kcdodd wrote:I would like to add the worst thing someone can do to you (well, best for the other person) in a debate is to get you to say something you don't really believe. If you wish to abandon our history of freedoms just to oppose the terrorists that is your prerogative. Just as it was of the organizer of that gay pride to abandon their sense of inclusion.
It's all looks like it is motivated by an irrational hatred for Israel. The flotilla thing was obviously a contrived provocation, and people are going nuts because Israel did exactly what they should have done?
There is currently an effort in Israel to send a flotilla to supply Turkish Kurds with Humanitarian aid. Wonder how the Turks are going to react to that?
At any rate, the point I'm trying to make is that there are a LOT of people nowadays advocating support for ideas which will cut their own throat. California comes to mind. Banning Water in the Imperial valley? (I think it's the imperial valley.) Banning offshore drilling ( and everywhere else as well. ) so we can send MORE money to Venezuela, Iran and Saudi Arabia?
The Europeans are tolerating themselves into extinction. In Spain, they actually had diesel generators powering lights to make their solar power plant generate electricity at night ! Why? Because government subsidies made it economically practical !
It's a mess. There is no end of insanity going on nowadays which most people don't even think strange enough to notice.
Shanghai Daily is reporting that a 14-year-old from Yibin in Sichuan, China has been drinking Gasoline for the last five years to become a “valiant fighter” like Optimus Prime. The youngster first saw the animated Transformers tv series when he was nine years old, and was so impressed that be “that he began drinking fuel on a daily basis to “obtain energy” and become a mighty warrior like the Transformers.”
kcdodd wrote:Of course. If I don't agree with you it must be because I don't pay attention.
No, as I said you don't pay attention past a hook to hang your talking points on. For example...
JLawson wrote:
kcdodd wrote:
As I've said before, I've got no problem with Islam - it's the militant factions that want to see me either Muslim - preferably their flavor of the week - or dead that I find quite objectionable.
If you can't (or won't) see the difference between Islam, and Militant Islam, then I don't see much point in trying to argue with you on it.
Does not reconcile with
kcdodd wrote:My point is you are the one condemning all Islam on the basis of the militant parties, and then forgiving all Christianity in spite of the militant parts. If there is a militant group, I agree, don't let them be aggressive. But we are not talking about some fictional group here.
You say I condemn all Islam, I explicitly say I'm NOT, you say I do - and proceed to reply as if I'm saying all Islam should be condemned.
And you wonder why I'm at all frustrated trying to talk to you. Maybe you've got some sort of perceptional programming going that turns my statement on Islam into what you really want to see, IE me condemning all Islam. I'm not - but that's not stopping you seeing me doing it.
So - I give up. It's simply not worth it.
When opinion and reality conflict - guess which one is going to win in the long run.
kcdodd wrote:Then why would you oppose the construction of a mosque? What of a cathedral?
You seriously ignore stuff, don't you? Read back in the posts. Constructing a mosque there would be seen on a par with constructing a Victory Monument at Hiroshima. It's militant Islam's greatest victory against the Great Satan - you actually don't see the symbolism?
I think you do, I think you understand the reasoning- and you're just jerking my chain with the impenetrable 'oh explain everything to me!' leftist act. Or maybe you're just looking for someone to talk to or argue with - I don't know. You've demonstrated you're seriously not worth the effort, and not willing to discuss the issue in good faith - so, I'm done.
Hasta luego, kcdodd - and good luck with that reality you're trying so valiantly to ignore...
When opinion and reality conflict - guess which one is going to win in the long run.
kcdodd wrote:So stupidity is strictly a liberal affliction?
Shanghai Daily is reporting that a 14-year-old from Yibin in Sichuan, China has been drinking Gasoline for the last five years to become a “valiant fighter” like Optimus Prime. The youngster first saw the animated Transformers tv series when he was nine years old, and was so impressed that be “that he began drinking fuel on a daily basis to “obtain energy” and become a mighty warrior like the Transformers.”
Yeah, I would have to say pretty much.
Seriously, I could point out example after example, I could put forth theories to explain it, (such as the difference between right brain and left brain dominated people, and how economic conditions predictably affect people's mindset) I could point you towards demographic data which shows the characteristics of the different mindsets, and a whole lot of stuff that you probably haven't got the time or inclination to read.
Liberals are a spectrum of people, and so are conservatives. The quickest, (albeit not the most accurate) summation is that Liberals are imaginative dreamers, and Conservatives are boring practicalists.
Oh, and there's this article.
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics.
ScienceDaily (June 10, 2010) — There is a strong relationship between a voter's politics and his personality, according to new research from the University of Toronto.
kcdodd wrote:Then why would you oppose the construction of a mosque? What of a cathedral?
You seriously ignore stuff, don't you? Read back in the posts. Constructing a mosque there would be seen on a par with constructing a Victory Monument at Hiroshima. It's militant Islam's greatest victory against the Great Satan - you actually don't see the symbolism?
I think you do, I think you understand the reasoning- and you're just jerking my chain with the impenetrable 'oh explain everything to me!' leftist act. Or maybe you're just looking for someone to talk to or argue with - I don't know. You've demonstrated you're seriously not worth the effort, and not willing to discuss the issue in good faith - so, I'm done.
Hasta luego, kcdodd - and good luck with that reality you're trying so valiantly to ignore...
I have been reading your posts. You are not discussing the issue in good faith. You continue to simply insult me instead of making any intelligent rebuttal to what I have said about the first amendment and similar ideals.
kcdodd wrote:So stupidity is strictly a liberal affliction?
Shanghai Daily is reporting that a 14-year-old from Yibin in Sichuan, China has been drinking Gasoline for the last five years to become a “valiant fighter” like Optimus Prime. The youngster first saw the animated Transformers tv series when he was nine years old, and was so impressed that be “that he began drinking fuel on a daily basis to “obtain energy” and become a mighty warrior like the Transformers.”
Yeah, I would have to say pretty much.
Seriously, I could point out example after example, I could put forth theories to explain it, (such as the difference between right brain and left brain dominated people, and how economic conditions predictably affect people's mindset) I could point you towards demographic data which shows the characteristics of the different mindsets, and a whole lot of stuff that you probably haven't got the time or inclination to read.
Liberals are a spectrum of people, and so are conservatives. The quickest, (albeit not the most accurate) summation is that Liberals are imaginative dreamers, and Conservatives are boring practicalists.
Oh, and there's this article.
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics.
kcdodd wrote:So stupidity is strictly a liberal affliction?
Yeah, I would have to say pretty much.
Seriously, I could point out example after example, I could put forth theories to explain it, (such as the difference between right brain and left brain dominated people, and how economic conditions predictably affect people's mindset) I could point you towards demographic data which shows the characteristics of the different mindsets, and a whole lot of stuff that you probably haven't got the time or inclination to read.
Liberals are a spectrum of people, and so are conservatives. The quickest, (albeit not the most accurate) summation is that Liberals are imaginative dreamers, and Conservatives are boring practicalists.
Oh, and there's this article.
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?
Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics.
You know someone has run out of legitimate arguments when all they can do is try to insult your intelligence.
I do not know that you are a liberal. I actually assumed you were a moderate. From reading your messages previously, I gather that you have a physics education, and therefore I supposed you could not be a liberal, but someone who shares at least one ostensibly liberal interest.
I did not regard my posts as being intentionally insulting to you personally, but merely examples of information that demonstrates in general that liberals are "feelers" not "thinkers."
I happen to be firing arrows at a specific target. I ought not be held responsible if you insist on jumping in front of them after the arrow is loosed. I have no doubt that you understand ordinary economics. One of my major concerns is that you and others grant it far too little importance, while I am concerned that it will be the death of us all.
I didn't even take it personally. I think liberal/conservative labels are inadiquate.
My words simply speak for themselves. You disagree with liberals, no matter what they say. You simply call liberals stupid. I hate labels. You love them, and I will call you on it.
kcdodd wrote:I didn't even take it personally. I think liberal/conservative labels are inadiquate.
My words simply speak for themselves. You disagree with liberals, no matter what they say. You simply call liberals stupid. I hate labels. You love them, and I will call you on it.
Labels are just an abbreviation for describing something that would make the conversation unwieldy. If I say "Cow", I don't need to specify "Holstein Steer" or "Jersey Heifer" unless it's germane to the point. Likewise, if I say "Democrat", It would be far more messy if I said, "Spoiled child of rich parents who never worked at a physically hard job, and now makes their living playing make believe characters in a pretend world as an actor, but still feels the need to lecture others about how to deal with matters involving the real world."
It's easier to just say "Liberal" than it is to describe all the different permutations, unless they are germane to the point.
"Spoiled child of rich parents who never worked at a physically hard job, and now makes their living playing make believe characters in a pretend world as an actor, but still feels the need to lecture others about how to deal with matters involving the real world."
Oh, you mean GW?
My point is you don't use labels for convenience. What you do, in the case of opposition, is make a label, define it in a negative context, and then apply it to the person you disagree with. You also tend to define it using evidence which can, in general, also be applied to people you claim to agree with.
You might be interested in the video posted here where the California State Treasurer (a Democrat) castigates Democrats for being ignorant of economics.
Now whether you fall into that category is up to you. Evidently you have self identified with the economically ignorant. Give your other comments with an economic component I'd have to agree with your self assessment.
As a general rule engineers have a better understanding of economics than physicists. There is a reason for that. It is rare that a physicist has to make a million dollar decision. Such commitments are not uncommon among engineers.
In fact it was my move into engineering from a rather more physics oriented background that prompted my study of economics.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
I don't think that is true. I think physicists are just concerned with other things most of the time. A physicist holds a toolbox to take apart something, figure out how it works, and then manipulate it to do what they want. Luckily, most of the time, it is used for fairly beneficial things like understanding nature and building fusion reactors. Other times it can be destructive such as the atomic bomb. This was seen by those who went into the monetary world and setup the so called derivatives markets. Which worked so well and moved so much money that it nearly collapsed the rest of the system.
I agree that there is an incredible amount of waste in government and I am with you when the goal is to be smart about money. We differ on how we view the role of government.
