Ah right, you might want to insert a quote to stop people getting confused. Can someone link me to an article or something. What has Obama done with a preacher?
I think the other problem some of us have with the "nut or liar" stance is the insistence that anyone who professes belief is a nutcase. There are varying degrees of nuttery, aren't there? People who commit murder in the name of God are much farther down the nut scale than people who simply go to Church. And, truthfully, it is sometimes difficult to trust preachy atheists. How can I trust someone who thinks I'm stupid or crazy? I mean, when we boil it down, that's what the problem is, right? You think believers are either stupid or crazy and whitewash all of us together. So, how can that translate into something that won't insult 95% of the country?
And, for those who think the economy dropping doesn't affect them personally, I just got back from Italy. The dollar's value dropped every day I was there. We passed by bureaus d'change and the numbers kept changing day by day. I get back and gas prices have risen again.
And, for those who think the economy dropping doesn't affect them personally, I just got back from Italy. The dollar's value dropped every day I was there. We passed by bureaus d'change and the numbers kept changing day by day. I get back and gas prices have risen again.
I'm not saying it has no effect. I'm not saying it it doesn't affect anyone personally. I'm saying it has yet to affect me personally, and I am in a position where I can keep it that way.
Ah right, you might want to insert a quote to stop people getting confused. Can someone link me to an article or something. What has Obama done with a preacher?
Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, made some speeches that were a little out there.
My official stance is that every major candidate is either a nut, a liar, or both. However, the magnitude of nuttiness varies depending on the candidate.
Sadly, this is pretty much my stance as well. That's why I'm usually pretty depressed about politics. Obama is a little different, though. I'm beginning to feel the glimmerings of hope with Obama. I haven't felt this way about a presidential candidate sincs RFK.
The office of the president has a lot less power than people think it does.
On several shows. Regardless of whether you support him, does his belief in a higher power disqualify him from your consideration? Don't try ducking the question.
If he really does, then yes of course it disqualifies him.
The question to ask now is whether or not he really believes. There's no way I can know if any of the candidates really believe or not. If you were running for president in this country, and you were atheist, would you lie and pretend to be all churchy?
Yes, if I was serious about running for high office, I would have to. It's like the one lie you must make to prove you can lie.
But I don't think I can.
Sigh ... you know, in many countries, it's alright to be an atheist ... one of the many reasons why I like living in Hong Kong.
I just want to add to the conversation. I think that a person's religion doesn't matter but a person's moral code is important. The problem is that people too often equate the two. A man who goes to church isn't inherently a good man but if he actually follows a moral code he may be. This nation thinks that religion is natural and good. This case actually raises this issue but most aren't looking at it in that sense.
Ok let’s flip this story and see if John McCain can get away with going to a White preacher for 17 years that said the same things that Rev. Jeremiah Wright said but replace it with White separatism speak.
Now let’s see how the media would handled it then. His run for the presidencies would be over with and you know it.
I'm not saying Obama is a racist, but when you have someone like Rev. Jeremisah Wright in your life and then you add to it by saying stuff like "Typical white people." like Barack Obama did, it has to give you some pause.
Ok let’s flip this story and see if John McCain can get away with going to a White preacher for 17 years that said the same things that Rev. Jeremiah Wright said but replace it with White separatism speak.
Now let’s see how the media would handled it then. His run for the presidencies would be over with and you know it.
I'm laughing my ass off right now. You saying what you said trashes your own stupid argument. You apparently didn't know McCain had this guy, because the media aren't reporting it! Exactly the opposite result that you claim.
to it by saying stuff like "Typical white people." like Barack Obama did, it has to give you some pause.
Jesus H Christ, That "Typicial White People" quote is taking completely out of context. GO READ UP ON THE SPEECH. Read the whole thing and get the context of that statement.
Ok let’s flip this story and see if John McCain can get away with going to a White preacher for 17 years that said the same things that Rev. Jeremiah Wright said but replace it with White separatism speak.
Now let’s see how the media would handled it then. His run for the presidencies would be over with and you know it.
God-DAMN it, that is so fucking funny.HE DOES HAVE A CRAZY WHITE PREACHER GUY!McCain does have a crazy white preacher dude.Here's a Wikipedia article about this freak of nature.
I'm laughing my ass off right now. You saying what you said trashes your own stupid argument. You apparently didn't know McCain had this guy,because the media aren't reporting it!Exactly the opposite result that you claim.
I hate to break to but allot of Americans believe in the book of Revelation and being a homosexual is a sin.
to it by saying stuff like "Typical white people." like Barack Obama did, it has to give you some pause.
Jesus H Christ, That "Typicial White People" quote is taking completely out of context. GO READ UP ON THE SPEECH. Read the whole thing and get the context of that statement.
Do you think for a minute the media wouldn't burn John McCain on the Virtual stake if he had said Typicial black people.
And, for those who think the economy dropping doesn't affect them personally, I just got back from Italy. The dollar's value dropped every day I was there. We passed by bureaus d'change and the numbers kept changing day by day. I get back and gas prices have risen again.
I'm not saying it has no effect. I'm not saying it it doesn't affect anyone personally. I'm saying it has yet to affect me personally, and I am in a position where I can keep it that way.
Ahh, Scott, that's really sad to say. "The world is burning down, but my village is okay, so I don't need to do anything." That's effectively what you're saying. If bad things happen in the world - which they are - they will and do affect you. Maybe not in the most immediate sense, at least yet, but there are forces larger than ourselves that shape what happens to us. The political climate, the world economy, environmental matters - all these things are large scale issues that have important and long-term bearing upon the entire human species.
Humans are like drifts of snow. Our species and its cultures are made up of one basic unit, the individual. Like each snowflake, every individual is unique, shaped and crystallized in its own way. And yet, when all these snowflakes are piled together - thousands, millions, billions of them - they become snow. Drifts of snow have their own shape, and in the same way, the collective assemblage of individuals acting a certain way determines that shape. Drifts of snow too are acted on by wind, by outside forces that change the way the snow falls. Even if one tiny snowflake at the bottom of the drift is not blown around by the wind, isn't it notable that the snow as a larger entity has moved? While one individual is a snowflake, he or she is also part of the human snow. That is the part so many people don't realize. On an individual level, we often can't see the shape of the snowdrift, or recognize the importance of what happens to it. We don't realize that our fate isn't divorced from that of the pile of snow we're in. To us, our actions seem to affect only us or those immediately around us, and we make decisions based upon that. Yet add individual and individual and individual to that, all acting at the level of their own perspective, and you get some formations in the larger snow - ones that affect ALL the snowflakes contained therein as part of that entity.
This is why it is important for you to care, Scott. What one person far away from you is doing doesn't impact you immediately, no. But it changes the shape of the world you live in, which does affect you, even if you don't realize it. You want to keep the perspective of the snowflake, focusing just on your everyday life with anime and videogames and geekery. That's fine, but it ignores what really separates humans from snowflakes - that we can step out of our role and limited individual perspective to look at what's happening on a larger scale. This is what attention to politics, or any world problem, requires you to do. These issues are not less important simply because they seem remote to you every day. In fact, they are even more important because they affect us in ways that we don't think about and don't challenge unless we really make the effort to do so. In short, I'm saying your argument is inadequate because you are affected. While I love individualism and value it greatly, I think there are certain tendencies in our society that focus on it to such a great extent that we imagine we can divorce our own situation and life from the context around us. We can't. Even if a snowflake is ignorant of the larger snow drift, it's still part of it. It goes where the snow goes, and gets blown around by the wind all the same. Even if you claim you aren't affected, you are, because what happens in politics shapes the trends in society you're swept along by.
It's hard to care. It's hard to balance the individual and the collective perspective. People like Joe and I get depressed because we are very aware of the larger forces that shape what humans do, and how these forces are fucking up our planet. But in an increasingly interconnected world, we have to do it. Don't live your life without being conscious. I remember riding in a van with my friends on the way to the mall when I was in high school, and I had a sudden moment of stepping outside of myself. "I realize that I'm here, that this is what I'm doing, that I can think about my life in a larger way. If I were like the people sitting next to me, I would never question this day, and just accept that how I live my everyday life is all there is to all of this. But I can think about and question it. I can look at something larger." I can't go back from that day. I can't go back to being unaware of how what I do fits into the context of the world, and how I am shaped by it in return. I can't go back to lacking consciousness. I've heard lots of lies about what it means to be an adult, but this, I think, is what it really means - to understand that you cannot remain ignorant. I feel the pull between the two parts of my life - the one that wants only to enjoy the day happily and quietly, and the other part that feels bound by morals, ethics, responsbility, or whatever to do something important and beyond myself that both fulfills my potential and intellect and helps my fellow humans. It hurts. It's difficult to reconcile. But the quest of our lives is to realize both of these parts to ourselves, and satisfy them both. Wake up, Scott. You have that other side, the side that is obliged to care. Your geekdom should go hand in hand with your intellectual responsibility, not stifle it.
Politics is a decision-making process. It determines what happens to us. No one is asking you to to run for office, send money to a candidate, or go out there and convince people to vote a certain way if you don't want to. However, you are obligated to educate yourself - to know the issues, know what's happening, and most importantly, to talk about it. You absolutely have a stake in everything that is going on right now, even if all it seems to you is complaining and whining.
Politics are a lot like the weather. The weather affects everyday life. Everyone has to pay some attention to it, or you will forget an umbrella or some such. Individual people also have little to no influence on the weather. It just happens. Unless you are a meteorologist, farmer, sailor, etc. the weather is not the focal point of your life. You really just want to do what you want, the dancing and singing while the music is being played, and do your best to prevent the weather from getting in the way.
There's nothing wrong with paying a lot of attention to politics. There's nothing wrong with paying attention to weather. If you enjoy that sort of thing, more power to you. But for someone who is not heavily involved in the politics, why must I pay so close attention to so many details that have almost no meaning to my life? I just keep an eye out on politics, so I don't forget my political umbrella. I think that's enough.
And, for those who think the economy dropping doesn't affect them personally, I just got back from Italy. The dollar's value dropped every day I was there. We passed by bureaus d'change and the numbers kept changing day by day. I get back and gas prices have risen again.
I'm not saying it has no effect. I'm not saying it it doesn't affect anyone personally. I'm saying it has yet to affect me personally, and I am in a position where I can keep it that way.
Ahh, Scott, that's really sad to say. "The world is burning down, but my village is okay, so I don't need to do anything." That's effectively what you're saying. If bad things happen in the world - which they are - they will and do affect you. Maybe not in the most immediate sense, at least yet, but there are forces larger than ourselves that shape what happens to us. The political climate, the world economy, environmental matters - all these things are large scale issues that have important and long-term bearing upon the entire human species.
Humans are like drifts of snow. Our species and its cultures are made up of one basic unit, the individual. Like each snowflake, every individual is unique, shaped and crystallized in its own way. And yet, when all these snowflakes are piled together - thousands, millions, billions of them - they become snow. Drifts of snow have their own shape, and in the same way, the collective assemblage of individuals acting a certain way determines that shape. Drifts of snow too are acted on by wind, by outside forces that change the way the snow falls. Even if one tiny snowflake at the bottom of the drift is not blown around by the wind, isn't it notable that the snow as a larger entity has moved? While one individual is a snowflake, he or she is also part of the human snow. That is the part so many people don't realize. On an individual level, we often can't see the shape of the snowdrift, or recognize the importance of what happens to it. We don't realize that our fate isn't divorced from that of the pile of snow we're in. To us, our actions seem to affect only us or those immediately around us, and we make decisions based upon that. Yet add individual and individual and individual to that, all acting at the level of their own perspective, and you get some formations in the larger snow - ones that affect ALL the snowflakes contained therein as part of that entity.
This is why it is important for you to care, Scott. What one person far away from you is doing doesn't impact you immediately, no. But it changes the shape of the world you live in, which does affect you, even if you don't realize it. You want to keep the perspective of the snowflake, focusing just on your everyday life with anime and videogames and geekery. That's fine, but it ignores what really separates humans from snowflakes - that we can step out of our role and limited individual perspective to look at what's happening on a larger scale. This is what attention to politics, or any world problem, requires you to do. These issues are not less important simply because they seem remote to you every day. In fact, they are even more important because they affect us in ways that we don't think about and don't challenge unless we really make the effort to do so. In short, I'm saying your argument is inadequate because you are affected. While I love individualism and value it greatly, I think there are certain tendencies in our society that focus on it to such a great extent that we imagine we can divorce our own situation and life from the context around us. We can't. Even if a snowflake is ignorant of the larger snow drift, it's still part of it. It goes where the snow goes, and gets blown around by the wind all the same. Even if you claim you aren't affected, you are, because what happens in politics shapes the trends in society you're swept along by.
It's hard to care. It's hard to balance the individual and the collective perspective. People like Joe and I get depressed because we are very aware of the larger forces that shape what humans do, and how these forces are fucking up our planet. But in an increasingly interconnected world, we have to do it. Don't live your life without being conscious. I remember riding in a van with my friends on the way to the mall when I was in high school, and I had a sudden moment of stepping outside of myself. "I realize that I'm here, that this is what I'm doing, that I can think about my life in a larger way. If I were like the people sitting next to me, I would never question this day, and just accept that how I live my everyday life is all there is to all of this. But I can think about and question it. I can look at something larger." I can't go back from that day. I can't go back to being unaware of how what I do fits into the context of the world, and how I am shaped by it in return. I can't go back to lacking consciousness. I've heard lots of lies about what it means to be an adult, but this, I think, is what it really means - to understand that you cannot remain ignorant. I feel the pull between the two parts of my life - the one that wants only to enjoy the day happily and quietly, and the other part that feels bound by morals, ethics, responsbility, or whatever to do something important and beyond myself that both fulfills my potential and intellect and helps my fellow humans. It hurts. It's difficult to reconcile. But the quest of our lives is to realize both of these parts to ourselves, and satisfy them both. Wake up, Scott. You have that other side, the side that is obliged to care. Your geekdom should go hand in hand with your intellectual responsibility, not stifle it.
Politics is a decision-making process. It determines what happens to us. No one is asking you to to run for office, send money to a candidate, or go out there and convince people to vote a certain way if you don't want to. However, you are obligated to educate yourself - to know the issues, know what's happening, and most importantly, to talk about it. You absolutely have a stake in everything that is going on right now, even if all it seems to you is complaining and whining.
My eyes! My eyes! You realize that this is ridiculously long, right?
The office of the president has a lot less power than people think it does.
Apparently the Justice Department thinks that the president’s powers as commander in chief are pretty much like a king’s. They sent a memo to the pentagon in 2003 that said that the president’s power as commander in chief trumped laws prohibiting torture. That memo was just declassified this week. Source. Here is the first part of the memo.Here is the second part. The Reader’s Digest version is that the president is simply above the law in the execution of his duties as CIC. “A lot less powerâ€� How much more power could you possibly have?
Oh yeah, I didn’t even mention judges in my first response to your assertion regarding presidential power. Is it possible that court decisions regarding patent law and copyright law might affect geeky people? Is it possible that geeks might be interested in court review of FCC regs or whatever law is passed in the area of net neutrality? Is it possible that geeks might be interested in whatever future litigation arises in the continued attempts of the ID people to get their stuff taught by public schools? How many federal judges do you think GWB has appointed?
Yeah, that’s not a whole lot of power. Kinda makes trying to choose a good president look pretty silly, since whoever's chosen will just be some sort of figurehead . . .
Comments
Can someone link me to an article or something. What has Obama done with a preacher?
And, for those who think the economy dropping doesn't affect them personally, I just got back from Italy. The dollar's value dropped every day I was there. We passed by bureaus d'change and the numbers kept changing day by day. I get back and gas prices have risen again.
Wow, Huckabee actually said some smart things after his run for president. Too bad he's all for making the constitution a biblical document.
I happen to follow this philosophy when it comes to the matters of the world.
But I don't think I can.
Sigh ... you know, in many countries, it's alright to be an atheist ... one of the many reasons why I like living in Hong Kong.
Now let’s see how the media would handled it then. His run for the presidencies would be over with and you know it.
I'm not saying Obama is a racist, but when you have someone like Rev. Jeremisah Wright in your life and then you add to it by saying stuff like "Typical white people." like Barack Obama did, it has to give you some pause.
I'm laughing my ass off right now. You saying what you said trashes your own stupid argument. You apparently didn't know McCain had this guy, because the media aren't reporting it! Exactly the opposite result that you claim.
Every American Presidential candidate should have a crazy preacher by law. They would be like some kind of amusing mascot.
Humans are like drifts of snow. Our species and its cultures are made up of one basic unit, the individual. Like each snowflake, every individual is unique, shaped and crystallized in its own way. And yet, when all these snowflakes are piled together - thousands, millions, billions of them - they become snow. Drifts of snow have their own shape, and in the same way, the collective assemblage of individuals acting a certain way determines that shape. Drifts of snow too are acted on by wind, by outside forces that change the way the snow falls. Even if one tiny snowflake at the bottom of the drift is not blown around by the wind, isn't it notable that the snow as a larger entity has moved? While one individual is a snowflake, he or she is also part of the human snow. That is the part so many people don't realize. On an individual level, we often can't see the shape of the snowdrift, or recognize the importance of what happens to it. We don't realize that our fate isn't divorced from that of the pile of snow we're in. To us, our actions seem to affect only us or those immediately around us, and we make decisions based upon that. Yet add individual and individual and individual to that, all acting at the level of their own perspective, and you get some formations in the larger snow - ones that affect ALL the snowflakes contained therein as part of that entity.
This is why it is important for you to care, Scott. What one person far away from you is doing doesn't impact you immediately, no. But it changes the shape of the world you live in, which does affect you, even if you don't realize it. You want to keep the perspective of the snowflake, focusing just on your everyday life with anime and videogames and geekery. That's fine, but it ignores what really separates humans from snowflakes - that we can step out of our role and limited individual perspective to look at what's happening on a larger scale. This is what attention to politics, or any world problem, requires you to do. These issues are not less important simply because they seem remote to you every day. In fact, they are even more important because they affect us in ways that we don't think about and don't challenge unless we really make the effort to do so. In short, I'm saying your argument is inadequate because you are affected. While I love individualism and value it greatly, I think there are certain tendencies in our society that focus on it to such a great extent that we imagine we can divorce our own situation and life from the context around us. We can't. Even if a snowflake is ignorant of the larger snow drift, it's still part of it. It goes where the snow goes, and gets blown around by the wind all the same. Even if you claim you aren't affected, you are, because what happens in politics shapes the trends in society you're swept along by.
It's hard to care. It's hard to balance the individual and the collective perspective. People like Joe and I get depressed because we are very aware of the larger forces that shape what humans do, and how these forces are fucking up our planet. But in an increasingly interconnected world, we have to do it. Don't live your life without being conscious. I remember riding in a van with my friends on the way to the mall when I was in high school, and I had a sudden moment of stepping outside of myself. "I realize that I'm here, that this is what I'm doing, that I can think about my life in a larger way. If I were like the people sitting next to me, I would never question this day, and just accept that how I live my everyday life is all there is to all of this. But I can think about and question it. I can look at something larger." I can't go back from that day. I can't go back to being unaware of how what I do fits into the context of the world, and how I am shaped by it in return. I can't go back to lacking consciousness. I've heard lots of lies about what it means to be an adult, but this, I think, is what it really means - to understand that you cannot remain ignorant. I feel the pull between the two parts of my life - the one that wants only to enjoy the day happily and quietly, and the other part that feels bound by morals, ethics, responsbility, or whatever to do something important and beyond myself that both fulfills my potential and intellect and helps my fellow humans. It hurts. It's difficult to reconcile. But the quest of our lives is to realize both of these parts to ourselves, and satisfy them both. Wake up, Scott. You have that other side, the side that is obliged to care. Your geekdom should go hand in hand with your intellectual responsibility, not stifle it.
Politics is a decision-making process. It determines what happens to us. No one is asking you to to run for office, send money to a candidate, or go out there and convince people to vote a certain way if you don't want to. However, you are obligated to educate yourself - to know the issues, know what's happening, and most importantly, to talk about it. You absolutely have a stake in everything that is going on right now, even if all it seems to you is complaining and whining.
There's nothing wrong with paying a lot of attention to politics. There's nothing wrong with paying attention to weather. If you enjoy that sort of thing, more power to you. But for someone who is not heavily involved in the politics, why must I pay so close attention to so many details that have almost no meaning to my life? I just keep an eye out on politics, so I don't forget my political umbrella. I think that's enough.
Anyway, considering that Scott admits that
1) All of this really does affect him
2) He needs to pay attention to it sometimes
that's pretty good.
You realize that this is ridiculously long, right?
Here is the first part of the memo. Here is the second part. The Reader’s Digest version is that the president is simply above the law in the execution of his duties as CIC. “A lot less powerâ€� How much more power could you possibly have?
Oh yeah, I didn’t even mention judges in my first response to your assertion regarding presidential power. Is it possible that court decisions regarding patent law and copyright law might affect geeky people? Is it possible that geeks might be interested in court review of FCC regs or whatever law is passed in the area of net neutrality? Is it possible that geeks might be interested in whatever future litigation arises in the continued attempts of the ID people to get their stuff taught by public schools? How many federal judges do you think GWB has appointed?
Yeah, that’s not a whole lot of power. Kinda makes trying to choose a good president look pretty silly, since whoever's chosen will just be some sort of figurehead . . .