One of the conservative tropes that I hate the most is the one about Canadians coming down south for healthcare because of how horrible the Canadian system is. Its simply not true, the Canadian healthcare system is popular with most Canadians and provides pretty good healthcare. Worse, a lot of conservatives seem to really believe this trope. They always invoke. They never have any evidence or statistics of it but they always invoke it.
Thats only an issue if you want to win power. The goal of the GOP might simply be to let the Democratic Party from implementing their policy goals. The American polticial system and our parliamentary rules gives the minority party means of gumming up the works without being in power. All they need is one house of Congress or even just a plurality of Senators and nothing gets done.
You should watch Logan's Run, its a really interesting movie. Its one of the rare times when the adaptation is better than the source material. The original novel was a pretty reactionary science fiction book that was making fun of the hippies as much as possible. The movie took an interesting concept from the book, a society where people have to die at a certain age and took away the reactionary parts to make a fun movie.
I once heard an interview on NPR, I forgot who was being interviewed but it was about the collapse of Communism. The interviewee theorized that one reason why the CCP survived and other other Communist Parties did not was because the CCP had the revelation that people like to have fun and if you allow people their fun, they won't complain so much. She seems to be right. Its bread and circuses for the masses and unlike Rome, we figuered out how to get the masses to pay.
Arab Christians were heavily involved with the creation of Arab nationalism as a way to protect themselves from majority rule. Part of this is that they wanted to create a secular identity for the Middle East that would put them on equal footing with the Muslim majority rather than have them in their traditional second class status. The Ba'ath movement was founded by two Arab Chirstians. Like their Eastern European counterparts, the Arab Christians decided that the Jews needed to be excluded from the national movement though.
Thirding. Assad kind of reminds me of a more competent version of Nicholas II. Tsar Nicholas II was a thoroughly pleseant man of conventional opinions who would have made an excellent constitutional monarch. The problem was that he was born to be the heir of an absolute monarchy and was over his head.
Assad wasn't really meant to be the heir to his father but his older brother died in a car crash. Like Nicholas II, Assad was probably a fairly ordinary pleseant eye-doctor, although considering his family we don't know about his actual personality, and probably would have been happier if he stayed in the UK. Unlike Nicholas II, Assad learned how to be a thoroughly unpleseant dictator very fast.
Exactly, a good first rule for any problematic situation is don't make it worse. I think the evidence is fairly conclusive that outside military intervention in Syria will make things worse. Again, we can aid the refugees and give them asylum even. Thats a moral requirements and it won't make things worse. Sending in troops will only confuse an already confusing muddle.
I think that philosophy is often Euro-centric because most of the secular philosophy in the world was written by Europeans or people influenced by Europeans. A lot of the non-European philosophy is more heavily linked to religion. Jewish philosophy is linked to Judaism, Arabic philosophy to Islam, and Asian philosophy to one of the Dharmic religions. This means that a lot of non-European philosophy is more likely to be read in different departments than the philosophy department.
Another problem with the heavy links of non-European philosophy to religion is that you need more context to read it in many cases. Maimonides makes more sense when you have a good grasp of Judaism. I'm pretty sure that you need relatively deep knowledge of Islam to understand many of the Arabic philosophers.
And like I pointed out, I'm only anti-military intervention. I do believe that we should help with the Syrian refugees by giving as many of them as possible asylum or any other aid necessary. The internal political situation is not clear enough to justify formerly supporting the Rebels with military intervention though.
Like Shazbot said, the red line statement was not a threat of invasion if crossed. The red line statement merely said that the use of chemical weapons would have consequences. I think it was important statement to make to at least demonstrate that certain behaviors are unacceptible.
I agree with Shazbot5, its unclear that intervening in Syria would make things better. The opposition to Assad is wide-spread but ill-defined. There are no prominent organizations or leaders among them. It just seems to be a loosely confederated group of different organizations that share one goal, getting rid of Assad. In Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt, the opposition was a bit better defined.
Its also unclear whether the opposition is going to be better than Assad. Many of the minority groups in Syria are siding with Assad because they fear persecution from the Sunni majority if the Opposition wins the Syrian Civil War. Its not even clear whether Opposition knows what they want for Syria besides no Assad.
The entire situation in Syria is chaotic. We should provide asylum and aid for Syrian refugees. Thats a given. Feed them, clothe them, house them, medicate them, and give them legal status in other countries if they so desire. At the same time, do not intervene within interal Syrian politics except to contain the Syrian Civil War in Syria. More actors would just make the entire situation more confusing.
Isn't X one of the obscure bands from the 1980s and not even late 1980s but early to mid-1980s? They were kind of like Sonic Youth but slightly older when they started or at least I thought as much. Are they still around?
Egypt seems intent on turning itself into Pakistan-on-the-Nile. Is there anyway we can convince the Muslim-majority countries to keep the fighting among themselves and leave the rest of the world out of it?
The problem is that a lot of dancers do have a limited shelf life, especially if they are women. They are best from their twenties to mid-thirities and than the body begins to take its toll. Men have a slightly longer career life. Partner dancers can last longer to since the stress on the body is a bit less, so its more forgiving. Athletes also have a short shelf life. The incentives are for using this short professional life as best as possible for everybody even if its at the cost of the body.
Shazbot lists all the reasons why intervening in Syria is a really, really bad idea. Syria is a mess and horrible things are happening in it. More people have been killed in the Syrian Civil War than the entire Arab-Israel conflict. I think that intervention in Syria is going to make things much worse and we really shouldn't intervene because of this.
Assad is bastard but its not really that clear whether the opposition would be much better except in the sense that leadership would be more widespread so we would have more people participating in the making of really bad decisions. The best we can do is make sure that Syrian troubles remain internal.
A lot of parents aren't going to help because they are living vicariously through their daughter dancers and athletic sons and encouraging some really bad decisions as a result. Even if parents aren't living vicariously through their children, they might egg them on. Parents are only going to be help if they are satisfied enough with their lives that the do not feel a need to push their children.
Kazzy, what type of dancing did Chloe did? Was it ballet/modern/theatrical dancing or was it more competitive partner dancing? I'm involved in partner dancing on an amateur level and its culture is a bit different than ballet/modern/theatrical dancing. Partner dancing tends to have fewer of the concerns about weight and body than ballet/modern dance but dancers also have a longer professional life in partner dancing so it might be a side effect of that. Why damage something that you are going to need for the rest of your career?
Just Me hit the nail on the head. We as a society have beliefs about what the ideal athlete or dancer should look like. People really want to see talented athletes and dancers, they pay good money for it. Dancers are less lionized than athletes but are just as popular in the right social circles. There are people who seem to have a natural tendency to punish their bodies in order to become an athlete or dancer even if most of them are going to fail. There are parents who are going to push their kids in that direction. You can't really solve these problems without really changing society enough so that there isn't a demand for people to push their bodies.
This is pretty spot on. I think that the two biggest problems with more than a few gun owners is that many of them seem to feel the need to be a hero and that they are absolutely sure of their skill. Its the entire the way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. I'd really like to hear at least one gun owner express some doubt about his or her ability in mass spree shooting. The certainty among them is disconcerning.
The other problem is that many of them to have they "when all you have is a hammer, all your problems" look like nails. "Bad people" do bad things with guns? Why the solution is to have good people do good things with guns, which mainly seems to be shooting "bad people". There can't be any other solution like allowing people with mental illneses to get the help they need.
The market for people who need replacement organs might be relatively static but the people in the market for replacement organs usually need them as a matter of life and death. That will make up for the relative staticness of the market more than enough to make it lucretive.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “The Apocalyptic Bobby Jindal”
Never, that would be unsporstman-like and conduct not befitting for a gentleman. Gentleman do not say unpleseant things about their dining companions.
"
One of the conservative tropes that I hate the most is the one about Canadians coming down south for healthcare because of how horrible the Canadian system is. Its simply not true, the Canadian healthcare system is popular with most Canadians and provides pretty good healthcare. Worse, a lot of conservatives seem to really believe this trope. They always invoke. They never have any evidence or statistics of it but they always invoke it.
"
Thats only an issue if you want to win power. The goal of the GOP might simply be to let the Democratic Party from implementing their policy goals. The American polticial system and our parliamentary rules gives the minority party means of gumming up the works without being in power. All they need is one house of Congress or even just a plurality of Senators and nothing gets done.
On “James Taranto, Louis C.K., and The Brand New War On Men”
Yes, thats true to.
"
Yes, thats true to.
"
It took you this long to figure that out? There are seven billion of us and we all can't be morally sound.
"
No means no, sometimes yes mean no to in certain situations, and you just got to accept that.
On “Driving Blind: Product Placement and Fashionable Suicides”
You should watch Logan's Run, its a really interesting movie. Its one of the rare times when the adaptation is better than the source material. The original novel was a pretty reactionary science fiction book that was making fun of the hippies as much as possible. The movie took an interesting concept from the book, a society where people have to die at a certain age and took away the reactionary parts to make a fun movie.
On “Snowden is an Idiot and Possibly a Traitor”
I once heard an interview on NPR, I forgot who was being interviewed but it was about the collapse of Communism. The interviewee theorized that one reason why the CCP survived and other other Communist Parties did not was because the CCP had the revelation that people like to have fun and if you allow people their fun, they won't complain so much. She seems to be right. Its bread and circuses for the masses and unlike Rome, we figuered out how to get the masses to pay.
On “Waiting for Halabja”
Arab Christians were heavily involved with the creation of Arab nationalism as a way to protect themselves from majority rule. Part of this is that they wanted to create a secular identity for the Middle East that would put them on equal footing with the Muslim majority rather than have them in their traditional second class status. The Ba'ath movement was founded by two Arab Chirstians. Like their Eastern European counterparts, the Arab Christians decided that the Jews needed to be excluded from the national movement though.
"
Thirding. Assad kind of reminds me of a more competent version of Nicholas II. Tsar Nicholas II was a thoroughly pleseant man of conventional opinions who would have made an excellent constitutional monarch. The problem was that he was born to be the heir of an absolute monarchy and was over his head.
Assad wasn't really meant to be the heir to his father but his older brother died in a car crash. Like Nicholas II, Assad was probably a fairly ordinary pleseant eye-doctor, although considering his family we don't know about his actual personality, and probably would have been happier if he stayed in the UK. Unlike Nicholas II, Assad learned how to be a thoroughly unpleseant dictator very fast.
"
Exactly, a good first rule for any problematic situation is don't make it worse. I think the evidence is fairly conclusive that outside military intervention in Syria will make things worse. Again, we can aid the refugees and give them asylum even. Thats a moral requirements and it won't make things worse. Sending in troops will only confuse an already confusing muddle.
On “Driving Blind: Leftovers and Updates”
A lot probably.
"
I think that philosophy is often Euro-centric because most of the secular philosophy in the world was written by Europeans or people influenced by Europeans. A lot of the non-European philosophy is more heavily linked to religion. Jewish philosophy is linked to Judaism, Arabic philosophy to Islam, and Asian philosophy to one of the Dharmic religions. This means that a lot of non-European philosophy is more likely to be read in different departments than the philosophy department.
Another problem with the heavy links of non-European philosophy to religion is that you need more context to read it in many cases. Maimonides makes more sense when you have a good grasp of Judaism. I'm pretty sure that you need relatively deep knowledge of Islam to understand many of the Arabic philosophers.
On “Waiting for Halabja”
And like I pointed out, I'm only anti-military intervention. I do believe that we should help with the Syrian refugees by giving as many of them as possible asylum or any other aid necessary. The internal political situation is not clear enough to justify formerly supporting the Rebels with military intervention though.
"
Like Shazbot said, the red line statement was not a threat of invasion if crossed. The red line statement merely said that the use of chemical weapons would have consequences. I think it was important statement to make to at least demonstrate that certain behaviors are unacceptible.
"
I agree with Shazbot5, its unclear that intervening in Syria would make things better. The opposition to Assad is wide-spread but ill-defined. There are no prominent organizations or leaders among them. It just seems to be a loosely confederated group of different organizations that share one goal, getting rid of Assad. In Libya, Tunisia, and Egypt, the opposition was a bit better defined.
Its also unclear whether the opposition is going to be better than Assad. Many of the minority groups in Syria are siding with Assad because they fear persecution from the Sunni majority if the Opposition wins the Syrian Civil War. Its not even clear whether Opposition knows what they want for Syria besides no Assad.
The entire situation in Syria is chaotic. We should provide asylum and aid for Syrian refugees. Thats a given. Feed them, clothe them, house them, medicate them, and give them legal status in other countries if they so desire. At the same time, do not intervene within interal Syrian politics except to contain the Syrian Civil War in Syria. More actors would just make the entire situation more confusing.
On “So Now We All Need to Learn the Words”
Isn't X one of the obscure bands from the 1980s and not even late 1980s but early to mid-1980s? They were kind of like Sonic Youth but slightly older when they started or at least I thought as much. Are they still around?
On “Small Arms in Syria”
Egypt seems intent on turning itself into Pakistan-on-the-Nile. Is there anyway we can convince the Muslim-majority countries to keep the fighting among themselves and leave the rest of the world out of it?
On “Performance Enhancing Dieting”
The problem is that a lot of dancers do have a limited shelf life, especially if they are women. They are best from their twenties to mid-thirities and than the body begins to take its toll. Men have a slightly longer career life. Partner dancers can last longer to since the stress on the body is a bit less, so its more forgiving. Athletes also have a short shelf life. The incentives are for using this short professional life as best as possible for everybody even if its at the cost of the body.
On “Small Arms in Syria”
Shazbot lists all the reasons why intervening in Syria is a really, really bad idea. Syria is a mess and horrible things are happening in it. More people have been killed in the Syrian Civil War than the entire Arab-Israel conflict. I think that intervention in Syria is going to make things much worse and we really shouldn't intervene because of this.
Assad is bastard but its not really that clear whether the opposition would be much better except in the sense that leadership would be more widespread so we would have more people participating in the making of really bad decisions. The best we can do is make sure that Syrian troubles remain internal.
On “Performance Enhancing Dieting”
A lot of parents aren't going to help because they are living vicariously through their daughter dancers and athletic sons and encouraging some really bad decisions as a result. Even if parents aren't living vicariously through their children, they might egg them on. Parents are only going to be help if they are satisfied enough with their lives that the do not feel a need to push their children.
"
Kazzy, what type of dancing did Chloe did? Was it ballet/modern/theatrical dancing or was it more competitive partner dancing? I'm involved in partner dancing on an amateur level and its culture is a bit different than ballet/modern/theatrical dancing. Partner dancing tends to have fewer of the concerns about weight and body than ballet/modern dance but dancers also have a longer professional life in partner dancing so it might be a side effect of that. Why damage something that you are going to need for the rest of your career?
Just Me hit the nail on the head. We as a society have beliefs about what the ideal athlete or dancer should look like. People really want to see talented athletes and dancers, they pay good money for it. Dancers are less lionized than athletes but are just as popular in the right social circles. There are people who seem to have a natural tendency to punish their bodies in order to become an athlete or dancer even if most of them are going to fail. There are parents who are going to push their kids in that direction. You can't really solve these problems without really changing society enough so that there isn't a demand for people to push their bodies.
On “The Shockingly Small Worth of a Woman’s Life: Texas, Gun Culture, and Black & White Worlds”
This is pretty spot on. I think that the two biggest problems with more than a few gun owners is that many of them seem to feel the need to be a hero and that they are absolutely sure of their skill. Its the entire the way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. I'd really like to hear at least one gun owner express some doubt about his or her ability in mass spree shooting. The certainty among them is disconcerning.
The other problem is that many of them to have they "when all you have is a hammer, all your problems" look like nails. "Bad people" do bad things with guns? Why the solution is to have good people do good things with guns, which mainly seems to be shooting "bad people". There can't be any other solution like allowing people with mental illneses to get the help they need.
On “Putting a Price on Kidneys”
The market for people who need replacement organs might be relatively static but the people in the market for replacement organs usually need them as a matter of life and death. That will make up for the relative staticness of the market more than enough to make it lucretive.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.