We're WEIRD. Get over it.
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We're WEIRD. Get over it.
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10-07-2020, 04:46 PM
(10-07-2020, 10:59 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: America is at war, and it is losing the war with the SARS-2 virus that causes COVID-19.We are actually winning that war too. It goes against the blue narrative but it's the truth whether you want to believe it or accept it or not. As far as I'm concerned the Democrats can keep you penned up and restricted for years and remove all your rights as well. A mindless/senseless political hack like yourself doesn't deserve freedom. 
10-07-2020, 05:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-07-2020, 05:17 PM by Eric the Green.)
(10-07-2020, 04:46 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-07-2020, 10:59 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: America is at war, and it is losing the war with the SARS-2 virus that causes COVID-19.We are actually winning that war too. It goes against the blue narrative but it's the truth whether you want to believe it or accept it or not. As far as I'm concerned the Democrats can keep you penned up and restricted for years and remove all your rights as well. A mindless/senseless political hack like yourself doesn't deserve freedom. As usual Classic, you don't have any actual facts to back up your political and prejudicial propaganda. If the USA still has 30,000 to 40,000 or more new cases a day, and almost 1000 deaths a day, it is not winning the war against covid. And as long as so many new cases and deaths are happening, the covid contagion could always flare up again. Neither a war nor a forest fire is won if it can flare up again at full intensity at any time. What does seem to be happening is that California, under Democratic Gov. Newsom's revised slower-opening schedule, seems to be doing better at the moment. And Florida under Republican/Trumpist Gov. Santis' fast-opening schedule is doing worse. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/
10-07-2020, 06:56 PM
(10-07-2020, 04:46 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-07-2020, 10:59 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: America is at war, and it is losing the war with the SARS-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Goebbels-like talk in 1943. We aren't going to win the war against COVID-19 until we have a safe and effective vaccine against it. Medical research, I assume, is leading us that way as quickly as possible, but in the meantime we need to mask ourselves in most places, do social distancing, and keep COVID-19 hot-spots closed. 213,000 people have died of COVID-19 under your Great and Infallible Leader.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
10-08-2020, 04:37 AM
(10-07-2020, 06:56 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:(10-07-2020, 04:46 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-07-2020, 10:59 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: America is at war, and it is losing the war with the SARS-2 virus that causes COVID-19. I am thinking whether to put ol Classic on ignore. But then, we might have no-one to argue with, no-one against which to shine our light. Classic is getting rather pathetic, and I know he doesn't like me, but his insults really mean nothing to me, and I have no real feelings of anger against him; just against his ideas-- which many others in our strange and backward society hold. So, I guess we're stuck with the poor dude, and the others he represents. If we have that civil war we both have predicted might come, I have predicted that his side will lose rather quickly, it will be all over, and we'll go on to gradually mend our ways, and onward toward our next awakening. I wish we had the awakening all the time. I do love the good old days, and I will never believe they can't happen all the time. 
10-08-2020, 06:07 AM
(10-08-2020, 04:37 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: I am thinking whether to put ol Classic on ignore. But then, we might have no-one to argue with, no-one against which to shine our light. Classic is getting rather pathetic, and I know he doesn't like me, but his insults really mean nothing to me, and I have no real feelings of anger against him; just against his ideas-- which many others in our strange and backward society hold. So, I guess we're stuck with the poor dude, and the others he represents. If we have that civil war we both have predicted might come, I have predicted that his side will lose rather quickly, it will be all over, and we'll go on to gradually mend our ways, and onward toward our next awakening. The odd thing is respecting motivations across the gap. I have been saying Republicans have elitist and racist elements, reasonably well hidden in most cases. It is enough that they strive to create the huge division of wealth and strive to hurt the working man to keep whites over minorities. But they don’t advertise it, or you didn’t until Trump. In a few cases they are open about it. Like, you can respect the conservatism, the desire to keep government small and taxes low, but they often duck speaking about their elitism and racism. If they don’t speak of it, how do you talk of it? Law and order. Let’s continue to occasionally murder minorities. They are the Tea Party, against the influence of the wealthy, until it is time to back Trump. At the same time, the lack of communication is not symmetric. We deal with invented false portrayals of liberal motivation, not with what we actually say and believe. They cannot deal with our real motivations, thus lie to each other and themselves. I make it a point to honor wherever they have real policies worth considering or promoting, but I get little in return. It is easier to make up lies. Thus, the conversations are not two way. There is generally a swing and a miss as they fail to deal with real motivations.
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
10-08-2020, 07:55 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-08-2020, 08:02 AM by Bob Butler 54.)
(10-07-2020, 04:46 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-07-2020, 10:59 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: America is at war, and it is losing the war with the SARS-2 virus that causes COVID-19.We are actually winning that war too. It goes against the blue narrative but it's the truth whether you want to believe it or accept it or not. As far as I'm concerned the Democrats can keep you penned up and restricted for years and remove all your rights as well. A mindless/senseless political hack like yourself doesn't deserve freedom. How do you think you are winning? The way I see it, as long as the racist violent bad cops continue to murder people of color, the Black Lives Matter protests will continue. As long as the protests continue, groups like the Proud Boys, the Boogaloo Bois and Antifa will have an excuse to promote violence. Until the government holds the bad cops accountable for their actions, the skirmishing will continue. There will be no return to normal until then. Every generation or so the opponents of racism say enough and force it back. There is no point in continuing racism unless you enjoy the violence. Of course, perhaps you do enjoy the violence? One of the heroes associated with the bad cops is Dave Grossman, author of On Killing. His basic thesis is that humans have instincts not to kill, as well as instincts to kill. Soldiers and first responders will perform best if they get approval from the general population, if their training deliberately seeks to break down the reluctance to kill. In the Vietnam War, the returning soldiers were often vilified, were blamed for the actions they were drafted and ordered to do. We made an effort not to do that in the recent Middle East wars. You would honor the soldier, give him praise, throw the occasional parade, no matter how poorly you thought of Bush 43’s or the governments policy. It wasn’t the average private’s fault, and it was proper to honor him for his service. The cops are another group that would benefit from this treatment, but Grossman has got a bit of a reputation for overdoing it. Shoot em up, rah rah, shoot em up. The bad cops are all for training that encourages violent behavior. They are against responsibility for the community. Now it seems to me that if the people do not approve of racial violent cops, they ought not to refrain from expressing their opinion. To some degree, Grossman is correct. You give honor to those that serve. But there is a legitimate time to withhold approval from people who behave poorly. This increases the trauma? Good. It is supposed to.
That this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.
10-08-2020, 10:15 AM
I've been busy, so this is late.
(10-06-2020, 12:59 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(10-06-2020, 12:43 PM)David Horn Wrote: "Gun rights" are only defined as they are because a conservative court decided they should be. Even there, the right was limited to home defense. I could live with that, if it stayed there. It doesn't. As recently as the Burger Court, the idea that the 2nd extended beyond the militia was considered highly suspect to down-right wrong. There is no chance that this will not arise again in the future, because society is awash in firearms, awaiting the trigger that starts widespread misuse and, likely death. We've already had one case of a teenager taking a military style firearm across state lines to "protect property" and killing people in the process. What happens if that becomes the response model to an election -- THIS election?
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.
10-08-2020, 10:23 AM
(10-06-2020, 11:07 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Dude, the Democrats always have an excuse for not doing their jobs or addressing dire problems. Ah! Something we can agree on. Yes, the Dems are truly horrible at that. They're the Hamlet Party. Then again., the GOP is the Macbeth Party, which is worse. We need an alternative. One is unlikely to arise on the Right. That leaves the Left. Let's hope we don't have to wait for AOC to come of age and run for the top office. She' 30 now, so her earliest run would be 2028.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.
10-08-2020, 02:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-08-2020, 02:37 PM by Classic-Xer.)
(10-08-2020, 10:23 AM)David Horn Wrote:Well, the GOP is quickly becoming the American party (you obviously don't see it that way but that's fine). The Democratic party and what's left of the Republican establishment are becoming the party of Hamlet and MacBeth as you say. It seems like every Democrat opposed to Trump and impeached Trump are using Trumps America First message/rhetoric today. I don't belief them or have faith in them but that's what they're all doing these days. How pathetic is that? I'm sure it's not pathetic to a pathetic person. So, who is still going to be around to clean up the Democratic mess and deal with all the chaos associated with failed states? I doubt you'll find many Americans who are interested in doing the job or find many who are sympathetic or want/feel obligated to keep them either. Is AOC going to be much different than her Marxist predecessors? Do you think her pretty brown eyes and pretty face is going to make Marxism more appealing to American tax payers?(10-06-2020, 11:07 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Dude, the Democrats always have an excuse for not doing their jobs or addressing dire problems.
10-08-2020, 04:40 PM
(10-08-2020, 10:15 AM)David Horn Wrote: I've been busy, so this is late.You should get the facts straight before you post. I watched most of the footage of the incident and I listened to what his lawyer had to say about his case too. He didn't cross state lines with the weapon as initially reported. He's was a Wisconsin resident who was in Illinois and came back home to help defend the property of a close friend. I'd do the same thing for one of my close friends. So, what are you going to do when we decide it's time to temporarily lower our standards and act more like the Liberals and simply use guilt by association to justify the elimination of you, the Democratic party and the entire left. Does this seem American to you? We can do mob rule too.
10-08-2020, 08:33 PM
Eric the Green
(10-07-2020, 06:56 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:(10-07-2020, 04:46 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-07-2020, 10:59 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: America is at war, and it is losing the war with the SARS-2 virus that causes COVID-19. I am thinking whether to put ol Classic on ignore. But then, we might have no-one to argue with, no-one against which to shine our light. Classic is getting rather pathetic, and I know he doesn't like me, but his insults really mean nothing to me, and I have no real feelings of anger against him; just against his ideas-- which many others in our strange and backward society hold. So, I guess we're stuck with the poor dude, and the others he represents. If we have that civil war we both have predicted might come, I have predicted that his side will lose rather quickly, it will be all over, and we'll go on to gradually mend our ways, and onward toward our next awakening. I wish we had the awakening all the time. I do love the good old days, and I will never believe they can't happen all the time. What's there to think about, shining the light on me casts a shadow a shadow on you. I think you should do it myself. So, the stars are telling you the outcome? So, how long was World War II? How long was the Civil War? How long was the Revolutionary War? A while ago, I gave you a prediction that matches what we are seeing occur in blue cities and their bordering suburbs today. So, how many blues states are more or less functioning as dictatorships today. I say cool, lets keep them that way for a few more years. A Bumbling Biden win and a quid pro quo replacement in office that neither side supported sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. So, how are you going to win a Civil War with America as your fighting a Civil War with Americans in your state. Do you see how stupid your politicians are these days? We're not blue SHEEPLE!!!
10-08-2020, 10:14 PM
(10-08-2020, 02:23 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-08-2020, 10:23 AM)David Horn Wrote:(10-06-2020, 11:07 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Dude, the Democrats always have an excuse for not doing their jobs or addressing dire problems. Democrats are just as Americans as Republicans. The only connection that I can see between Democrats and either Hamlet or Macbeth is that the two are title characters of Shakespeare plays, that knowing the plays well is intellectual in nature, and that being above average in intelligence and intellectual curiosity correlates to hostility toward the anti-intellectualism of Donald Trump.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
10-08-2020, 11:11 PM
(10-08-2020, 10:14 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:(10-08-2020, 02:23 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-08-2020, 10:23 AM)David Horn Wrote:(10-06-2020, 11:07 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Dude, the Democrats always have an excuse for not doing their jobs or addressing dire problems. David's analogy is very apt and precise. It's the indecisive Hamlet versus the evil MacBeth. That is our choice. But our only alternative is to push and push the Hamlets into becoming Henry V. St. Crispian's Day beckons. But AOC will never be president. It is not in the stars. I'm not sure there is a leftist around who can be elected president. I am open to suggestions, and I can score them. For sure, none of the 2020 candidates is our new Henry. I see Landrieu or McAuliffe as the only hopes at the moment, except they are Hamlets too.
10-09-2020, 02:17 AM
OK. I get it.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
10-09-2020, 06:57 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-09-2020, 06:59 AM by Eric the Green.)
(10-08-2020, 04:40 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-08-2020, 10:15 AM)David Horn Wrote: I've been busy, so this is late.You should get the facts straight before you post. I watched most of the footage of the incident and I listened to what his lawyer had to say about his case too. He didn't cross state lines with the weapon as initially reported. He's was a Wisconsin resident who was in Illinois and came back home to help defend the property of a close friend. I'd do the same thing for one of my close friends. So, what are you going to do when we decide it's time to temporarily lower our standards and act more like the Liberals and simply use guilt by association to justify the elimination of you, the Democratic party and the entire left. Does this seem American to you? We can do mob rule too. You should get the facts straight before you post. The guy was a stupid young nut obsessed with guns and right-wing propaganda. He crossed state lines illegally in order to "protect property" but had no particular property in mind and his only act was to shoot three wonderful young protesters. You talk about law and order, but you are part of the most lawless and violent segment of society today according to the FBI. You are not answering the liberals, the liberals are answering you. And you resist the truth. David is exactly right on this.
10-09-2020, 09:26 AM
(10-08-2020, 02:23 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-08-2020, 10:23 AM)David Horn Wrote:(10-06-2020, 11:07 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Dude, the Democrats always have an excuse for not doing their jobs or addressing dire problems. The GOP is becoming the American Parity, lie the Fascists became the national parties in there respective countries. Needless to say, it didn't go well. And no, the old-line GOP is not the Macbeth Party. They're the Wall Street Party. They may survive in some form, but not in the form they once held. No, it's the Trumpists who are the Macbeth Party: burn it all down and start anew. We need change, but I can't see that kind of change being supported by enough people long enough to happen. It's also borderline treason (though the idiots in Michigan took that right over the line there). I suspect that Trump for President 2020 is a less likely success than Trump for Prison 2021. And let's talk about AOC. If she's a Marxist, tell me how. She's definitely a strong Social Democrat, that's for sure, and the rich will give back some of those ill gotten gains in a Social Democratic period -- just like they did after the last Gilded Age. Just for a quick example of extreme plutocratic behavior: Jeff Bezos could give each of his 870,000 employees an $80,000 bonus, and still be as rich as he was at this time last year.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.
10-09-2020, 01:58 PM
(10-08-2020, 02:23 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-08-2020, 10:23 AM)David Horn Wrote:(10-06-2020, 11:07 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote: Dude, the Democrats always have an excuse for not doing their jobs or addressing dire problems. My understanding of Macbeth is of an illegal usurpation of power with Macbeth killing King Duncan and becoming a King. Macbeth exemplifies thug government, and Shakespeare seems to suggest that thug government destroys itself in the end by creating implacable enemies. Macbeth is consummately ruthless in his deeds, although his wife seems to be the evil genius prodding him. (Think of Magda Goebbels, wife of Josef Goebbels and through her influence upon him having had the potential to be a major defendant at the main Nuremberg trial along with Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, et al.) Ruthlessness without moral compass leads to ruin. Macbeth is a commonplace object of K-12 English literature, and it offers an ideologically-neutral expression of a needful lesson in political reality: thug rule is ruin as well as horror for innocent people. As for claiming that one Party is becoming the sole expression of what a country is, I need remind you of what NSDAP Deputy-Fuehrer Rudolf Hess aid in 1934: „Die Partei ist Hitler, Hitler aber ist Deutschland, wie Deutschland Hitler ist" The (Nazi) Party is Hitler, Hitler is Germany, and Germany is Hitler! Hitler is the best-known (to Americans) of thug rule at its most definitive, as he offended the sensibilities of the vast majority of Americans with his persecutions and mass murders. Figure that he sent to America a large number of political and "racial" refugees who were never going to give him a break and would gladly distinguish between being a German and a Nazis. Saddam Hussein got similar treatment as a fascist gangster. Social orders recently delivered from thug rule would be wise to include Macbeth in the common school syllabus. As for Hamlet -- it is the GOP that has so many elected officials that seem excessively indecisive about Donald Trump. ......You, Classic X'er are welcome to hold me in contempt as a pathetic person. I do not fully like what I am, and I would like to change much about myself. At my age, major changes in character are nearly impossible other than degradation of mind from organic disease. Others covered for me thinking that my quirks were mere eccentricity. Autistic tendencies are all over my family. My parents were close to the straight and narrow, but they lacked any personal warmth. That describes me well. If I ever have anything more than a superficial crush, then that will imply acting that on stage would get much applause. I must act like a stage or screen actor to seem normal. The best that one can hope for with Asperger's syndrome is to get away with it. Your narrow definition of what constitutes an American almost suggests a willingness to overthrow what gets in the way of your ideal of a plutocratic order in which everyone not in the hereditary or quasi-hereditary elite must scrap for everything that makes life something other than a nightmare of fear and poverty. That is how Marxists depict capitalism, and where that depiction fits the local reality, Marxism has the potential of offering deliverance to destitute people and people of morals from a moral as well as economic nightmare that can survive only with brutality. I cannot describe the foiled plot to kidnap and (likely) murder the Governor of Michigan as anything other than lawlessness. Such would have brought about chaos. One of the most surprising endorsements of Joe Biden came from her predecessor, a right-wing Republican who is himself a piece of work for his quest to make Michigan a Right-to-Work (for much lower pay) state and for his "emergency managers" intended to take over functions of elected city governments in communities with (largely) heavily-African-American and Democratic-voting populations. Maybe the President's assault on the authority of his liberal Democratic successor offends him as an assault on states' rights as remain intact in the federal conception of power. (The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments deny states the right to treat people as less-than-human due to origins, but that is an establishment of basic rights). Putting all under the control of the President is the antithesis of federalism and the essence of turning the President into a dictator. Left-wing Marxism has had little effectiveness in changing American government through the electoral process. It has always been on the fringe -- even more on the fringe than the fascistic KKK which ruled whole states and at one point in the 1920s was closer to taking over the USA than Adolf Hitler was to taking over Germany. The hesitant steps toward what you consider socialism were either pragmatic efforts to save the capitalist system in the 1930's or alleviating poverty in the 1960's. Right-wing, or mirror-image, Marxism sees capitalism much as Marxist-Leninists do as an exploitative, repressive, corrupt, and inequitable social order. Mirror-image Marxists differ from Marxist-Leninists in endorsing the exploitation, repression, corruption, and inequity that many non-Marxists would seek to remedy through social reform.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.
02-26-2021, 03:16 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-26-2021, 03:47 AM by Captain Genet.)
The opposite of Weird should be called Natural, which has the advantage of ambiguous meaning. Beautiful beaches are natural and so are deadly snakes. Love and creativity are natural, but so is cruelty.
Both Natural and Weird patterns are a mixture of good and bad traits. Natural societies have cohesive communities, which are good for emotional well-being. But they are also uncurious about the Universe beyond the limits of traditional knowledge. They are also known to persecute nonconformists, in extreme cases burning them at stakes. Weird societies are driven by a spirit of curiosity and scepticism, which results in looking for signs of life on what for the Naturals is a pale red dot. Weird people make exciting entertainment, from rock music to sci-fi movies. The downsides are atomization, excessive selfishness and high level of mental disorders, especially depression and addictions, not only alcohol and illegal drugs but also porn and social media addiction. The ideal form of human society must combine the best features of Natural and Weird. On my compass, Weird seems to relate to Yellow and Purples sectors, and Natural to Blue and Brown. Red can be closer to Natural (like North Korea) or to Weird (like Trotskyism).
02-26-2021, 06:49 AM
(10-07-2020, 04:46 PM)Classic-Xer Wrote:(10-07-2020, 10:59 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: America is at war, and it is losing the war with the SARS-2 virus that causes COVID-19.We are actually winning that war too. It goes against the blue narrative but it's the truth whether you want to believe it or accept it or not. As far as I'm concerned the Democrats can keep you penned up and restricted for years and remove all your rights as well. A mindless/senseless political hack like yourself doesn't deserve freedom. Lol America was losing under the Trump regime and it is losing under the Biden regime.
02-26-2021, 10:04 AM
(02-26-2021, 03:16 AM)Captain Genet Wrote: The opposite of Weird should be called Natural, which has the advantage of ambiguous meaning. Beautiful beaches are natural and so are deadly snakes. Love and creativity are natural, but so is cruelty. In this context, WEIRD is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic. I'm not sure that maps to another model.
Intelligence is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom, but they all play well together.
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