401–410 of 600 posts
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When the wheels fall off (Sri Lanka does have a history of stability long ago) it’s hard to get them back on. Sri Lanka’s problems go back decades.
The fallen off wheels create bad times, which create all these stong men, ready to slap the wheels right back on, right?
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Which elections were free? The once in Germany, which the SdP didn't participate in definitely were not. The communal ebelctions in Sudetenland of 1938? Kind of free, but people bot supporting the Nazi allied SdP were already harassed and presured to vote SdP. That under these circumstances women voted less for Nazis then men is kind of note-worthy. But since I do not expect you to argue in good faith or to provide s…
"Kind of free?" Are you kidding me? The absolutely laughable claim above was that women were not to be blamed for the electoral victories of Nazis. The fact that at least 80% of German women in Czechoslovakia voted for Nazis in free elections demolishes that absurdity.
Source to the claim that elections in 1938, those we are talking about were not free:
https://web.archive.org/web/20111110054101/http://www.uni-du...
And yes, a difference of 20% is quite significant.
Also, German citizens enabled the Nazi, no doubt about that. The situation in Czechoslovakia in 1938 is different:
- the Sudetenland was dominated by a German minority, that German candidates fare better among German voters is not a big surprise
- joining Germany wasn't an unpopular policy, not in Austria nor in the Sudetenland, that a party favouring that policy does well during elections isn't a big surprise neither
- those elections envolved a lot of intimidation to vote for the SdP, that means better results for the SdP
Just one question, what is it with you trying to pin those Henlein election results on women?
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Any recommendations for other writings and analyses by Orwell?
- Christopher Hitchens (possibly THE biggest expert on Orwell in the late 20th century, and a great intellectual IMHO) on "Why Orwell Matters" + Q&A (2002) [0]. - Why I write [1] [0]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I-FfrkGiWQ [1]: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...
I think he highlights some fundamentally toxic aspects of human nature with this bit: “The Socialist who finds his children playing with soldiers is usually upset, but he is never able to think of a substitute for the tin soldiers; tin pacifists somehow won’t do.” The engineer in me wishes we could substitute the soldiers with construction workers or something, but I can’t deny enjoying war games growing up. These da…
Kids just don't know any better. I would imagine that those who actually spent some of their childhood in a war zone would have a very different perspective. What's toxic is when grownups end up glorifying war or thinking of it as a solution to hard problems.
Not sure if it would imply less war. Around the Napoleonic wars, many officers started their careers as teenagers or pre-teens. Nelson joined the navy as about 12-year old, which wasn't unexceptional age during the Napoleonic times. Napoleon was 10 when he was enrolled in a military academy. He was admitted to Ecole Militaire around 15 years old, graduated in one year, and got a commission as 2nd lieutenant.
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Calling football or hockey "violence" dilutes the meaning of the word. May as well call a high five violence.
I've seen plenty of people rejoice at the injuries of another team's players
Story Time:
I play beer league/pick-up hockey as an adult, and we once had a suspected thief that was stealing from others in the locker rooms during pick-up games. It was believed said thief would get dressed with everyone, and would then "accidentally forget something" before his shift was up, and he would then return to the locker rooms when the rooms were unattended and proceed to shift through people's belongings.
After some time and some mob mentality, people managed to figure out who the thief was. I heard numerous instances of all the various plots and methods other players were working on to ensure this guy would never be able to play again due to an unfortunate accident (i.e. premeditated and intentional permanent or long-term injuries).
Thankfully, the police got ahold of the thief before any of the psychopaths managed to ruin the life of the thief and their own lives. I am also thankful that I was a goalie, so that I was never encouraged to participate in such barbarianism. I value the safety of another person more than a wallet full of replaceable items.
Still, there have been instances where police have been called due to unruly players and/or unruly parents of children players, refs being assaulted by players/parents, etc..
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I'm not arguing any societies were completely void of violence, obviously. There is a significant difference between a society where violence occurs and one in which violence is the defining principle and method of organization. Yet even in societies organized around violence and domination, the majority of people are not violent and do not commit acts of violence. At this point, it's not worth continuing the convers…
Those are certainly interesting books, but Graeber's work in particular has been widely criticized by his peers[1]. Dawn of Everything was a naked attempt at (further) politicizing the field, and was riddled with logical and historical errors. Much like his other writings. > One review it’s known that he did read, because he wrote a response to it, is Kwame Anthony Appiah’s in the New York Review of Books. Entitled D…
Just have to admit to being impressed by how succinct and clear yet deep this writing was. Easy to read and understand, and certainly gets the point across.
Hitler tried to use copyright law to prevent translations from being published, notably in France.
Meanwhile the actual leadership is busy reviewing the writings of a fascist political theorist...
https://www.oxfordhouseresearch.com/xi-jinping-carl-schmitt-...
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Homage to Catalonia is his highly personal analysis of the events of the Spanish Civil War. It isn't at all comprehensive, but very plain spoken and perceptive and helps frame all of his fictional work.
His description of trench warfare and hand to hand combat is horrifying. I understood his views on communism better after reading the book.
I love all his writings about his own experiences, because his observations are so exceptionally well written, with the foreignness of early last century, plus the familiarity of his daily life. He then often writes later in those books about his political thoughts, which can be a bit more difficult to read e.g. Road to Wigan Pier.
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> The answer to this is sports. War is competition through violence. Absolutely not. Sports is competition through violence, as well. Watch a game of American football, or ice hockey, or basketball for that matter and be able to say otherwise with a straight face. The answer is cooperative, not competitive, activities.
Calling football or hockey "violence" dilutes the meaning of the word. May as well call a high five violence.
I assume you are unfamiliar with "head hunting?" If so, it's where a team or player intentionally tries to injury the better player(s) on the opposing team in order to secure a competitive advantage.
Here are some examples of what I would consider "violence" in hockey, some of which, could be argued to be head hunting: