Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

    Originally posted by FreshFish View Post
    How many of the people who are outraged about "too much money in politics" were also concerned with how much money was raised from outside Georgia to fund the Democrat candidate's campaign for the 6th Congressional district?

    Is it really "money in politics" that bothers them? or is it merely the source of some of the funds that bothers them?
    If you're asking me, I'm concerned by the fact of money in politics, no matter who it benefits. I want to shut off the spigots to everyone by everyone. A personal cap of 1/10th the median US income on every person. That means about $6k from you, me, Soros, and each Koch. The money can go to any combination of candidates and PACs, but the aggregate can't exceed that $6k.

    Spending isn't speech, it's just the coercion of wealth.
    Last edited by Kepler; 06-21-2017, 12:32 PM.
    Cornell University
    National Champion 1967, 1970
    ECAC Champion 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1980, 1986, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2005, 2010
    Ivy League Champion 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020

    Comment


    • Originally posted by FreshFish View Post
      How many of the people who are outraged about "too much money in politics" were also concerned with how much money was raised from outside Georgia to fund the Democrat candidate's campaign for the 6th Congressional district?

      Is it really "money in politics" that bothers them? or is it merely the source of some of the funds that bothers them?

      From the New York Times:
      I think there should be a constitutional amendment outlawing the designated hitter, but I still want the Cubbies using it when they play interleague games in the meantime.

      It's not hypocritical to play by the rules while wanting them changed.

      Comment


      • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

        *shrug*

        Sometimes, you have to fight fire with fire. We're stuck with this system, so no, I'm not going to whine too much about contributions from "carpetbaggers".

        Comment


        • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

          An interesting piece, in light of the thread.

          Stanford Professor Shanto Iyengar and his colleagues recently found that, when it comes both to trusting other people with your money and evaluating the scholarship applications of high school seniors, Americans today are less friendly to people in the other political party than we are to people of a different race. The researchers conclude that “Americans increasingly dislike people and groups on the other side of the political divide and face no social repercussions for the open expression of these attitudes.” As a result, today “the level of partisan animus in the American public exceeds racial animus.” That’s saying something!

          But if polarization is all around us, familiar as an old coat, what about its opposite? What would depolarization look and sound like? Would we know it if we saw it, in others or in ourselves? Perhaps most importantly, what are the mental habits that encourage it?
          Last edited by Kepler; 07-25-2017, 11:24 AM.
          Cornell University
          National Champion 1967, 1970
          ECAC Champion 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1980, 1986, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2005, 2010
          Ivy League Champion 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020

          Comment


          • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

            How is the sudden rush to destroy monuments and statues of figures from the losing side of The War Between the States any different than the Taliban destroying a Buddhist shrine or ISIS destroying Christian chapels?

            "Oh, we are so offended by the very sight of these things that we cannot allow them to stand any longer; it is just fine for us to impose our world view on anyone who dare disagree with us because our cause is righteous and our hearts are pure."
            "Hope is a good thing; maybe the best of things."

            "Beer is a sign that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

            "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." -- W. B. Yeats

            "People generally are most impatient with those flaws in others about which they are most ashamed of in themselves." - folk wisdom

            Comment


            • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

              Originally posted by FreshFish View Post
              How is the sudden rush to destroy monuments and statues of figures from the losing side of The War Between the States any different than the Taliban destroying a Buddhist shrine or ISIS destroying Christian chapels?

              "Oh, we are so offended by the very sight of these things that we cannot allow them to stand any longer; it is just fine for us to impose our world view on anyone who dare disagree with us because our cause is righteous and our hearts are pure."
              Apples, meet Oranges.
              **NOTE: The misleading post above was brought to you by Reynold's Wrap and American Steeples, makers of Crosses.

              Originally Posted by dropthatpuck-Scooby's a lost cause.
              Originally Posted by First Time, Long Time-Always knew you were nothing but a troll.

              Comment


              • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

                Originally posted by FreshFish View Post
                How is the sudden rush to destroy monuments and statues of figures from the losing side of The War Between the States any different than the Taliban destroying a Buddhist shrine or ISIS destroying Christian chapels?

                "Oh, we are so offended by the very sight of these things that we cannot allow them to stand any longer; it is just fine for us to impose our world view on anyone who dare disagree with us because our cause is righteous and our hearts are pure."
                Interesting...but not so sure I agree with the analogy. I'd say that ISIS destroying Christian chapels is similar to the US (a predominantly Christian country) destroying Mosques. Very few Americans agree with this...and it would take an act of American extremism based on societal norms for it to occur.

                Religious buildings serve the purpose for themselves. Monuments and the naming of parks/schools serve signal of what society reveres. And in the end, I believe many if not most of the 'removal' efforts are for the purpose of movement to alternative locations - war museums, etc. - where their representation can better match societal preferences (as to many, important figures but trators).
                Go Gophers!

                Comment


                • Originally posted by FreshFish View Post
                  How is the sudden rush to destroy monuments and statues of figures from the losing side of The War Between the States any different than the Taliban destroying a Buddhist shrine or ISIS destroying Christian chapels?

                  "Oh, we are so offended by the very sight of these things that we cannot allow them to stand any longer; it is just fine for us to impose our world view on anyone who dare disagree with us because our cause is righteous and our hearts are pure."
                  I'd been waiting for someone to make this asinine comparison since the day this became the controversy de jour. I knew it would happen sooner or later, and here we are. Color me shocked at who is making it, too.

                  Comment


                  • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

                    Originally posted by 5mn_Major View Post
                    Monuments and the naming of parks/schools serve signal of what society reveres. And in the end, I believe many if not most of the 'removal' efforts are for the purpose of movement to alternative locations - war museums, etc. - where their representation can better match societal preferences (as to many, important figures but trators).

                    um, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the German government massacred millions of Jewish people in concentration camps, yet if you visit Germany today, you can go to a concentration camp turned into a museum, not because they "revere" it but merely because they accept it as part of their history: they don't want to pretend it never happened, they keep it as a reminder of the need to be vigilant so that it never happens again.

                    When apartheid ended in South Africa, the majority blacks did not go about tearing down statues and monuments, they held Truth Commissions so that they could take a clear sober unstinting look at what people did so that there could be closure, forgiveness, and the start of societal healing.

                    That's how a mature people deal with shameful episodes in their histories, they don't try to erase it from view, or tuck it away hidden out of sight, they acknowledge it squarely, head on.
                    "Hope is a good thing; maybe the best of things."

                    "Beer is a sign that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

                    "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." -- W. B. Yeats

                    "People generally are most impatient with those flaws in others about which they are most ashamed of in themselves." - folk wisdom

                    Comment


                    • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

                      When I was in Germany, I couldn't believe how many hitler statues they had put up since WWII. Astonishing.
                      Code:
                      As of 9/21/10:         As of 9/13/10:
                      College Hockey 6       College Football 0
                      BTHC 4                 WCHA FC:  1
                      Originally posted by SanTropez
                      May your paint thinner run dry and the fleas of a thousand camels infest your dead deer.
                      Originally posted by bigblue_dl
                      I don't even know how to classify magic vagina smoke babies..
                      Originally posted by Kepler
                      When the giraffes start building radio telescopes they can join too.
                      He's probably going to be a superstar but that man has more baggage than North West

                      Comment


                      • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

                        Originally posted by dxmnkd316 View Post
                        When I was in Germany, I couldn't believe how many hitler statues they had put up since WWII. Astonishing.
                        Mountain Dew. All over the place. Thanks.
                        **NOTE: The misleading post above was brought to you by Reynold's Wrap and American Steeples, makers of Crosses.

                        Originally Posted by dropthatpuck-Scooby's a lost cause.
                        Originally Posted by First Time, Long Time-Always knew you were nothing but a troll.

                        Comment


                        • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

                          Originally posted by FreshFish View Post
                          How is the sudden rush to destroy monuments and statues of figures from the losing side of The War Between the States any different than the Taliban destroying a Buddhist shrine or ISIS destroying Christian chapels?

                          "Oh, we are so offended by the very sight of these things that we cannot allow them to stand any longer; it is just fine for us to impose our world view on anyone who dare disagree with us because our cause is righteous and our hearts are pure."
                          So you're saying you think the Buddha is equivalent to slave-owning traitors directly responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans? That's a real question that I'd love your answer to. (Same question, substitute Christianity for Buddha.)

                          Not that logic is something with which you're tremendously familiar but logically there's far more equivalence in asking why we built a monument to Robert E. Lee in Virginia but didn't build one to Admiral Yamamoto in Hawaii. Both fought AGAINST the United States in major wars, both are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans, both caused untold millions of dollars of damage to US property. So why a monument to one and not the other? In fact, if you really want to get logical, Lee was worse, at least Yamamoto wasn't' also a traitor.

                          Statue of Erwin Rommel in Central Park? No?
                          I went home with a waitress the way I always do
                          How was I to know she was with the russians, too?

                          Comment


                          • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

                            Originally posted by dxmnkd316 View Post
                            When I was in Germany, I couldn't believe how many hitler statues they had put up since WWII. Astonishing.
                            On the one hand, blatant violation of the thread norm. On the other, Fish deserved no less for his transparently self-serving rationalized twaddle.

                            For the 20th time, Fish. You can get away with your slo-pitch stuff on Red State or PJ where the IQ is the GOP mean. But you are in well over your head, here.

                            Now... I believe that's your intellectual dignity about 220 yards up the fairway where dxm drove it.
                            Cornell University
                            National Champion 1967, 1970
                            ECAC Champion 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1973, 1980, 1986, 1996, 1997, 2003, 2005, 2010
                            Ivy League Champion 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1977, 1978, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1996, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2020

                            Comment


                            • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

                              Originally posted by FreshFish View Post
                              That's how a mature people deal with shameful episodes in their histories, they don't try to erase it from view, or tuck it away hidden out of sight, they acknowledge it squarely, head on.
                              umm, you are aware that almost all of the Confederate monuments were built AFTER the war, right? Southerners didn't acknowledge their dark, shameful past, they built monuments to it.

                              Again, logic, not your friend.
                              I went home with a waitress the way I always do
                              How was I to know she was with the russians, too?

                              Comment


                              • Re: An Experiment: A Literal Political Thread

                                Originally posted by E.J. Smith View Post
                                umm, you are aware that almost all of the Confederate monuments were built AFTER the war, right? Southerners didn't acknowledge their dark, shameful past, they built monuments to it.

                                Again, logic, not your friend.
                                And conveniently enough, many were constructed during the Civil Rights Era.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X