I don't think we can trust a petition site hosted by the whitehouse . . . at all.
Iranian MIT student goes home over break, denied return for spring semester
351–360 of 401 posts
Re: Iranian MIT student goes home over break, denied return for spring semester
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
That again ignores that these people are operating inside a system, not in a vacuum. If you want to assign blame, fine, but don't confuse that with problem-solving. The blame game will not make American democracy functional again, it'll make it even worse.
When you point at techies as the cause, are you problem-solving, or playing the blame game? Sure looks like the latter to me. Edit: I get it. This doesn't help. The thing is, I don't know how to fix it. It looks like we're just fucked. I'm thinking and trying to come up with a fix but it's not working yet. And in the mean time, when someone tries to blame me for this mess I didn't cause and argued against, I'm going…
I understand and personally feel the same frustration. A few resources that have helped/are helping me:
- Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion
- Rapoport's Rules: https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/03/28/daniel-dennett-rapo...
- The Principle of Charity: http://philosophy.lander.edu/oriental/charity.html
Re: Iranian MIT student goes home over break, denied return for spring semester
#353Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not sure where you got that information, but it contradicts everything I've ever heard. Cuba's been for a long time the only country the US won't allow its citizens to visit (head, meet desk); North Korea is, so far as I know, the only country that actively prevents US citizens from visiting, although that may be a misrepresentation of the facts on the ground. Anyway, http://uncorneredmarket.com/american-travel-iran/…
US citizens can visit Iran—at Iranian discretion—with a state minder the same way US citizens can travel to North Korea. You can't travel freely and you can't travel without personal scrutiny ('extreme vetting') from Iranian officials.
Wow. None of that is true.
Re: Iranian MIT student goes home over break, denied return for spring semester
#354Undergrad at MIT here, thanks for signing! Our community has been fairly troubled by this to say the least, and your outpour of support is incredibly helpful.
This is an easy position for you to take, since you have already gained admission to MIT and you know these people. Consider a US citizen who would like to get admitted to MIT. Trump's action will what, double the chances of getting in? Consider the parents of that kid, already paying taxes that provide for the research grants that MIT lives off of.
MIT undergrad is only 10% international students...
Re: Iranian MIT student goes home over break, denied return for spring semester
#355I'd like to point out that the article is a Whitehouse petition and that only a single person has signed it thus far, but it was posted 8 hours ago!
Re: Iranian MIT student goes home over break, denied return for spring semester
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
People have tried to take this "we're better than them" approach. The problem is that the other side isn't playing nice. Gandhian non-violence only works when the other side has a smattering of conscience; it is not so for Trump's administration.
Please don't misunderstand me as thinking this is a "better than them" type of thing. It actively denies opponents ammunition. I'm in full agreement that it's not enough on its own. People need to be engaged in political action as well. (Edit to add: And engaged as good, upstanding members of their own local communities.) I strongly believe one of the reasons the election was as problematic as it was all around is th…
A few weeks ago I agreed completely with this "be pacific, be understanding, be calm, be kind" strategy. And yes, it's nice to be all those things.
All your statements about trying to make people understand, to make them feel equal and not defensive, I was 100% on board with such an approach. And then you realise it's futile.
India did not become independent because Gandhi won; India became independent because it became unfashionable to have colonies, and the British were pressured into letting their empire dissolve.
Re: Iranian MIT student goes home over break, denied return for spring semester
#357Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why?
You can be a loyal citizen to only one country. Maintaining two passports is an open declaration of disloyalty and lack of solidarity. And immigrants shouldn't get special privileges that natural citizens cannot, especially special privileges conferred by foreign princes and potentates.
There are many countries that don't require a pledge of allegiance for citizenship, so you can't really argue that being a citizen of those countries constitutes a conflict of interest with US citizenship.
Being a citizen of a country typically means that you have certain rights and privileges in that country that non-citizens don't. That's about it. "Loyalty" doesn't enter the picture unless one is a hardcore nationalist.
Re: Iranian MIT student goes home over break, denied return for spring semester
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
This needs more emphasis. These countries were already hard for US citizens to do business in (hence no Trump holidings). I don't think Trump cares much about money - he is interested in Power. "Corruption" is a distraction. I also think the thing about his tax returns is the same.
While I agree with your point, I disagree with this: > I don't think Trump cares much about money - he is interested in Power. It's hard to know what his true interests are. But based on his actions, and his lack of desire for publicly stating his net worth or tax returns, I think he is very interested in maintaining not only his worth but also his companies'. Trump is the first President in a long time that can dire…
So are you implying that by mere virtue of being a successful business person you are disqualified or somehow morally inept in regards to our Presidency?
You could make the same arguments that past Presidents could be influenced by lobbyists, super pacs, etc etc; what's the difference?
It's also possible that Trump realizes how valuable America is and has been for his own life and his final act is to run for President and enact changes he thinks will benefit America.
Re: Iranian MIT student goes home over break, denied return for spring semester
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
This needs more emphasis. These countries were already hard for US citizens to do business in (hence no Trump holidings). I don't think Trump cares much about money - he is interested in Power. "Corruption" is a distraction. I also think the thing about his tax returns is the same.
I think your president has figured out a way to 1)piss everyone off except his core vote base 2) be forced out of office 3) launch a movie/book/tv show 4) profit I don't think his original plan was to win the election.
1) the only people pissed off are the left/democrats because for the first time in a long time they are not in control.
2) not going to happen.
3) why would he need to run for President to do something he's already done multiple times? sorry but not true.
4) he's put his own personal reputation and net worth on the line to run for office, he's been a billionaire for many years, he's divesting from his companies, and he's 70 years old.. sorry but not true
Re: Iranian MIT student goes home over break, denied return for spring semester
#360Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Those polls were broadly accurate, as has been heavily reported. The polls about The Donald losing were also heavily reported: http://www.politicususa.com/2016/10/26/polls-shatter-myth-pr... In any case, unlike you, I'm more interested in abstractions based on large historical body of evidence (for not trusting pollsters in general) than in specifics (evaluating a particular poll, especially in hot political and pa…
I'm really sorry, I'm not sure I follow what you're saying here, but I am confident that you're pursuing a different argument than the one I was, and I'm just not interested in it.
the numerous polls that showed DJT losing in a "landslide" were shown to be wrong with his historic upsetting win. cnn, huffingtonpost, fivethirtyeight -- amongst many others these mainstream sources clocked Trump's chances of winning at 1.8% - 26%... any argument for their veracity just seems foolish