And don’t shoot the messenger.
If the GOP and Democratic party were to merge, what would be the difference in
1. Race relations
2. War
3. Climate change
4. Immigration
5. Trade
Category Archives: Debates
Pedophilia
In Nabokov’s Lolita,Humbert Humbert is attracted to a 12 year old girl.
Mark Greif in Against Everything, suggests that those who dreamed of sexual liberation did not go far enough. They should have said, he writes
Sex is a biological function—and for that reason no grounds to persecute anyone. It is truthless—you must not bring force to bear on people for the basic, biological, and private; you may not persecute them on grounds so accidental. You must leave them alone, neither forcing them to deny their sex nor to bring it into the light.
He, Greif, asks why is there an allure in youth and answers
Youth is more effective precisely because it is something all of us are always losing.
When we look back, we were once youth, it is the familiar. When we look ahead, all adults (those older than us) are strangers, for we have never been old.
Then comes this TEDx talk
This should be an interesting discussion. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this.
to or not to a build a wall
I don’t live anywhere near a border neither do I deal with border security. Having said that, I disagree with Jim who thinks trumpsky should have his wall to stop illegal immigrants. I don’t think anyone should be called an illegal. They are migrants and that’s all. And while there are concerns that the host countries cannot handle all the refugees, which I think could be possible, but we have to agree that economic policies, some pushed by WTO have made the case of economic refugees worse. So instead of burying our heads in the sand and addressing a symptom, why not bravely ask the governments to address the real problems.
Nick Kolakowoski in his post lists a few examples of border walls and their successes while William Wilcox looks at the ideology behind border walls.
I am more inclined to this position
The solution, however, isn’t to create massive walls to tell these people that they are unwanted but to increase humanitarian aid abroad, in order to address the issues creating these refugees, while working to welcome the refugees at home.
though it ain’t humanitarian aid that is needed. The place to start is fair trade agreements, reducing armed conflicts around the world, encouraging multinationals that run sweatshops in third world countries to stop and start paying fair wages.
I am confident that all of you can come up with more humane ways to address the crisis than a border wall and a government shutdown. Besides, there are reports of trumpsky having undocumented workers in his various hotels giving credence to the claim that his wall is not really about US of A’s safe borders but could be a manifestation of his racism. But maybe I am wrong about trumpsky, the wall and everything else.
The great agnostic
On atheists and agnostics had this to say
The agnostic is an atheist. The atheist is an agnostic. The agnostic says; ‘i do not know but I do not believe there is any god. The atheist says the same. The orthodox Christian says he knows there is a god: but we know that he does not know. The atheist (too) cannot know that god does not exist.
I think this settles the matter.
Walking on eggshells
This post or rather set of questions have become very sensitive. One is almost always wrong, especially if they happen to be male.
Mansplaining- is there a women corollary?
All men are trash- is there an opposing corollary?
All men are retards- is there a women corollary?
How are men to navigate the discussions around feminism without appearing to silence women’s voices, appearing to be guilty of mansplaining and so on?
To put it differently, how are men to be feminists allies?
And finally, what is feminism?
Who are heroes
Are they the soldiers sent to die in battlefields and actually do so?
Are those men and women who object drafting?
Who are they?
Rumble in the Urban Jungle
Julius Malema is portrayed by most media outlets as a rabid dog, a noise maker, disturber of the peace and so on. One hardly hears anything good about the man. This debate has changed my opinion of the man. It’s shy of two hours but you can listen to it while you make tea or coffee. I think it is a good debate.
The burden of proof and time sheets
No, they are not related. Here we have had a long debate on burden of proof.
There is this post from medium on the same that I think is interesting.
I hate time sheets, in fact, I hardly ever fill them. We have it on the intranet and I don’t have an idea whether anyone ever fills them. They are to me a massive waste of time. This person agrees.
Nice weekend everyone
Searching for Hydri
N.B: For a related note, see Waiting for Hydri
Captain’s log: 17th Megan, Cosmic Year 208GX
Cosmic position: Upper Lagrangian Point (L3), assumed after sling-shorting from L5 in the Terra-Helios architecture. From L3, planet earth is neatly eclipsed by the Solar.
Space Vessel: Dreadnought, class 4.5, with an M.D.C. hull armor rating of 12. Space vessel christened “Discovery”.
Mission Payload: 6 Persons, 435 Terra-KGs (TKGs) in Mass, and a bionic atmosphere of 645 TKGs.
Mission Objective: Ascertaining, once and for all, the existence, or non-existence, of a presence, an entity – (a being?) – commonly referred to as Hydri.
Mission Profile: Tracking down, analyzing, and documenting any and each single instance of electromagnetic interference, in the cosmic, gamma, x, visible, infra and microwave factions, that lie outside standard expectations for the heliosphere. Magnetic fields and particle flux from the Solar and periodic comets lie within the standard formulation.
Mission rationale: Hydri is hypothesized to be an invisible, intangible being, but who nevertheless affects the physical universe in profound, empirical ways. Any being that can accomplish this, even when lacking personal substance, would necessarily employ physical forces that can, in turn, be empirically observed, and documented. Hence even if Hydri lurks in a higher dimension, Hydri’s interaction with the physical universe should be scientifically irrefutable.
Captain’s log: Entry #1376 – (1500 Sidereal Hrs, synched to the vernal equinox)
Transcription for main bridge commands between the captain and Discovery’s neural nodes, recorded verbatim:
Captain: Routine system check up, Discovery. Report.
Discovery: ROUTINE SYSTEM CHECK-UP COMPLETED. ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL.
Captain: Recheck Visual Train. Set priority at level 4.
Discovery: VISUAL TRAIN RECHECKED AT PRIORITY 4. ACUITY SET TO MAXIMUM. ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL.
Captain: Initiate new directive. Code-name new directive “Project Hydri”.
Discovery: NEW DIRECTIVE INITIATED, CODE-NAMED “PROJECT HYDRI”.
Captain: Log in all electromagnetic interference sourced in the spatial cone circumscribed by Discovery, Constellation Lyra, and Alpha Centauri.
Discovery: COMMANDS UNDERSTOOD. EMI IN INERTIAL CONE HASH 325.9 INTERCEPTED, TABLED OUT AND DOCUMENTED.
Captain: Report on any EMI lying outside standard expectations for Inertial Cone Hash 325.9. Accommodate nominal magnetic and particle flux from known celestial entities.
Discovery: COMMANDS UNDERSTOOD. EMI DATA REFILTERED. NO EMI LYING OUTSIDE STANDARD EXPECTATIONS DETECTED.
Captain: Roger that, Discovery. Thank you.
Captain’s log: Entry #1377 – (1545 Sidereal Hrs, synched to the vernal equinox):
Discovery’s data verified as irrefutable by all persons on-bridge: no empirical evidence for Hydri detected. Directive code-named “Project Hydri” concluded.
Food for Thought: Guns and Crosses
Supposing Jesus had walked the earth in the 20th Century, and had faced a firing squad for his execution, instead of being crucified.
Then the gun – instead of the cross – would be the Christian symbol. Churches would be having a machine gun placed prominently everywhere. Christians would hang pistols or revolvers around their necks.
Pastors and priests would often say such things as “Carry your own machine gun” or “Shoulder your own artillery” in church services. There would be mass shootings every Good Friday, especially in the Philippines.
When praying, instead of making the sign of the cross, Catholics would mime pointing an invisible pistol against their temples – ready to blow their brains out. The pope would regularly mime pointing a rifle at the huge congregations. Or an RPG launcher.
Cemeteries would be full of machine and sub-machine guns: Hotchkiss, LSATs, Ultimax, Bizon SMGs, Daewoos, and so on. Huge, rotary cannons would adorn churches spires – M61 Vulcans, GAU-Avengers, and the Gryazev Shipunovs.
Interestingly, all this would be considered normal… and pious. In fact, any criminal bearing a gun would be getting an initial benefit of doubt – he could be a devout Christian, after all. And so it would be, that occasionally, a gun-wielding robber would be proclaiming, loudly, thus:
“I’m not a Christian. I’m a heartless thief. Stick your hands up!”
