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Forums - Politics Discussion - JC's blah news opinion roundup

VAMatt on 07 July 2018
HylianSwordsman said:
VAMatt said:

I guess you're right.  However, I'd note that there is only one definition of free.  So, people would have to say something like "leader of the freer world" to be correct.  

There is most certainly not just one definition. Merriam-Webster lists 15. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/free

I mean it in sense 2, particularly b and c, while you mean it somewhat in sense 2d but mostly in sense 3.

Senses 1, 2a, and 4 are unrelated to this conversation.  

I'd argue that 2b is not correct.  Free citizen (in every practical way) is an oxymoron.  I could say the same about 2c, I guess.  So, yeah, 2d and 3 are what I mean by free.  And, as far as I'm concerned, the other (related) definitions are all doublespeak.  One is either free, or not.  



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VAMatt on 07 July 2018
VAMatt said:
HylianSwordsman said:

There is most certainly not just one definition. Merriam-Webster lists 15. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/free

I mean it in sense 2, particularly b and c, while you mean it somewhat in sense 2d but mostly in sense 3.

Senses 1, 2a, and 4 are unrelated to this conversation.  

I'd argue that 2b is not correct.  Free citizen (in every practical way) is an oxymoron.  I could say the same about 2c, I guess.  So, yeah, 2d and 3 are what I mean by free.  And, as far as I'm concerned, the other (related) definitions are all doublespeak.  One is either free, or not.  

To bring this back to the OP....

There is no "free world".  There are just varying degrees of authoritarianism.  



massimus on 07 July 2018

A citizen isn't a subject. They are free under law, not rule. Total anarchy isnt freedom either, it’s jungle law and survival of the fittest. A free citizen is the best thing you can be lol.



Oneeee-Chan!!! on 07 July 2018

So... what should we do now ?



HylianSwordsman on 07 July 2018
VAMatt said:
HylianSwordsman said:

There is most certainly not just one definition. Merriam-Webster lists 15. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/free

I mean it in sense 2, particularly b and c, while you mean it somewhat in sense 2d but mostly in sense 3.

Senses 1, 2a, and 4 are unrelated to this conversation.  

I'd argue that 2b is not correct.  Free citizen (in every practical way) is an oxymoron.  I could say the same about 2c, I guess.  So, yeah, 2d and 3 are what I mean by free.  And, as far as I'm concerned, the other (related) definitions are all doublespeak.  One is either free, or not.  

Sounds like we have a philosophical difference more so than a political one then. I maintain my point from our previous conversation that technology may one day create a voluntary institution that could serve as an alternative to government that you and I could both agree on. Until then, I'm more inclined to agree with massimus, though he and I would definitely have our political differences.



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VAMatt on 08 July 2018
Oneeee-Chan!!! said:

So... what should we do now ?

Well, I dunno about you, but I'm gonna talk about gaming on other threads.  



TheBird on 08 July 2018

Honestly doubt the US is actually the sixth most dangerous country for women. Women here think a guy looking at them wrong is sexual assault, and they decide its rape the next morning after having consensual sex with a dude just because they decided they didn't like what they did.
Most third world countries have thousands of rape cases go unseen by the government, so it is basically impossible to measure which countries are truly the most dangerous. (But I will just say that any country with Shariah law will easily top that list).



Jaicee on 08 July 2018
HylianSwordsman said:
I think the US just has better reporting. You're kidding yourself if you think we're even in the top 10 worst places for women. We're definitely at or near the bottom of the western world, but Latin America, Middle East, Africa, and much of Asia is worse.

Supreme court is a completely broken institution, and if we don't collapse into fascism, it will be reformed one way or another soon enough.

Yep, conservative Christians will define when a life begins based on their theology, forcing their theology on the rest of us. It only just became official. If you don't like that, you should have voted. Disliking the system or your choices doesn't let you escape from blame when you cede what little control you do have under the system to the people that still use it.

We aren't the leader of the free world. Haven't been for a while now. It will take a lot of change on our part to reclaim that title. It's not too late to try though.

Lady Liberty will be a footnote in the history books, if that, if we don't reclaim our place as leader of the free world, so if you find that inspiring, then don't give up.

Yeah I haven't been following that GRA thing, but it sounds like just the sort of tone deaf, ill-considered, identity politics token gesture that neoliberals would try to pull so they can claim they're contributing to equality and progress without thinking about the ramifications.

The EPA is a joke now. It just seems wrong that it gets abused like this. Seriously, if they refuse to protect the environment, and thus refuse the agency's mission, why not just abolish it? That would be the honest thing to do. Republicans would support it. But they don't, because it at least acts as a vehicle to plunder public money from the American people for the corrupt jerks that get appointed there. And apparently conservatives are fine with public money being stolen by corrupt people so long as it makes "liberals" mad. They would seriously rather have a corrupt EPA than abolish it because it upsets people they don't like. It genuinely seems like conservatives view the EPA as an "own the libs" government program that they're happy to fund because who cares about small government when you can use the government to troll people?

I think we largely agree here (and there aren't a lot of replies so far to which I did, so I'm focusing on this one where I feel there is hope ), but to address the two areas where we're divided:

When you suggest that sexual violence and harassment are but more often reported here in the U.S., I think it's entirely possible that that's the case (especially in the wake of the Me Too movement). However, I think it's equally possible that people (men in particular) are simply underestimating the severity of the problem that we have in this country based on certain elitist prejudices that First World people often have, like the assumption that because the United States is a more prosperous and white country than most, that we are therefore more civilized and peaceable toward one-another than those savages of color over in the Third World despite a consider amount of evidence that that just may not be the case in the area of sexual violence and harassment toward women. It honestly doesn't really feel like sexual violence and harassment are things that we take very seriously to me. I mean I think the Me Too movement began in this country and not somewhere else for a reason. I feel that I provided a reasonable amount of substantiation for my opinion in the OP.

The only other thing we appear to have a difference on was this remark on the composition of the Supreme Court and its implications: "If you don't like that, you should have voted." I did vote. For Hillary Clinton. So how am I to blame here? I mean why would you just assume that I didn't vote?

Anyway, it looks like we agree on the rest. I particularly appreciated it when you said to not give up because that hit home. Honestly, giving up is what I really feel like doing right now. So just wanted to single that out to say thank you.

Last edited by Jaicee - on 08 July 2018