating hill tribes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_C._Scott#The_Art_of_Not_...
Imagine if international disputes were settled by one-on-one combat between world leaders. Our ruling class of flabby fiftysomething bureaucrats would disappear fast
To be replaced by macho 20-30 year olds who excel at one-on-one combat? I'm not sure if this is better. Particularly when the 20 year old killing machine is put in charge of the nuclear arsenal, I think we'd all disappear fast .
>I'm not sure if this is better.
Spend a little time seriously thinking about it. The status quo is a very low bar
This is so alien to me. Why would they dissolve Parliament in this case? Is this a coup, or an expected turn of events?
The article is a tangle of names, allegiances, rebellions, and dictators. It makes it sound like Déby was one of the "good guys", but I have so little trust for the Western powers mentioned in the article (USA, France). I have no idea what's going on in this part of the world, but it seems like a total clusterfuck.
It should be mandatory for all Presidents to be on the battle field. It should also be mandatory for all members of congress and the senate to rotate in and out of the battle field.
It is extremely rare for the head of state to die as a direct result of battlefield engagement.
skin in the game. there is something incredibly honorable about it. Can anyone picture BoJo, Trump or Biden jumping off a chopper in Overtheristan killing locals? In the West we use the term "who live by the sword shall die by the sword" (Matthew) but only as a warning. I think it illustrates the disconnect between these worlds. What is warning in one place/religion is a _promise_ in the other. My wife (Japanese) wou…
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minority-report/2014...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You mean like when Alexander Hamilton was killed in a duel by a rival politician? And Hamilton's son was killed in a duel as well? All you get are the blood of pacifists. As pacifists are forced into duels and their opponents shoot them. Do you want all the pacifist politicians dead or retired? The duelist era of American politics led to Andrew Jackson. A man who forced the trail of tears on his opponents. Live by th…
Yes, I'd probably trade some pacifist politicians for all collateral damage caused worldwide from war, both people and environment.
Think about the kind of person who would repeatedly duel his adversaries. Ex: Jackson. You get a wartime monster.
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If you want peace, then encourage pacifists to be leaders.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
skin in the game. there is something incredibly honorable about it. Can anyone picture BoJo, Trump or Biden jumping off a chopper in Overtheristan killing locals? In the West we use the term "who live by the sword shall die by the sword" (Matthew) but only as a warning. I think it illustrates the disconnect between these worlds. What is warning in one place/religion is a _promise_ in the other. My wife (Japanese) wou…
The notion of a social or family honor has its own psychological problems. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/minority-report/2014...
so does our system of sending the old people to an assisted living facility to live out the last couple of years in "dignity" while crapping their pants and not having visitors (except on every 1st Sunday of the month between 15:00-17:00 which is the time when everyone asks why they are still around because they are so demented and not part of our lives that we wouldn't know what to talk with them anyway).
^^ there is always a way to paint another society as absolutely evil. it's the type of propaganda that makes us feel good about ourselves since the time we got rid of those useless pagans ("coming over here" ... "with their inlaid jewelry, and shit burial traditions" ...)
> However the family succession and continuing presence of the military at the heart of power may reassure nervous allies such as France and the US, observers said.
With a link to this Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/natkpowell/status/1384477661632757774
Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be replaced by macho 20-30 year olds who excel at one-on-one combat? I'm not sure if this is better. Particularly when the 20 year old killing machine is put in charge of the nuclear arsenal, I think we'd all disappear fast .
If I am going to be ruled by someone (this appears to be the case, at least for the forseeable future), I would rather it be someone like Alexander than someone like Brezhnev >I'm not sure if this is better. Spend a little time seriously thinking about it. The status quo is a very low bar