301–310 of 347 posts
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You're getting exactly as much as you asked for then.
On the contrary, I am getting a lot of stuff I do not consent to.
But you're indignation shall not brook political engagement! So that's...something.
Do any of you American citizens out there have the same opinion of your government?
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The mayor is busy making speeches about how he's tough on crime. Things are gerrymandered enough that its a one party system where I live, so any speeches are a bit extreme, hoping to rise up in the party ranks, not appeal to anyone but extremists. My little city has one of those tanks and used it down the street from my home a couple years ago. Couple broke up, guy goes out, gets drunk, comes home, mostly but not en…
The police used to be brave. Now they are mostly cowards.
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I think it's rather more that the history of states turning fascist shows that the turn is usually proceeded by the state acquiring extraordinary powers on the basis that "insert-bogeyman-here" is out to get us (see Italy, Spain, Germany for past exemplars) and that current citizens would rather be vigilant and ensure that we don't have a fascist future than sit back and allow the possibility that it might occur. "Th…
(I'm gunna respond even though I'm getting downvoted b/c hopefully someone gets something out of this.. but keep it coming! =) ) There is nothing inherently evil in surveillance. In and of itself it's a neutral thing. It's what you do with it that is evil or good. First I'd say that I don't really see how the NAZIs gain power because of surveillance. Hitler didn't seize power because the SA had some intricate intelli…
It's a matter of the additional power granted to the government... in exchange for what? An insignificant decrease in the likelihood that I am killed by terrorists?
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The general attitude, and the implications of everyone having health care, are far better. The police in general have a far friendlier disposition. It's not all about authority and the "listen to me I'm the coach/sergeant" sports-talk/military-talk mentality. There is also no real race issue the way African Americans experience in the US (a systematic, paranoid, aggressive marginalization of a large section of societ…
I don't know where in Canada you've lived, but there is plenty of that in Toronto, and Calgary, especially dealing with the natives. I'll bet Montreal and Vancouver aren't must different. There was no culture shock moving from Canada to the US.
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The general attitude, and the implications of everyone having health care, are far better. The police in general have a far friendlier disposition. It's not all about authority and the "listen to me I'm the coach/sergeant" sports-talk/military-talk mentality. There is also no real race issue the way African Americans experience in the US (a systematic, paranoid, aggressive marginalization of a large section of societ…
We have major race issues with Natives, nobody wants to talk about it though.
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The general attitude, and the implications of everyone having health care, are far better. The police in general have a far friendlier disposition. It's not all about authority and the "listen to me I'm the coach/sergeant" sports-talk/military-talk mentality. There is also no real race issue the way African Americans experience in the US (a systematic, paranoid, aggressive marginalization of a large section of societ…
We have major race issues with Natives, nobody wants to talk about it though.
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The funny thing is that we're probably just a few decades away from doing that , too.
well, as long as your thermonuclear nuke's seismic wave signature looks like tremor(s) of an earthquake, planting/burying it near continental plate dividers deep in the ocean should do the trick http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richter_magnitude_scale#Example...
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If you discover a conspiracy that you believe, in absence of proof, what can you do with that information? I stopped trying to "figure it all out" once I realized that there was very little I can do as an individual, even if I am right about some conspiracy.
I suppose I worry that if I dismiss this stuff out of hand, one day I'll be blind to the one for which there is proof, or I'll ignore someone else who with hindsight shouldn't have been ignored. Like rms. But you're probably right, this kind of thinking is largely self-indulgent. EDIT: a little understanding of that kind of political history definitely gives useful context to discourse on current affairs, I think. It…
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As someone broadly in political agreement with much on the left I never understand the obsession with rolling in Islamophobia with these things. At the end of the day religious movements are broadly intolerant, aboslutist and objectionable in nature. It's not a bad thing to fear the increase in power of religious totalitarians. They have a lot in common with many of the others you want to attack. Even the most mainst…
Because pilloried and decried is different than feared (-phobia). The paranoia some Americans have about Sharia law is a good example of the difference - I'm strongly against that happening, but I'm not afraid of that happening, because it isn't a real threat. Being against something and being afraid of something are very different, and it's the fear that can be useful to those in power.